Ah Kitchener's City Hall, an interesting structure built back in 1993 as the cornerstone of this fine city's modernization plan. Nearly 15 years later, that modernization plan is just starting to move forward. Gotta love local bureaucracy...
Enough of my rants. Onto the most important room in the entire building, the bathroom.
City Hall boasts quite a nice facility to be honest. It's cleaned regularly, open 24 hours a day, and provides ample urinals and toilets for use. I went to high school nearby and I can honestly say I never encountered a line up or had to wait to use them.
In an attempt to create an ultra modern facility, the city fathers and mothers chose to install automatic flushing toilets and urinals. Unfortunately, they sort of cheaped out. The toilets have a tendency to flush while you're sitting on them. You learn to deal with it, but the first few times, it's quite a surprise.
Also, the toilets and urinals are connected to the building's computer network, allowing maintenance staff to flush the facilities periodically. If you haven't caught my drift yet, I fully endorse any hacker to recreate the October 1993 prank and cause the toilets to randomly flush around the building. *evil grin*
As for the rest of the stations, the sinks are not automated for some reason, instead, the city went with those highly annoying "push the button and get a spurt of water for 5 seconds." Boy, I really hate those things. Soap dispensers provide ample dollops of soap for washing.
The hand dryers are powerful and effective, but I would have rather seen paper towels offered as an alternative option. Perhaps one day it will happen.
A changing station is readily available for babies, which is a nice touch. An even nicer touch is the availability of a private changing room.
All in all, you can't go wrong taking care of business in City Hall. And honestly, it's probably the best public facility going in downtown Kitchener.
B+
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Got a review of your own?
Why not share it with the world?
The more washrooms we review, the better for everyone involved. Just follow the basic criteria I set up and be sure to include the location if it's not a large landmark.
E-mail them to me at:
washroomreview@gmail.com
Thanks
The more washrooms we review, the better for everyone involved. Just follow the basic criteria I set up and be sure to include the location if it's not a large landmark.
E-mail them to me at:
washroomreview@gmail.com
Thanks
Fairview Park Mall, Kitchener Ontario
What better a place to start than one of the largest malls in the city!
Fairview Park Mall has recently gone under a massive renovation. It took the better part of a year and a half, but it's pretty much completed now. The mall itself has taken on a much more modern style that's pleasing to the eye.
I'm happy to say that efforts were also taken to improve the washrooms.
Located beyond the food court, next to Wal-Mart, you'll find the two public washroom facilities for the entire mall.
As I entered, I recalled the pre-renovation days. These washrooms were dank, leaky, smelly, and overall, not a pleasant place to be.
What a change!
The contractors have completely revamped the facility. There are more urinals, sinks, toilets and changing tables for babies. The lighting is bright and there was no real odour in the entire place.
Everything is automated now. The urinals and toilets all have automatic flushing sensors. The sinks also feature the same sensor system for activation. Soap and paper towels were plentiful. And there was clear evidence that the place is regularly serviced.
I had no real expectations walking in, as the pre-renovation washrooms were disasters. The lack of adequate lighting always reminded me of something from the Alien series of movies. However, this is no longer the case.
Credit must be given where it's due:
To the staff who maintain the facility: you're doing great work, keep it up.
The owners of the mall who finally decided to modernize the damn place. You made some good decisions.
Final grade: A
Fairview Park Mall has recently gone under a massive renovation. It took the better part of a year and a half, but it's pretty much completed now. The mall itself has taken on a much more modern style that's pleasing to the eye.
I'm happy to say that efforts were also taken to improve the washrooms.
Located beyond the food court, next to Wal-Mart, you'll find the two public washroom facilities for the entire mall.
As I entered, I recalled the pre-renovation days. These washrooms were dank, leaky, smelly, and overall, not a pleasant place to be.
What a change!
The contractors have completely revamped the facility. There are more urinals, sinks, toilets and changing tables for babies. The lighting is bright and there was no real odour in the entire place.
Everything is automated now. The urinals and toilets all have automatic flushing sensors. The sinks also feature the same sensor system for activation. Soap and paper towels were plentiful. And there was clear evidence that the place is regularly serviced.
I had no real expectations walking in, as the pre-renovation washrooms were disasters. The lack of adequate lighting always reminded me of something from the Alien series of movies. However, this is no longer the case.
Credit must be given where it's due:
To the staff who maintain the facility: you're doing great work, keep it up.
The owners of the mall who finally decided to modernize the damn place. You made some good decisions.
