Kindergarteners can flush and wash their hands, why can’t executives?
This has been boggling my mind for years, now. It’s interesting and rather disgusting to see the bathroom behavior of many adults in the workplace. Is flushing the toilet really going to make you late for an important meeting? If the client you’re meeting with had a choice, do you think they would rather shake your unwashed hand, or have you arrive in the conference room 30 seconds later? I just don’t understand.
Yesterday, as I was leaving the bathroom, I saw 2 unflushed urinals. It took me less than 2 seconds to flush them both, on my way out the door. I suppose that someone else’s 1 second must be much more valuable than mine, though. Why should they have to do it? Someone else will definitely do it eventually, right?
Sometimes, even if I’m standing there washing my hands, I still see people not flush and/or not wash their hands. If I was going to be lazy and follow the above-mentioned motto: “Someone else will definitely do it eventually,” I would at least make sure nobody was looking!
The reason the title of this post mentions executives is because all kinds of people exhibit this behavior. From maintenance guys, to interns, to all levels of management… My 6-year-old has flushed and washed his hands for years, now. Why can’t they?! I’ve witnessed two different CEO’s over the past 7 years (at different companies, not my current employer!) blatantly skip the handwashing, despite the presence of myself and sometimes other people as well. Have they no shame? Are they intentionally trying to show us lowly workers that they are much too important/busy to deal with such petty tasks?
These people are the reason I feel compelled to flush with my foot, and open doors with a paper towel. But mysophobia is a whole can of worms in and of itself, so I’ll save that for another day.
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October 14th, 2005 at 5:44 pm
haha, you touched a toilet!
April 16th, 2007 at 5:57 am
[…] blogged before about how it pisses me off when people don’t flush the toilet (or wash hands, for that matter) at work, and about some ways that I deal with public restroom annoyances (the comments on that one were […]
June 20th, 2007 at 11:26 am
[…] warrant it (hmm.. now that I think of it, the bathroom at work probably does, since so many people don’t bother washing their hands (or even flushing!)), I will waste the water and use a paper […]