The Weak Hand Dryer

I could probably find 30 things about public bathrooms that bother me. The faucets that only stay on for 2 seconds, the automatic paper towel dispensers that don’t register when you wave in front of it, and having to look under the stall to check if someone’s using it all bother me. However nothing is worse than the “Weak Hand Dryer.” I understand it is environmentally sound, but if I had to choose between saving a few trees and standing under a hand dryer for 10 minutes I would go cut the trees down myself.  

The other day I was using a public bathroom off campus and I had just finished washing my hands. I noticed the bathroom had a variety of hand drying options. I could use the paper towel dispenser or I could go with the hand dryer. I thought it was very considerate they provided both. Anyways I obviously chose the paper towel dispenser. Unfortunately so had the last 50 people and there were no more paper towels left. I continued to pull the lever in denial until I finally accepted the fact that it was empty. I was forced to use the backup option.

When you use the hand dryer you have to know the technique to drying your hands. First you have to flick the majority of the water off of your hands before putting them under the dryer. Then once the dryer has started you have to do a lot of hand turning and hand rubbing. Personally I think that I have perfect hand drying techniques, but this hand dryer was the most pathetic thing I had ever come across. It felt like a newborn baby was breathing on my hands. I probably could have stayed there for 5 minutes and my hands would have been just as wet as when I started.

As I attempted in vain to dry my hands I saw an innocent man heading over to wash his hands. I wanted to scream out over the obnoxious hand dryer and warn him not to wash his hands because the paper towel dispenser was empty and the hand dryer was useless, but it was too late. He turned on the faucet and the moment the water came pouring out for that ridiculously short amount of time I knew he had been condemned to the “Weak Hand Dryer.”