Matt Writes An E Mail

Our company got a new regional Vice President last week, a guy who has worked here locally for many years and is really good. Today we had an all-employee meeting where he spoke, we reviewed the results through June and talked about upcoming plans for various things. One quick presentation was on the building, which is currently getting new foundation waterproofing and will soon have the east parking lot resurfaced. Further down the list was planning bathroom renovations.

Time for Matt to toss in his two cents worth. I wrote to the HR Manager and Facilities guy.

Hi guys

I have a suggestion to consider when doing the bathroom renovations.

I have been riding my bike to work some days (not today, as I have golf tonight, but many other non-Thursdays). In the humid weather, I take a shower in the first floor Men's room shower and change into work clothes from my biking clothes. This bathroom gets really really steamy because there is no exhaust vent. While this works well to let my wool slacks' wrinkles hang out, it would be much nicer if there was a ventilation system that would draw out the moisture and vent it elsewhere as there is in nearly all home bathrooms.

The shower otherwise works very nicely in part because barely anyone uses it as far as I can tell. If higher gas prices arrive, more people might consider cycling in and need the showers. Also, my hair care and makeup needs are extremely minimal, but more attractive and fashionable people might want a place to plug in a blow dryer and apply various colored-pastes to their faces.

Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you'd give this some consideration when looking at the renovations. There are many benefits to cycling in (good exercise, lower oil consumption, less pollution, less traffic congestion, etc) and a better shower facility might tip some more people into trying it.

Thanks

Matt

PS This is the first office I've worked in with a shower available and I thank you for that--it would be impractical to ride in and dress nicely when it's really steamy out without it.

There. At least they know that somebody is using these things, that at a minimum they shouldn't eliminate the showers, and maybe they should enhance them. One has to work on all fronts and this won't affect anyone outside the building, but it's probably good to let the powers that be know what you're up to.

Now, if I could just figure out a graceful way to do indoor bike parking...