For some reason, by someone, the bathroom here at work was determined to smell...too much like a bathroom. As far as bathrooms go, I actually thought ours was not so bad, which is to say, clean, and usually pretty odorless. But to mask even the hint of an odor, a new urinal cake suddenly arrived a few weeks ago.
For the girls, a urinal cake is a round hockey puck shaped object, sometimes caged within a plastic mat, which is put into the bottom of a urinal:
The cake is some kind of hard soapy substance which is supposed to neutralize the odoriferous properties of urine. The cage and mat surrounding it helps keep it out of the standing water and dissolving away. It operates by removing one odor by masking it with much stronger, much more antiseptic, other odor. So our bathroom went from being mostly odor neutral, to always smelling like a janitors closet. But that's not all.
See, not all urinals are built the same way. Some are bigger, some smaller, some curvier at the bottom, etc. Because of this, urinal cakes and their mini thunderdomes tend not to fit at the bottom of any particular urinal well, with some part of them jutting off at an angle.
In our case, the plastic mat does not fit well at all and ends up creating a potentially disastrous urinal/urinal-cake interface:
See, not all urinals are built the same way. Some are bigger, some smaller, some curvier at the bottom, etc. Because of this, urinal cakes and their mini thunderdomes tend not to fit at the bottom of any particular urinal well, with some part of them jutting off at an angle.
In our case, the plastic mat does not fit well at all and ends up creating a potentially disastrous urinal/urinal-cake interface:
Here we see illustrated the cake sitting within the urinal. The angle Φ represents the maximum deflection caused where the plastic matting meets the back of the urinal. Absentminded bathroom patrons, performing the same actions they have always performed in this situation, will find that the front of their pants have been lightly sprayed with the very product they were attempting to eliminate.
This is a very unique situation. In all my years experience with bathrooms and bathroom accessories, I have never once encountered a pairing like this one; something so indiscriminately fiendish, so ignorant to dignity. Just hope you don't have to give a presentation afterward.
This is a very unique situation. In all my years experience with bathrooms and bathroom accessories, I have never once encountered a pairing like this one; something so indiscriminately fiendish, so ignorant to dignity. Just hope you don't have to give a presentation afterward.
But! Ever since the Urinal Targets were installed, I think the rate of Under-Urinal Pissing has gone down.
Posted by: Abe | 03/13/2009 at 08:23 PM
[this is good] This is hilarious. Though Kyle and I have discussed the conditions of restrooms wherever we go. On average the mens restrooms are
filthy filthy
places and womens restrooms seem to always be cleaner, or sound like they are mini spas.
I also appreciate the visual aids. XD
Posted by: Cat | 03/14/2009 at 12:41 AM