A Little Bathroom Humor

I recently had a 6 hour flight from the east coast to the west coast and had this toilette as my view.  It was a new Airbus with an additional toilette in the middle of the plane.  At first I was dreading it and then it got me thinking about the Airplane Toilette, and all the things that are unique to it.

First of all - The attendant button.  How desperate do you have to be to call for a flight attendant to help you?  And if you did ask for help, how do the flight attendants choose who has the job of "checking on you"?   Draw straws?  And, if people use this button, why aren't there attendant buttons in other bathrooms, i.e. movie theaters, retail stores, or gas stations.

Secondly - The lack of water for hand washing.  Why can't the water stay on in the sinks?  15 seconds of water is not enough for anyone who is properly washing their hands to get them clean.  Please give me at least the 30 seconds of water recommended by the CDC.

Thirdly - The size.  As previously mentioned my boyfriend is 6'6" so I often think about tall people.  How do they stand in there?  Is it just one big balancing act?

Fourth - Timing.  Why does EVERYONE need to wait until the end of the movie and go at the exact same time... do they not know that 50 other people are also going at the end of the movie?  And if you do wait to go at the end of the movie please do not read over my shoulder or look at how I am doing on the crossword puzzle.

Finally - The flush.  Wow what a flush!  I used to think that maybe the wooosh was as much about height as it was about the actual toilette - I thought maybe someone had done the math and realized that if airplanes were just letting it spray from 34,000 feet it wouldn't have a negative effect on the people below.  But no - it is a vacuum.  According to Geek Patrol, "Airplane toilets use an active vacuum instead of a passive siphon."

Clearly I'm not the only one who finds airplane toilettes an opportunity to ponder.  The Blog "1,000 Awesome Things" wrote all about the Awesomeness of the Airplane Flush.  Out of 1,000 Awesome things they list Airplane toilets as #975.  Check it out - and enjoy all of their other awesome things.