The case of the shrinking paper towel dispensers
31 Mar 2006 
in mid-morning 
Matt Winckler
This week a strange thing happened in my building at work. Most of the paper towel dispensers were lowered by 1.5 to 2 feet. The carpenters came in, yanked the things out, bolted them back up, and left a mismatched spackling job behind. The newly relocated dispensers are now at a height suitable for my two-year-old son to use them. They are so low that I have to bend slightly to get a paper towel.
The question has been bothering me: what on earth was the motive for dropping these silly things down to an unusable level? Did a handicap accessibility law go into effect without me noticing? Did we hire a midget? (If so, I believe he should be required to carry his own stool everywhere instead of giving the rest of us orthopaedic problems by miniaturizing all of our fixtures.) The thing is, the old position of the paper towel dispensers was low enough that if you couldn’t reach that, then you also couldn’t reach the sink to get your hands wet in the first place. The new height just reinforces that notion. I suppose I will await the inevitable lowering of the sinks to a height suitable for a two year old, followed by the urinals, doubtless followed by the toilets themselves as well as any lunchroom counters and tables. Eventually we’ll all be working in a preschool.
It’s not easy being average in a world full of politically correct people.
That’s so strange. Our paper towel dispensors are still at the normal height. You’ll have to let us know if you discover what the actual reason was behind their doing that.
It’ll be like the floor they work at in Being John Malkovitch
Matt Cultural Ignorance Moment: never seen Being John Malkovitch. :-\
Well, it’s not really worth watching. But, There’s a floor on a building that is all half sized. The ceiling is like four feet high, and everyone has to crouch around. Here’s a picture: http://www.reelfilm.com/images/bjmalk.jpg