Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I had a feeling that might be the case.

What about those old-fashioned towel drier things, where it's one continuous loop of towel, and it goes back into the dispenser when you pull on it?

Has anyone ever seen these? Usually they are in older buildings. I can't find a picture of it on the internet for the life of me. They don't look very sanitary, but then again, I don't know what kind of magic goes on inside that metal box.

Here it is!

WHAT. When did Disneyland have a dinosaur ride?

These totally gross me out. I don't *think* there's any magic in there. I'm pretty sure they just hope the towel parts dry by the time they feed back through.

It's at Animal Kingdom in Orlando. There's a dinosaur-themed McDonald's in the park too.

What the heck? you just rub your hands on it? That doesn't seem like it would work very well.

Oops, I was thinking of Disney World, not land!

Ewwwww, I come across these pretty regularly here and they gross me out. Unclean, unclean! Hence, the jeans' attack.

I hate to burst the bubble of all the paper towel protection advocates, but using a paper towel as a barrier between you and germs is totally ineffective if there is moisture on your hands or on the surface you're grabbing.

Water on your hands or the handle/faucet/whatever will carry germs across a paper barrier very easily. I know this because if any of our sterilization packets at work gets wet, we have to throw them out and re-sterilize whatever instrument is inside. In the medical field, it's called "strikethrough contamination."

Sorry to be the bearer of the bad, germy news. :(

Okay, but what if we use one paper towel to dry, then a second to open the door?

Or if we dry with the blower, then use a dry paper towel to open the door?

I'm using my feet from now on. This is too complicated.

You could carry around one of those silicone oven mitts wherever you go, and open the door with that.

But then you'd have to disinfect it every time.

I just prefer a barrier of germs. We're all pretty gross.

pant-wipers unite! high-five me with those germy hands!

I just lick my hands clean and dry them on someone else's coat.

it's a roller towel!!!
i contract with a lot of eco/dirty hippy companies here and they all use these instead of paper or blowers. the towel only goes one way, so you can't use the part someone else has already used. when it's all been used, they take it out (it's like a cartridge) and replace with a new one. it's really cool. The old ones were just a loop, and the yuckies got passed around, but these new ones are much more hygienic.

I remember the old school ones from my childhood (even back then I thought the passing 'round and 'round of germs was creepy). I actually really like the idea of the new fangled ones. It's like using a regular linen towel, but more sanitary. I assume they send the used up portion out to be sanitized/cleaned and re-used?

I obsessively DON'T use paper towels. I work as a therapist in people's homes, and one day my client saw me walk from the bathroom (where there was only a roll of paper towels next to the sink) and into the kitchen to dry my hands on a hand towel there. She said something to me about the paper towels in the bathroom, and I said, "Oh, I don't use paper towels, it seems like a huge waste" and so she started keeping a hand towel in her bathroom for me. <3

I want to hang out with you.

I heard years ago that air dryers blow germs up from the floor and ever since I refuse to use air dryers. But now I have another reason, which is that Livi REALLY hates how loud those dryers are, so I dare not use them.

Apparently, the roller towel can be dangerous. Several cases of self-strangulation in Canada...maybe other places too. Torque, is this an issue for sales?

http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content ... 1.abstract

Edit: Nevermind torque...I just assumed you contracted this OUT to eco people. I don't even know if that's what you meant!

no, i do translation and communications contracting for these companies.
the roller towel danger seems to be the same danger as plastic bags, at least some of it....

the ones i've seen are quite tight- you'd have to have a really bitty pin head to fit your head in there. perhaps they've been modified for the purpose?

Dryers always remind me of this scene from The Beatles Help!:

Yeah, they didn't use to have those hang-down guide things, and you could just pull the loop out as much as possible. This changed in Canada probably 15 or so years ago, because too many kids were dying.

I find most "we're going green!" announcement are bull.

We stayed in a hotel in Morocco that claimed to be green and had a pool in a country that is so strapped for water.

Also, my gym is "green" ie they don't give you printed schedules. But people use 6 or 7 of the provided papertowels to wipe down their machines.

My company is trying to 'go green' but they have plastic utensils at the lunch/break rooms. You can get metal but those are at the cafeteria. It'd make sense to me that they would have metal near the break rooms. I bring my own utensils though.

Also, my boss was visiting and when we were going somewhere, I turned off my lights, he was surprised because no one does that.

Could we call it "greenwashing" just like all the pinkwashing breast cancer awareness stuff? Companies that claim to be going green but do condtradictory things? I'd to call it "I'll say anything to get your money" but greenwashing is simpler.