The Janitors' Closet

So what's with the facemask?

Conversing with a friend recently about his experience in a somewhat trendy northeast community. He generally goes without a facemask (admittedly something of a political statement) and received a number of less than friendly glances, and a few comments, from masked folks in shops and on the street.   

It occurred to me that, while I've seen and heard much in recent months regarding masks, from both "sides", I've seen and heard close to nothing regarding the quality of masks. Evidence is solid that an n-95 mask offers a good deal more protection than a surgical mask, which in turn is much superior to simple cloth.  Recall that cloth masks were suggested, early on, as a bit "better than nothing", but that scarce surgical masks, to say nothing of unavailable n-95 masks, were best reserved for healthcare providers.

Considering protection from Covid, vaccination seems the best one can do, followed by air circulation, followed by distancing, with masks a dead last (or maybe a bit better than the traditional clove of garlic suspended from one's neck).  And a cloth mask is worth a good deal less than a surgical or  n-95 mask.

We stockpiled surgical masks, and a few kn-95 masks, back during the Ebola crisis, and well as hazmat suits, gloves and lots of disinfectant - because we provide janitorial service to a lot of medical facilities - so we've been in good shape. One wonders why America still has availability issues with n-95 masks; in quantity, and in normal times, they are quite inexpensive.  (Check out a recent Atlantic article on the issue.)

One might almost suspect that masks have become valuable mostly as a partisan signaling device.

What's happened to America's public restrooms?

Due to my last post, regarding my janitorial background, I seem to be thinking about public restrooms.

An often overlooked aspect of a city's livability, and thus civility, is the availability of public toilets.  If one is not at one's home or office, and not patronizing a particular business, one is often out of luck.  And it's a bit of an imposition, and an economic hardship, to require a shop or restaurant to open its restrooms to general street traffic.  Here's an interesting article out of Marketplace, that includes the following:

"In the middle of the twentieth century, public toilets were relatively common in the United States. For the most part, people had to pay for the stalls, which opened with coins, while urinals were free. But with rising feminist sentiments in the 1970s, people started to recognize this arrangement as sexist, since it meant that women had to pay, while men did not. Over the following decade, the grassroots organization Committee to End Pay Toilets in America succeeded in getting bans on pay toilets in many states, and the late March Fong Eu, California secretary of state from 1975 to 1994, smashed a porcelain toilet with a sledgehammer on the steps of the State Capitol.

"The banning of pay toilets had an unintended outcome. Instead of free public toilets for all, public toilets pretty much disappeared from American cities, since cities found it expensive and difficult to keep them safe and clean. (In Europe, where there was no such movement, pay public toilets persist, as they have since as far back as Roman times.)"

Shiny faucets

My long ago sales manager reminded me of this; had not thought of it in years.

When folks with a long time in the janitorial field, particularly in the operations end, find themselves washing up in a public restroom, they tend to automatically wipe the water spots from the faucet and handle.  Perhaps a commendable habit, but it can still gain you unwanted notice.

My sales manager went on to a career in high end commercial real estate.  He tells of visiting a restroom at our Phoenix Country Club, with a couple of the local real estate magnates, and finding himself wiping down the fixture.  To a couple of bemused glances.

He'd been well trained.