The last vestiges of washrooms with actual paper towels in them are beginning to disappear at SFU. I really have to wonder if this is a good idea. These places are already in rather poor shape – and this isn’t something that I can blame on whoever cleans them up. But the point here is that they are installing these hot air dryer things that claim that they save trees and are sanitary. I really have to wonder about the latter. First of all, these things rarely get very hot, and imagine all the bacteria riddled water that people are flicking into these things. In a warm environment, things might grow – and when its turned on again – fling all kinds of good things upon the unsuspecting hands of those using it. Maybe I am being paranoid, maybe not. The thing is, I am allergic to all kinds of things, and I would rather deal with a running nose quickly than sniff through a lecture. So what am I supposed to do now? I hardly think that toilet paper is a good option because well…. its the same reason you aren’t supposed to keep your toothbrush in the open air of the bathroom. Of course, very few people seem to care about this.
Have you ever gone ahead and done something with the preconceived notion of what the worst possible outcome is – in order to prepare yourself for it, just in case. Also, you might be attempting to justify the action in the first place, because “How bad could it be”?. Maybe assume that everything that happens will end in death – that way I am always joyous that nobody died. If you always imagine the worst – you are more often than not happier with the actual outcome.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes the outcome is much worse than you ever imagined, sometimes snowballing into a debacle of immense proportions. Lets use an example : Lets say that someone says to you : “I have nothing to wear”! For purposes of example, and example only, lets say that I proceeded to the closet, flung open the doors, and said : “you call this nothing to wear”. I may have even pointed out many items that I deemed no less than spectacular, and certainly worthy of wear. This is of course an……uhmm… hypothetical example – but one where you can immediately see how things became far worse than what I…. rather – the person who said this… had anticipated.