<p>Couple of months back while attending a workshop, I wanted to use the restroom urgently. Guided by a lady employee and walking through a mini maze, I finally reached the place.</p>.<p>On the door, was a huge poster bearing the title ‘Loo Manners’. Well, it was a list of commandments which had to be kept in mind before entering. As I was in a great hurry, I zoomed past and went in at my own risk. Once inside, I had to spend some precious seconds searching for some light as it was pretty dark. I noticed a small switch to my right hidden with a paper.</p>.<p>After tapping the switch/paper several times, a bright light flashed over a note which read……‘turn me off when you leave’. Hurriedly, I attended to nature’s call and saw the next instruction behind, that read… ‘Use less water and leave the place dry for the next person’. Baffled by this, I turned off the flush soon enough for the written directive to be satisfied by my quick reaction. Now, I was getting better at this. I turned around to the tap which posed the third challenge bearing the jotting … ‘Wash your hands but do not waste water.’ How does one get this right? I responded to this by washing hands and allowing least possible drops slipping out. This was like a game for me with clues pasted everywhere in the room. When I was getting ready to wipe hands, the paper towel had a line which read, ‘Use less paper and save the environment’. I did comply to their demand by wiping hands with my own handkerchief. The loo tutorial finally ended when I reached the door, which bore a note saying, ‘Smile….you’ll be on camera once you exit.’</p>.<p>Though I have seen instructions in many restrooms, this was a tad bit too much for a small room with tags everywhere. After getting back, I couldn’t help turning back to look at all the faces which came out of the restroom. The expression on their faces surely made me smile all the way back home. When I narrated this to everyone at home, all burst into laughter and had only one concern... whether I used the washroom or returned after reading the list of Do’s and Don’ts.</p>.<p>This reminded me of an incident back in our good old Airforce days when we hosted dinner parties at home.</p>.<p>It was on one such day, when before entering the kitchen, I went around the house to see whether everything was in order and so, just to be careful that my kids do not soil the freshly hung towels in the washroom, I put a small post-it on it which read ‘Don’t use’ for them.</p>.<p>That evening, the party went off perfectly as planned. The next morning, after waking up from my slumber, as I crawled into the restroom, I found the two towels hanging neatly side- by-side untouched and with the post-it still on. I can still vividly recall that embarrassed look on my face.</p>.<p>Till today, I am reminded of it whenever I hang fresh towels for guests at home.</p>
<p>Couple of months back while attending a workshop, I wanted to use the restroom urgently. Guided by a lady employee and walking through a mini maze, I finally reached the place.</p>.<p>On the door, was a huge poster bearing the title ‘Loo Manners’. Well, it was a list of commandments which had to be kept in mind before entering. As I was in a great hurry, I zoomed past and went in at my own risk. Once inside, I had to spend some precious seconds searching for some light as it was pretty dark. I noticed a small switch to my right hidden with a paper.</p>.<p>After tapping the switch/paper several times, a bright light flashed over a note which read……‘turn me off when you leave’. Hurriedly, I attended to nature’s call and saw the next instruction behind, that read… ‘Use less water and leave the place dry for the next person’. Baffled by this, I turned off the flush soon enough for the written directive to be satisfied by my quick reaction. Now, I was getting better at this. I turned around to the tap which posed the third challenge bearing the jotting … ‘Wash your hands but do not waste water.’ How does one get this right? I responded to this by washing hands and allowing least possible drops slipping out. This was like a game for me with clues pasted everywhere in the room. When I was getting ready to wipe hands, the paper towel had a line which read, ‘Use less paper and save the environment’. I did comply to their demand by wiping hands with my own handkerchief. The loo tutorial finally ended when I reached the door, which bore a note saying, ‘Smile….you’ll be on camera once you exit.’</p>.<p>Though I have seen instructions in many restrooms, this was a tad bit too much for a small room with tags everywhere. After getting back, I couldn’t help turning back to look at all the faces which came out of the restroom. The expression on their faces surely made me smile all the way back home. When I narrated this to everyone at home, all burst into laughter and had only one concern... whether I used the washroom or returned after reading the list of Do’s and Don’ts.</p>.<p>This reminded me of an incident back in our good old Airforce days when we hosted dinner parties at home.</p>.<p>It was on one such day, when before entering the kitchen, I went around the house to see whether everything was in order and so, just to be careful that my kids do not soil the freshly hung towels in the washroom, I put a small post-it on it which read ‘Don’t use’ for them.</p>.<p>That evening, the party went off perfectly as planned. The next morning, after waking up from my slumber, as I crawled into the restroom, I found the two towels hanging neatly side- by-side untouched and with the post-it still on. I can still vividly recall that embarrassed look on my face.</p>.<p>Till today, I am reminded of it whenever I hang fresh towels for guests at home.</p>