Modern [In]conveniences

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate modern conveniences. . . indoor plumbing, wireless internet, cell phones, digital photography, etc. But some modern conveniences are, well, laughable. . . or I guess they create laughable situations. . .

I work in a building that has put in automatic toilets and sinks in the bathrooms. And while these are immoderately more sanitary, they sometimes don't work so well. I don't know how many times I've gone to the bathroom with the automatic toilet, and after I leave the stall the toilet proceeds to flush the entire time I'm washing my hands. Is it really that necessary? Aren't we wasting water that way? One morning, in fact, I entered the empty bathroom to the sound of a toilet flushing. And flushing. And flushing. I bet that thing flushed for ten minutes straight. Again, is it necessary? Aren't we wasting water that way?

Then there are those situations in which you find yourself laughing and checking to see if anyone is watching. . . After getting used to a self-flushing toilet and a self-watering sink at work, I find myself expecting those things everywhere I go. I go to the bathroom at home and then spend three or four minutes waving my hand trying to get the sensor to read that I'm done and that the toilet needs to flush. Hello! There is no sensor! It's not gonna do it itself!! I go to the mall or other business and wash my hands and I sit there for thirty seconds, waving my hands under the faucet to get the water to turn on. Hello! There's a handle! It's not gonna do it itself!! That's when I look around to make sure no one is laughing at you.

[Of course, then there are the times when it IS an automatic sink or toilet and you CAN'T get it to work, no matter how many times you wave your hand in front of the sensor. . . And you find yourself laughing because you know how absolutely ridiculous you look and you hope no one is watching. :) ]