more on doors, etc.

A few months ago, my colleague Crystal declared that one of the first things she will do after she returns to the US is go into a public bathroom and “use about 500 paper towels”.

She was referring to the general scarcity of paper towels and napkins in Singapore. Public restrooms in Singapore tend to have hot air hand dryers. What this translates to is that people here (men anyway, I can’t speak for the women) tend not to wash their hands at all after doing their business. Often, though, you don’t have to touch anything, because many public restrooms have open doors or no doors at all.

At my current client’s offices, however, the bathroom doors have twist knobs, which is the worst case scenario for a bathroom door – especially considering there are no paper towels.

The result is that men who wash their hands leave the door knob all wet, and men who don’t wash… well… gross.

So in a country where so many things make so much sense, I find myself wanting something very basic. My kingdom for a paper towel dispenser OR a bathroom door I don’t have to touch. Both is surely too much to ask for, so I’ll gladly settle for one or the other.