CHINESE TOILET TIMERS

China’s Yungang Buddhist Grottoes are said to be a spectacular attraction for tourists, with 51,000 statues carved into hundreds of caves and niches. But the park is getting attention now for something different: they have put digital timers on the toilets in the ladies restroom. Each stall has its own digital counter, it starts counting off when the door is locked and it shows the number of minutes and seconds the stall has been occupied. A staff member at the attraction says the timers were installed to cope with an increase in visitors, and that they aren’t there to set a time limit for how long one could use stall, but it does have the effect of moving the user along instead of letting them sit there and, say, scroll through their mobile phone.
* Even more effective: At the three minute mark, the timer starts making loud nasty bathroom sounds.
* I can see this turning into maybe a speed contest. They could post a digital leader board with the top ten times.
* Or, turn it into a departure and arrival board, like at the airport: “Now arriving stall number 4, Lin Ping. Stall number 9 is cleared and ready for takeoff. All systems are go.”
* Sorry, but when I’m in the bathroom, I’m strictly analog.