DoDD: The Public Bathroom Sink #1

TL;DR

It’s dead AF. Might as well ask for some hand sanitizer if you walk into a public restroom and see these sinks.

Also, I’m obsessed with bathroom experience so expect to see more.

Quick Intro

I’m always going somewhere. I grew up as an army brat who moved constantly and adulthood seems to have not gotten the message that I no longer have to be a nomad — yet, I stay on the move. It’s cool though. I love to travel; I’m all for a new adventure, especially if it involves new food. (I recently traveled to Japan and experienced all sorts of fun stuff — coming to a post in the near future!).

Anyway, this has nothing to do with new adventures. I was traveling by train not too long ago to visit my old stomping grounds, the DMV (the Washington D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia area, for those unfamiliar with the term). During my trip, I needed to use the bathroom, so I went. Typical stuff, nothing wild.

My Goal

I’m a fan of washing my hands with soap after using the bathroom, especially a public one. I also strive to come into physical contact with as little as possible in public restrooms because I realize that not everyone is a fan of what I’m a fan of…(if you think I’m talking about you, then I am 👀)…so, yeah. I just wanted to wash my hands without having to touch shit. (Pun fully intended.)

Even if you’re not making pizza right after, I’d still recommend giving your hands a wash. (credit: giphy.com)

My Experience

I’ve actually come across these sinks on more than one occasion but the first time I did, I was super hype to try it out.

🗣 “All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom!” *in my Shay Haley voice* 🖖🏾

If you’ve never had the pleasure of encountering this set up, allow me to bring you up to speed: the creators (I’m sure) were attempting to create an all-in-one experience where users could stand in one place while washing and drying their hands. Theoretically, this is a great idea which is why I was so excited to see it. Imagine not having to do the “awkward shuffle” when trying to get past someone to grab a paper towel or gain access to the hand dryer. Staying in one place sounds magical to me because I normally have at least one of my belongings clutched between my thighs as I’m washing my hands (usually it’s my phone because I refuse to rest it on any surface in there). I’d love to just be able to stand still, get as germ free as possible, and be on my way without having to figure out how I can safely baby step to the next station without releasing my thigh grip.

It’s also environmentally friendly — no excess water, less wasted soap potentially, no paper waste. This was definitely a plus in my book.

Increased the contrast of the photo to make it a little easier to see the icons when enlarged.

When I finally made it to the sink after getting through the line, I started with the water. It took a second for the sensor to recognize my hand (the entire product is hands free…or touch free?) but once it did, the water started flowing, so we were off to a good start. However, to my dismay, the soap dispenser dispensed zero soap. Ugh. Same shit, different device. 🙄

This was especially annoying because there are little greenish lights near each function of this…let’s call it a “fancy faucet” (who knows what it’s actually called? If you do, let me know in the comments). I assumed they were there for a reason. Since more often than not, green indicates something positive (e.g., proceed, good to go, correct, etc.), I believed it to mean that this soap dispenser was full and functional. Reality confirmed that was a lie.

If I remember correctly, I was able to get soap from a neighboring “fancy faucet.” It came out with not one ounce of gusto, though. For whatever reason, that matters to me but I was able to get enough soap so, whatever — mission #1 accomplished.

After rinsing off, it was time for mission #2: thoroughly dry my hands. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of any hand dryer. They all pretty much disgust me and this is why (even if it turns out this is not 100% accurate, I can’t get it out of my head 😭). However, when paper towels aren’t an option, I usually settle.

This dryer was w-e-a-k. I halfway dried my hands on my jeans and left.

Dope or Dead?

This is dead. If I’d had a touch-free sink with a regular soap dispenser and some paper towels, I would have enjoyed this experience just fine. While my goal was to not touch anything — which, technically, was accomplished — what it’s really about is feeling like my hands are as clean as possible upon exiting the bathroom. In this case, I did not.

There are three ways to get soap in this picture…guess which one works.

I’d mentioned that this hadn’t been my first experience with this sink — each time I came across this design, there was something wrong with it. In one of my subsequent encounters, the establishment (or maybe a really nice stranger) resorted to leaving out an actual bottle of hand soap because of the ineffectiveness of the sinks’ soap dispensers. Also, for whatever reason, there is an additional soap dispenser to the left of the “fancy faucet,” as seen in the photo. I guess they hadn’t gotten rid of the legacy dispenser yet…🤷🏽‍♀️. Spoiler alert: it was empty.

I’m not sure what the deal is with the All-in-One WashBar (I looked it up, that’s what the “fancy faucet” is called), but it seems like, at least judging from my experience, someone somewhere has probably (hopefully) gone back to the drawing board.

UX Corner

Something I run into quite often while doing UX research is that people will say one thing, (be it what they want, what they like, etc.) and mean something completely different. Why is that, you ask? Because humans are irrational and sometimes we actually just don’t know. It may be a miscommunication or an underlying desire that we haven’t fully uncovered just yet but whatever the case, taking things at face value is not something I practice very often. Now, of course, there are times when a solution is as simple as what someone says but I’d be playing myself and the people I’m striving to help if I regularly thought there was only one reason behind anything.

It’s incredibly important to get to the root cause of the issues we work to solve if we actually want to solve them. There are plenty of people who just slap bandaids on gashes and keep it moving but we don’t do that over here — that’s not how I operate.

There are a few techniques that folks in the industry use to get a better idea of the underlying problem(s) but what’s crystal clear is that, no matter the area of study, you’ve got to really understand why and if an issue is an issue. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. However, once you get that clarity, that’s when you’ve put yourself in a position to truly be capable of helping.