Mirrors are for looking at, toilets are for sitting on!
lipstickA principal of a secondary school had a problem with a few of the older girls starting to use lipstick. The rules were that pupils don’t wear make-up. When putting it on in the bathroom they would then press their lips to the mirror and leave lip prints.
He knew the problem would escalate when other girls saw it, so before it got out of hand he had to think of a way to stop it. He gathered all the girls together that wore lipstick and told them he wanted to meet with them in the ladies room at 2pm.
They gathered at 2pm and found the principal and the school janitor waiting for them. The principal explained that it was becoming a problem for the janitor to clean the mirror every night. He said he felt the ladies did not fully understand just how much of a problem it was and he wanted them to witness just how hard it was to clean.
The principle then asked the janitor to demonstrate how difficult it was to clean it. He took a long brush on a handle out of a box. He then dipped the brush in the nearest toilet, moved to the mirror and proceeded to remove the lipstick.
That was the last day the girls pressed their lips on the mirror.
Washing your hands helps remove stains
castleThe stately castle was open to the public at weekends in order to raise cash for the day to day upkeep of the building and the grounds. There were a large number of period pieces of furniture, paintings, decoration and curtains. And the gardens were a work of art. People came in their thousands. They were guided around the building with explanations and many great stories that were slightly enhanced over the years. People loved it and it got write ups in the local press.
However, the manager was having a problem with the curtains in the great drawing room. They were over 200 years old and everybody was going over and feeling the curtains. This was having a damaging effect on the material. The manager was left with a choice, either block off that end of the room, which he didn’t want to do because it was in integral part of the tour or put up a sign asking people to refrain from touching the curtains. So he put up a sign “these curtains are 200 years old and constant handing is causing damage. Please do not touch”. It didn’t work; if anything it made people want to touch them more often.
Then he had a brainwave and put up a new sign. “Please wash your hands after handling the curtains because they have been specially treated and the chemical is poisonous to humans”. Nobody touched the curtains from then on.
