Opus 2015-256: Welcome Back 2015: Something Is in the Air

Do you like the new waterless urinals?  I have another reason to not trust them.

We were at the “Welcome Back” meeting for our school district.  When we broke from the main meeting to go to the workshops we were told that the bathrooms were open.  That may seem a strange thing to announce but last year they were locked. 

So I made use of the facilities and regretted the weakness of my bladder.  When I went into the men’s room (actually it was the boys’ room) I noticed a strange smell.  It was familiar but I could not place it.  By the time I reached the urinals I was almost overcome.  I finally figured out what the smell was.  It comes from my childhood when we used to go camping at places that had no running water.  Remember the outhouses that were sheds built over holes in the ground?  They would stand out in the hot sun for as long as it took a truck to come pump them out.  Remember the smell that the flies seemed to love and encouraged constipation?  That was what I as smelling.

I am guessing that over the summer the custodial staff decided to save a few bucks by not servicing the waterless urinals.  My guess is that the chemicals used to block the gas from the sewer had dried up.  Those are guesses.  The smell was real.

Welcome back to another year of school.

homo unius libri