The Weekly Rant with Gary Patella

Thoughts and ideas on various grievances that are relevant to everyday life.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

On Bathroom Attendants

A great many people like to go out and enjoy the nightlife every now and then. Regardless of location, nightlife consists of mainly two types of places: clubs and bars. In both types of establishment, alcohol plays a key role. As many people know, alcohol is a diuretic (i.e. it increases the discharge of urine). This causes people to frequent the restroom, and sometimes an individual is stationed at the lavatory.
The individual is known as a bathroom attendant. In classy establishments, these bathroom attendants turn on the faucet, squirt soap in one's hand, hand out paper towels, and even offer a mint and/or a spray of cologne or perfume. In extremely elegant and reputable places, this is not unexpected. For the few times I am in such places, I don't mind the inconvenience of having to take out my wallet once or twice.
But clubs and bars are a different matter entirely. The amount of times I visit the restroom at a club can vary, but it is certainly more than once or twice. Furthermore, the bathroom attendants at bars or clubs have only one job. They hand out paper towels. This makes no sense to me. In the classy restaurants and hotels that have restrooms of immaculate cleanliness, I don't have to touch a thing. But in a sleazy bar, I have to touch the handles on the sink that someone has probably urinated on at some point. Then I have to touch the mold-encrusted soap dispenser that is tilted, because it is about to fall off the wall. Then I have to turn off the water, touching the disgusting sink handle once more (now with "clean" hands). And after that some guy hands me a paper towel, and for that is supposedly entitled to a dollar.
I used to tip these people for doing absolutely nothing. I suppose I felt obligated. But now I refuse to hand them money that was not well-earned. Of course the amount is trivial, but the principle is not. If they want my dollar, they have to touch the faucet handles with the bacterial cultures on them. They should be the ones to expose their hands to the fungus on the soap dispenser. Until then, I will not grant them one cent...even for the entire roll of paper towels.

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