Final grade: A
The Review System
I haven't really formulated one to be honest. I'm taking an approach that's going to cause me to fly by the seat of my pants. Seems to work. I'm sure I'll come up with something concrete, but until then I have some basic guidelines to follow:
Cleanliness - Bathrooms have to be clean. I'm not expecting a level of cleanliness that you'd find inside a private home, but I am expecting that you shouldn't have to gasp in horror when you walk in.
Odour - This is a rather subjective concept. What smells nice to one person may not to another. Personally, if the washroom in question smells like it's been used or if it smells like someone's decided to clean the place with some kind of agent that could be used to snuff out life on the battlefield, we've got a problem. Washrooms generally should smell somewhat fresh and neutral. Of course, I'll take more points off for a "used" smell than a "let's make Chemical Ali proud" smell.
Supply - You know what I mean, toilet paper, soap, paper towels, etc! Bonus points for toilet seat liners! Don't you just hate it when there's none of these things around to utilize?
Facilities - Are they modern? Are they well maintained? Is the toilet/urinal leaking? Are there enough of them? Yes, yes, quality over quantity, but quantity has a quality of its own and I hate waiting to take care of myself sometimes. I'm sure we'll get into it.
That's really about it. I'm sure these basic concepts will be expanded upon. I'm biased towards not having to actually touch much in a public washroom, I have my preferences. I'm human. But we'll see how it goes.
I'll probably use a letter grading system because everyone seems to understand them.
As for frequency, well I can't promise regular updates. However, I'll do my best.
A couple more things; as a guy, I can really only review male washrooms. However usually if the male one's bad or good, then the female one's going to be similar right? Also, I shall not be taking pictures of these facilities (that's going too far and frankly, I could see that becoming an issue. I don't need weird looks from other people). I'll do my best to describe them.
Cheers
Cleanliness - Bathrooms have to be clean. I'm not expecting a level of cleanliness that you'd find inside a private home, but I am expecting that you shouldn't have to gasp in horror when you walk in.
Odour - This is a rather subjective concept. What smells nice to one person may not to another. Personally, if the washroom in question smells like it's been used or if it smells like someone's decided to clean the place with some kind of agent that could be used to snuff out life on the battlefield, we've got a problem. Washrooms generally should smell somewhat fresh and neutral. Of course, I'll take more points off for a "used" smell than a "let's make Chemical Ali proud" smell.
Supply - You know what I mean, toilet paper, soap, paper towels, etc! Bonus points for toilet seat liners! Don't you just hate it when there's none of these things around to utilize?
Facilities - Are they modern? Are they well maintained? Is the toilet/urinal leaking? Are there enough of them? Yes, yes, quality over quantity, but quantity has a quality of its own and I hate waiting to take care of myself sometimes. I'm sure we'll get into it.
That's really about it. I'm sure these basic concepts will be expanded upon. I'm biased towards not having to actually touch much in a public washroom, I have my preferences. I'm human. But we'll see how it goes.
I'll probably use a letter grading system because everyone seems to understand them.
As for frequency, well I can't promise regular updates. However, I'll do my best.
A couple more things; as a guy, I can really only review male washrooms. However usually if the male one's bad or good, then the female one's going to be similar right? Also, I shall not be taking pictures of these facilities (that's going too far and frankly, I could see that becoming an issue. I don't need weird looks from other people). I'll do my best to describe them.
Cheers
An introduction
I have a confession. I am slightly obsessed with washrooms. Specifically the conditions of washrooms. Nothing disturbs me more than having to enter a smelly, dirty or otherwise horribly maintained washroom. It puts me in a foul mood.
The goal of this blog is really to just review any public washrooms I happen to use during my daily adventures. I am not trying to inspire change for society (but if anyone responsible for said washrooms sees this blog, feel free to do so). I am merely offering a guide for the public in order to decide where to take care of their business.
This is my ego talking, but I'll consider this to be a sort of Zagat Guide to bathrooms.
This may be funny, this may be disturbing, this may just be a weird guy's rant (I'd bet on the last one there), but perhaps some insight may come out of this.
Wish me luck.
The goal of this blog is really to just review any public washrooms I happen to use during my daily adventures. I am not trying to inspire change for society (but if anyone responsible for said washrooms sees this blog, feel free to do so). I am merely offering a guide for the public in order to decide where to take care of their business.
This is my ego talking, but I'll consider this to be a sort of Zagat Guide to bathrooms.
This may be funny, this may be disturbing, this may just be a weird guy's rant (I'd bet on the last one there), but perhaps some insight may come out of this.
Wish me luck.
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