The women’s facilities near one of the classrooms where I teach have been annoying all year because of their leaky taps.
As we all know, a dripping tap wastes a huge amount of water, which is expensive for the institution, and environmentally irresponsible, particularly in a water-challenged country such as Australia.
Anyway, recently, two identical notices went up in this bathroom, one on each wall. This is what they said:
One of them was directly above the worst tap, which now runs, rather than drips, and which is nearly impossible to turn completely off, even if you twist it as hard as you can. Here is a picture of how much it runs (a few weeks ago, it only dripped):
A few days after these notices went up, some bright spark added in pen to the notice above that constantly running tap, “Or…you could fix the tap”.
Well maintenance would be a fine thing, but it seems to be at a minimum these days. The maintenance staff simply don’t have time to fix everything.
And it seems sarcastic comments are not appreciated, either (even when they tell the truth).
Yesterday, I found that the notice with the graffiti had been taken down, leaving the other unannotated notice, on the other side to the faulty tap. However, by mid-morning, this had happened to that remaining notice:
Same message, worded slightly differently. I wonder if anyone will actually get the message, or will it too be removed?
By the way, at least three of the six taps in that washroom drip. I wonder how much water is wasted across the entire university because there are no longer enough maintenance staff. In some bathrooms, there is a notice with a number to ring to report faulty equipment, but not in this one.
I might add that in another building, there is a faulty toilet cubicle door that hasn’t closed properly for 10 years…
The Crayon Files 
Caron – What a story! And it makes me think about the whole question of whose responsibility it is to keep the tap from leaking. I live in a water-challenged area too, and you’re right; not taking care of something like this makes no sense.
Yes, it really irks me to think how much money & resources are being wasted in our institutions.
(Sigh). It’s the same everywhere I’m sorry to say. And while I agree there is a shortage of staff I have to also say, in many cases, there is also a shortage of desire to fix, repair, maintain and generally provide service. Whether it’s a leaky faucet or telephone repair or help in a store. The work ethic ain’t what it used to be. In my experience anyway.
Yes, I’m afraid you’re right.
Oh dear me, this is terrible that all that water is going to waste. I wish the “Green Patrol” will find their way over to the women’s facilities and volunteer their services.
I know! That is one bathroom, and at least two other taps are dripping. Imagine in all the company bathrooms how much water is being wasted because the companies won’t pay maintenance staff. This really is a tragedy.