Spring Break
Is precious, saved time being put to good use?
Alex McElroy
Issue date: 5/28/09 Section: Forum
Automatic soap dispensers have ruined America. I'm speaking of the bulky plastic tumors that hang from public bathroom mirrors, ready to spit on suspecting hands at any moment's notice. It might be a bit melodramatic, but it says a lot about a country that has become too lazy to pump its own soap.
There's a romantic quality to pressing into the plastic rectangle, feeling the spring behind it resist as your palm slicks with a pink liquid. But soon the personal connection people have come to share with their soap dispensers will be eliminated.
The problem isn't that it's taking us by storm or that companies are tricking us into it with gimmicky advertising - I've yet to see a commercial for any sort of soap machine. The problem is that people are willing to give in to what is easy, even with the most menial tasks.
Really, why can't you press your hand into a spring-loaded, plastic nub? And don't say germophobia, because if it were so bad that you refused to touch a public soap dispenser, I doubt you'd use a public bathroom. But have we all become so busy that we no longer have time to get our own soap? If so, that's a problem, going beyond the bathroom, into all facets of life.
A country whose people don't have two extra seconds to spare is bound to fail. I'm not saying the United States is that country, but that the U.S. thinks it is. We use the few ticks of the second hand that we gain when the batteries spit out our water, soap and paper to be lazy rather than productive.
What is it that's pulling us away, grabbing at those two extra seconds as if they truly were necessary in the success of our lives? It isn't accomplishment pulling at us; in-house success stories have all but vanished from the American landscape.
The supposed American way of life has left our homegrown industries bankrupt, waiting for someone to come by and automatically wash them clean of their mistakes.
But that American work ethic, that dream to get rich by climbing up the ladder, is what's in question here, and it is so because we've created a façade where we act as if that dream is our way of life, that we haven't the time to punch out a length of paper towels because we need to get back to work.
There's a romantic quality to pressing into the plastic rectangle, feeling the spring behind it resist as your palm slicks with a pink liquid. But soon the personal connection people have come to share with their soap dispensers will be eliminated.
The problem isn't that it's taking us by storm or that companies are tricking us into it with gimmicky advertising - I've yet to see a commercial for any sort of soap machine. The problem is that people are willing to give in to what is easy, even with the most menial tasks.
Really, why can't you press your hand into a spring-loaded, plastic nub? And don't say germophobia, because if it were so bad that you refused to touch a public soap dispenser, I doubt you'd use a public bathroom. But have we all become so busy that we no longer have time to get our own soap? If so, that's a problem, going beyond the bathroom, into all facets of life.
A country whose people don't have two extra seconds to spare is bound to fail. I'm not saying the United States is that country, but that the U.S. thinks it is. We use the few ticks of the second hand that we gain when the batteries spit out our water, soap and paper to be lazy rather than productive.
What is it that's pulling us away, grabbing at those two extra seconds as if they truly were necessary in the success of our lives? It isn't accomplishment pulling at us; in-house success stories have all but vanished from the American landscape.
The supposed American way of life has left our homegrown industries bankrupt, waiting for someone to come by and automatically wash them clean of their mistakes.
But that American work ethic, that dream to get rich by climbing up the ladder, is what's in question here, and it is so because we've created a façade where we act as if that dream is our way of life, that we haven't the time to punch out a length of paper towels because we need to get back to work.
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The Reason Why
posted 5/27/09 @ 11:49 PM PST
"Really, why can't you press your hand into a spring-loaded, plastic nub?"
The primary purpose of an automatic soap dispenser is not one of convenience but one of conservation: by dispensing a given amount of soap, they reduce the likelihood of users dispensing far more soap than they need; and in turn, help to save businesses money and reduce natural resource inputs. (Continued…)
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