RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31881, 8 January 1969, Page 14

RANDOM REMINDER

HELP!

It is not very often that we receive telephone calls from cool, efficient and charming young office ladies, and very seldom indeed that they call to ask us to lead a crusade designed to provide them with toilets properly equipped with all standard fittings.

The young lady who rang said she worked for an organisation which shall be nameless, but we can at least hint that it is one which depends entirely on the public’s confidence in it, and to an even greater extent than, say, a manufacturer. And the young lady said —and we hoped we could detect a note of embarrassment in her voice, although of this we are anything but certain—-

they were having trouble with the upstairs ladies’ toilet, mainly because the lock would not fit into the aperture intended to receive it, this necessitating the placing of a foot against the door. Emily Post would have had none of that. There were other complaints about the compartment which need not be repeated; and it seemed that there was little chance of a successful campaign being conducted in this column. It seemed somehow to lack general interest.

But the young lady rang again next day, in a great state of excitement. The caretaker, she said, had gone to fix the thing. He had with him a hammer,

which he used to finish off the fixing of the bolt. Rather more zealous than temperate, he had broken the metal with his hammer, and had locked himself in. A call for help? Not possible. He had lost his voice completely. So he sat contemplatively and assessed his situation. He remembered, after a while, that he had a key ring in his pocket. And he cleverly used the nobbly bit of the key as a lever to release the bolt and himself.

Now they have a new lock and bolt. The staff is happy again. And so are we, even if we weren’t in time to help. It’s like giving Christmas presents. It’s the thought that counts.