Two’s plenty…

When I arrived in Rio I had no idea I would end up living here – I thought I would stay for 3 or 4 weeks, one last hurrah at the end of nearly 12 months away from home. So I was in holiday mode – lots of sight seeing, trips to the beach, going out and drinking. And lots of drinking means plenty of trips to the banheiro (ban-YEAH-ro – toilet, bathroom, restroom, loo).

After a few days I noticed that many establishments seemed to be trying to tell me the same thing: “2 folhas para mãos suavemente secas”. And they would always provide this information in the same place – the paper towel dispenser:

Here you see a slight variation on the traditional wording of the message. The meaning is just the same.

Now you don’t have to be an expert in Portuguese to get the general idea here. It’s saying that you should just use two sheets to dry your hands. And that is a good message right? It’s saying economise, it’s saying save the trees, save the planet. And yet there is something about this message that seems to get people a little bit wound up for a variety of reasons…

When I see a sign telling me to use only two sheets, it just makes me want to take three. I guess I feel that I am qualified to judge how many paper towels are sufficient – I don’t need a sign to instruct me.

In preparation for this post I did a little searching and do you know what? This appears to be a big and important issue for Brazilians. Seriously, there is a Yahoo Answers page, people have devoted entire blog posts to it (what kind of an idiot would do that?) – a lot of people are asking the same question. Do you comply with the instruction? And the response tends to be a resounding NO. Sometimes because people don’t like being told what to do and other times because often 2 actually isn’t enough.

But I think perhaps the people with the message here aren’t taking the best approach. This is an environmental issue right? And yet it comes across as a little authoritarian don’t you think? Here is, in my opinion, a far better way of saying the same thing:

A clear, simple, effective message. This was created by Saatchi & Saatchi for WWF in Denmark. Interesting how an entire continent can be used to represent the environment.

Is it just me? I far prefer this approach – don’t tell me what to do in angry capital letters. Remind me why it is important to avoid waste.

But the bathroom instructions don’t end there:

“Don’t piss on the floor. Put toilet paper in the bin. Flush the toilet after use”. For some reason they left off “Don’t take a dump in the sink”.

I hasten to add that my contrariness does not extend to this sign. Deliberately disobeying these instructions would be extremely anti-social wouldn’t it? And yet judging by the state of many toilets (not just in Brazil) people need telling. I just wonder if the people that piss on the floor read this and think “Oh yeah! I should aim for the toilet – what a helpful sign!”.

OK, I think that’s quite enough rambling on this subject. I promise to return my focus to the nice things here in Rio for the foreseeable future. If you’re all feeling dirty again, here is today’s antidote (brought to you by FuckYeahDucklings).