Flowage

Today the faucet in the rest room went insane. Recently we were given a new faucet with an electronic eye, so all we need to do is hold our hands under the spout, and water rushes forth over them. We’ve still been allowed temperature adjustment, but we no longer need to turn on the faucet. Unfortunately, sometimes the faucet’s eye refuses to acknowledge our existence, and we wait with our hands under the spout, soaped but dry. And sometimes the faucet responds to information of its own processing, turning on and off in rapid succession while we are across the room, in the toilet stall, coaxing paper towels from the grumpy holder.

In the scheme of the universe, one faucet is not significant. Maslow said that our base needs must be fulfilled before we can concentrate on self-actualization. Though most of us are caught in our base needs before we can progress to things like artistic creativity, some of us have the genius to transcend levels in his hierarchy. I remember the video of the Olympic runner, running up lengths of stairways that ended in rubble, turning through the maze of buildings, training the streets of his war-wrecked city, as bombs exploded nearby.

After a semi-successful encounter with the paper towel dispenser, I closed the door on the insane faucet and went back to my office, to snitch to Operations about it.
“We’re getting a multi-video system in 202,” my office mate said hopefully, as I put down the phone.
“I’d rather have working restrooms,” I countered.