I have been observing Public Restrooms most of my life. As an architect I've had a hand in designing many in the last 30 years. We have made many advances in equipment, but as for the people that use the equipment, not so much. Since I go to many concerts, sports events and so forth, I also go to many restrooms. Here are some of my thoughts.
1. Not as many guys wash there hands as you think! In my experience far less than fifty per cent even look at the sink. I even remember one concert a long time ago that some of the guys used the sinks as urinals! The bigger the event the more guys ignore the sinks.
2.When in malls or large cities, use the restrooms in Borders or Barnes & Noble. People who read take better care of the restrooms AND they wash their hands. They also have reading material!
3 There is not much common sense involved with restroom design. Example 1: You go into the restroom and everything is hands free (Toilet, sink, paper towels) except the door handle of the room. The door swings in and your clean hands touch the same handle of all those who don't wash! Example 2: The owners of our office building replaced the light switches with motion sensors to save electricity (being green). However, the timer is set on less than five minutes! I have been caught in the dark twice! No magazines for me!
4. Women need way more stalls than guys. In our firm we try to double the number of women's as compared to men's. I first saw women come in the Men's Rooms back in the 80's at Jimmy Buffet concerts. Guys would bring their dates in and secure a stall. Yes, they were drunk so they didn't care. I have seen it off and on through the years, most recently at the Aerosmith show.
The craziest, though, was almost 20 years ago when I took my daughter, Lindsey, to see "New Kids on the Block" at Skelly Stadium. There was 40,000 at the show (about 120 guys). I went with Lindsey down to the restrooms and she had to stand in a block long line. I went into the Men's Restroom and I was alone!
5. Most automatic hand dryers are worthless! Stick your hands into the air then wipe them on your pants. Dyson (the vacuum cleaner company) has a new one out that you place your hands into a cravass and then slowly retract your hands. Works great! There is hope.
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