Winter 2019 - NZ 25 Electronic Toilet

NZ 25  Electronic Toilet.

Ah, what an experience we had at one of our rest stops. 

You Really Need to Read These Instructions Before Entering

We had to use the public facilities and we saw that the washrooms (bathroom for the U.S.) were brand new and still very shiny. NZ is good that way, they have spots for travelers but… you‘ll need a degree in l'utilisation de la Maison de Merde (excuse my French).

First you need to wait for the green light. You cannot enter or operate the sliding door if the light is NOT green. Makes sense, right?  Someone is inside.

What you don’t know is what is going on inside...

Let me explain.

You walk in and the door behind you automatically closes, in fact locks!  

Blue Light Indicates the Next Step

It will not open if you don’t do the following:

And… you must do each step in order, or you restart from the beginning… and no you cannot skip a step, the 'automaton' will not let you.

You need to follow the green light that pops on when you finish each step.

So…first thing is the door locks behind you…red light goes on, you are now locked in.

Green Light. Yea! Now I Can Get OUT!

Well you do your business at the commode and then you stand up (guys..?  You need to sit down on it, no cheating) the seat is 'touch' sensitive. OK, you stand up and now you need to flush… nothing happens until YOU flush, then the green light goes on over the commode. But… where do you flush… there is a foot petal on the floor you need to step on. No, it’s not an automatic flush when you stand up. YOU have to flush. 

Now you have to wash your hands… you cannot do anything else but wash your hands and you need to do this with soap… if you skip the soap the water will not run. So, soap up…. Green light

Then wash your hands for at least 1 minute…. Then, and only then… after one minute…. Green light

OK, phew… done?   No!  Not yet…..you MUST dry your hands on the air blower…. Yes, wait until the air blower stops and only then can you push the door to get out.

Green Light Shows the (L) Hand Stall Is Empty But It is (a Urinal) For Men Only

 I have never seen a toilet system like this…. It teaches all to do the right thing inside and there is no shortcut, no cheating…

The lines outside were kind of long, even though they had 4 of those new toilets side by side.

If you cannot read the instructions… or if you do not follow the rules you will be stuck in this toilet for a long time.  

I wonder what others thought about this, but can I really go and ask the people that came out: "Tu as aimé la nouvelle maison de merde?"  Excuse my French!

I sat and licked an ice cream and just watched all the people standing in line wondering why they could not get in, why they had to wait that long.

When I was in China I had a bit of a hard time using their squat toilets, but this is getting even… NZ is teaching them how to do it the right way. And if they don’t get it… they are stuck inside forever!