Today I used the toilets provided by the Thorndon supermarket. When I went to wave my hands around beneath the hot-air dryer I was confronted with a very mysterious sign, as shown here:
We Keep These Toilets Clean For YOUR Use Please RESPECT our hygiene policies
This sign is full of mystery and intrigue …
Did they run out of capital letters after overusing them in the first two thirds of the sign? It suddenly moves from 4 words having an initial capital, and two words being all caps, to the last 3 words that have no caps.
The toilets are kept clean for our use. Would they not bother cleaning them for their own use?
The part that really stumps me though is the part about RESPECT. Clearly, the all caps signify that someone has a real bee in their bonnet about something. But, we’re to respect their hygiene policies even though we don’t know what those policies are … apart from the bit where it seems they wouldn’t bother cleaning the toilets except for us users.
The final part of the puzzle is that this sign is located above the air towel. Is there some significance to this? Are we being asked to wash our hands after using the facilities? To dry them? To avoid shaking water on the floor? To refrain from using toilet paper to dry our hands?
I guess this will remain one of life’s puzzles.
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