Dries Twice As Fast

I had just got off a flight from Oakland to Dallas-Fort Worth, and as usual, I made a beeline for the men's room. When I entered the restroom, lo and behold, there it was:

The Dyson Airblade.

It's supposed to be the next big thing in hand dryers from Dyson, the maker of the vacuum cleaner. We have the "animal" model vacuum, and by golly, the thing really does work without losing suction. It's really neat to see all the dust, clumps of hair, and general scurf collected in the clear plastic container.

Anyways, the Dyson Airblade at the airport restroom was mounted on a floor-mounted stand, and it kind of looked like a trouser press. It's got that kind of smooth plastic construction just like the vacuum cleaners. It looks pretty cool, but its seemed a little out of place.

I saw several guys give it a strange look as they walked by. But I knew what this thing was as soon as I saw it. I had read about the Airblade, and was eager to try it. If the vacuums sucked so well, the Airblade had to do a great job of blowing. As I did my business at the urinal, I couldn't wait to wash my hands. That doesn't happen too often.

I washed up and approached the Airblade with my wet hands. You're supposed to put your hands in the openings at the top of the machine, and slowly draw them out. The Airblade is supposed to "squeegee" the water off your skin with a continuous jet of air. I put my hands in, and slowly raised them up. A blast of cold air hit me, which was kind of a surprise. I pulled my hands completely out, and...

...they were still kind of wet. I probably didn't move slowly enough, but I really hoped the thing would work more quickly then it did. I ended up wiping off my hands on my jeans. There was a man in a shirt and tie who was watching me use the Airblade; thinking he shared the same curiosity that I did, I looked at him and kind of shrugged my shoulders. He looked back at me like I was crazy.

Maybe I need to give it a second try, but I didn't see the big leap ahead in hand-drying technology. I guess we'll need to wait a little longer before we can really live like the Jetsons.