Public bathrooms aren’t something that bother me. If I have to go, I go.

I grew up in the mountains of Oregon and did the real type of camping with no amenities available. Parks, lakes, and random bathrooms just had cold, steel seats over a hole in the ground, and popping a squat behind a bush while out hiking was normal.

No second thought was given to how sanitary anything was as long as you made sure you kept a good distance away from the poison oak and thorn bushes.

There are individuals out there, though, like my mother, who refuse to use any public restroom unless it is an emergency. That woman will hold it until her eyes turn yellow before using a gas station or dirty fast food relief station.

The other day I brought her to OCCC to show her around before she registered for the school. I gave her the grand tour of the financial aid office, testing center, coffee shop, and the multiple labs that are available. And I saved the best for last.

I showed her the bathrooms.

From the smudge-free mirrors, clean counters, stocked toilet paper dispensers, and tidy floors, the cleanliness of the bathrooms here were enough to sway her into attending this school.

That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it did help, seeing the amenities, as well as the school as a whole, clean and inviting.

The dust is always at a minimum, if at all noticeable. The floors are always kept clean of trash, and the bathroom toilet paper dispensers somehow magically seem to fill themselves.

So, to the OCCC custodians, thank you for all the hard work you put into keeping our school, and more specifically our restrooms, clean and inviting. Even though the ladies room is almost always ‘closed for cleaning’ when I really need to go, your work is very much appreciated.

Rating: A+