The quest for the well-labeled inn

[renke]

even wall plugs are happier in Denmark

[Skeptic]

@simonize

In new hospital construction, ground up is the practice so that a conductor dropped in the gap between the outlet and the plug is less likely to short it.

This just shows the problem with US standards. In Sweden (and Denmark as above), electrical sockets are recessed or shrouded so the pug pins are never exposed when energized.

[L_Mariachi]

I’ve wondered if there’s any subliminal psychological impact to being surrounded by horrified face outlets vs. happy face outlets.

[failquail]

Whilst clunky, this is why i particularly like the UK plug standard. The ground pin is longer than the two live pins and there’s a plastic shield covering said live receptacles which is mechanically retracted by the ground pin when inserting a plug…

Edit, found a video that is rather awesome

[anon81034786]

@Old

Just leave the key in your room and have the front desk let you back in your room when you get back. Do this several times a day until they decide to give you a second key.

Ah yes…a very Japanese passive-aggressive solution

@anon55609254

The most weirdness for me was in a Japanese hotel I stayed quite a while back. There was a sign in the bathroom that showed a stick figure with a man peeing, to show that the seat should be up.

Japan is the only county I’ve visited where I needed to read the instructions on the toilet before using it.

[simonize]

But then you can’t have one of the paired outlets controlled (for a floor lamp) and the other uncontrolled (if you wanted to use it for anything else during the day. The connection between the two is usually removable to enable you to do exacly that.

[Ignatius]

Regarding the ominous blue light from the demon box, I recommend bringing black electrical tape. Although I guess that might be suspicious while traveling? Perhaps one of these (in some color other than blue)?

@thaumatechnicia

So, where are you supposed to hang the towel to reuse them? On the towel rack where the clean towels are?

I hang 'em over the shower curtain. Get better surface area exposed for drying that way anyway.

@anon81034786

Last time I was in Japan they gave me an actual key (a bit like the one below) that had an embedded RFID chip that required me to place it on a little shelf near the door so there was no fooling it by using a business card. And they would only give me one key at check-in.

That sets my engineer / amateur-breaker heart aflutter. I bet you could build a solution with a Pi Zero and an RFID somethingsomething that would temporarily clone the key and keep the lights on while you were away.

[jerwin]

@anon81034786

Japan is the only county I’ve visited where I needed to read the instructions on the toilet before using it.

If only NASA hadn’t abandoned the Moon.

[anon55609254]

@kmoser

What in God’s name are you doing that your room needs to be cleaned every day? Shooting snuff films?

I think the problem is mainly that the hotel wanted to charge my sister more for cleaning (something that used to be part of the deal), instead of giving her a discount for not cleaning. But I guess with hotel room charges almost as fluid as airline fares, one can’t expect such logical reasoning.[quote=“piratejenny, post:99, topic:77052”]
I hang them over the shower curtain rod, same as at home.
[/quote]

I just wonder if it ever gets cleaned up there at all . . . dust, water, wear from plastic curtain rings all combining into a wonderful sludge. But then maybe I’m just OCD.

[smartr]

The weirdest bits of hotel configuration that come to mind for me was a toilet phone at Moody Gardens, and a fully body mirror in front of the toilet in NOLA.
I’m pretty sure there’s a rule that hotels rooms are planned by cutting up a paper list of the requirements and then just throwing the shreds onto a map of the room, which includes individual shower components.

[anon55609254]

One more gripe: air powered toilets that flush with all the quiet grace of a 747 taking off.

[jgs]

Apropos the well-labeled faucets, a brief anecdote: “how odd, why are the hot and cold reversed in this bathroom?” … “Ow!” … “Oh. ‘Caliente’ and ‘hielo’. Labeled clear as day. C and H. Duh.”

[piratejenny]

Goodness knows I never clean my shower curtain rod, so . . . probably not! That never even occurred to me, but I realize many people are more particular than I am.

[Towlemonkey]

A friend of mine once told me that you can tell how nice a hotel is by how many minutes it takes you to turn the lights on. Anything less than five is a dump. I thought about him after I braved a 23 hour journey to Singapore, only to arrive at my hotel at 3 AM and eventually just give up on figuring out the lights. Used the light from my cell phone to get myself in bed and figured it out the next day. The shower was another adventure.

[stinkinbadgers]

@anon81034786

Japan is the only county I’ve visited where I needed to read the instructions on the toilet before using it.

But the retractable heated-water bidet makes it soooooo worth it.

[anon68952647]

@jra

Maybe if all the happy mutants started carrying Sharpies

I second this motion

[alaniastar]

The “futuristic” 80’s control panel that greeted me my late night arrival at the Mirage in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia seems more appealing after reading this article.

[anon68952647]

[LDoBe]

I just asked my dad about that (30+ year IBEW member, still does CE, now works as an electrical drafter).

His response: “huh, didn’t know that one. I always figured it was sloppy workmanship.”

Then he started his standard spiel how sad it is that non-union electricians are harming themselves most of all.

He’s rabidly pro union for being such a politically conservative man. (Conservative as in small government with reduced spending, especially on the military because our current level of spending is unsustainable, not paying your taxes is tantamount to treason, and that we shouldn’t get involved in international affairs that don’t concern us,America has the duty to be an example for the world, not its ruler. Really, he’s the kind of “Republican” I wish there were more of.)

[piratejenny]

That is amazing. I want to go to there.