That is, if phrases like "Jesus Christ! Who designed this?" count as prayers. Ever since I worked for my dad's architecture company in 2000, I have been silently observing just how rotten a lot of commercial interior design is in this country. One my top five list is definitely poorly designed public bathrooms.
Think about it, you go into a place to take care of simple bodily functions and it's a steady environmental assault of broken stall closures, automatic sinks either don't work at all or too much, automatic hand dryers that blow out cool air that does nothing to dry your hands, or those toilet paper dispensers that grudgingly give up one square at a time. And even though I am five feet, two and a half inches tall, I don't know how many times I've had to practically hop onto the toilet to close the stall door behind me. Given the sheer numbers of really big women that I see every day, I wonder how they deal with that.
So if you can get the stall door to actually stay closed behind you, find a decent amount of TP in the stall AND are able to flush afterwards (extra points) then for a bonus round, see if you can figure out how to operate the "hand cleansing system" that was installed.
Here's a few other winners in the Bad Interior Commercial Design Hall of Fame.
The Bank North Boston Garden (AKA North Station)
I am actually old enough to remember when it was set up with several rows of long wooden benches and the restrooms were right where you wait for the trains. Now, there are a few benches lining the walls at the end of the terminal, the bathrooms are a few hundred feet around the corner beyond the "Pro Shop" and people going to events are forced through the same entrance as people trying to catch trains. Should you actually be so lucky as to make it to the station doors in time to have hope of catching your train, you still have to fight your way through throngs of screaming toddlers and stressed out soccer moms and dads trying to find out if they are in the right line for "Barney on Ice".
Shaw's Super Market, North Beverly
Recently re-opened and not especially for the better.
Luckily I grew up in this country and I'm familiar with the concept of putting essentials deep into the store in the hopes that you will happily spend a few hours "impulse shopping" on the way to buy milk and eggs. I can live with that. But what the hell is up with creating the stupid little "boutiques" of "specialty foods" all over the freaking store? It "pisses me off". I want to buy a bag of rice. I want to get the best deal. I now have to go to the "ethnic foods" aisle to find the basmati, and then truck the cart over to the "regular white people food" aisle to compare the price with Uncle Ben's. Oh wait, I forgot the "Spanish Foods" aisle! It's a small world after all... And to top that off, and probably in the hopes that in my frantic search for something like applesauce, I will feel the uncontrollable urge to grab imported olives and nacho cheese dip, the signs telling you what each aisle has are INSIDE the aisle, not on the OUTSIDE where you could actually read them as you scan the store. On the positive side, there are public bathrooms that are clean and everything actually works.
On another note, how come food eaten by asian and hispanic people is referred to as "ethnic" and food eaten by caucasians and african americans is considered "food". Isn't white trash ethnic too?
Au Bon Pain Cafe (anywhere)
Just a general note, when people are entering a space to fufill a basic need (eating, getting rid of what they ate, sleeping, buying shoes for no good reason, DO NOT attempt to make them either think, appreciate new concepts, nor marvel at the triumph of style over substance. ABP, this means you. I go in to a cafe to grab food. I have stopped going because I got tired of trying to figure out where to find all 50 items I needed to get a cup of coffee and the last time I tried to get something at the after 4pm bake sale, I was almost trampled by two large ladies who kept hovering around the "baked goods kiosk" trying to make a decision. Go back to the old way. Make everyone stand in line and then when they get to the front, make them articulate what they want so somebody with gloves on can bag it for them and then collect the money. Simple, done. Wham bam thank you Au Bon Pain.
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