Letter to Fons & Porter

You are of =A0the same mindset that I am...if

In Illinois, any business that sells or provides food or drink that may be consumed on the premises is required by state law to provide restrooms available to the public! Some of the businesses don't like it, of course, but that is just part of doing the business chosen. However, there are others which do NOT offer food or drink and are not required to offer restrooms to the public but who do so anyway, and many of them actually post a sign in the shop window saying so! They get some foot traffic that will never spend a nickle inside, but get MORE foot traffic that makes a point to shop there. It's certainly good PR. A restroom should be clean anyway, right? So what if they go through more TP and soap and paper towels? It's just a business expense, and not all that much more anyway. (My former brother-in-law made his employee-only restroom available to the public, and he actually kept track of the bills and found the additional cost to be negligible, but the good will and occasional new customers to be worth a lot more. He had an independent insurance agency.)

Statistically, if you count the hours I held one in my hand, the safety record isn't that bad. A thicker pica pole, when used as a straightedge, probably would have prevented most. The blade had a tendency to jump the flat metal. What was most important was, the #1 rule, was "Don't bleed on the page." Second rule was "Don't even think about going to the ER until after the front page is on the press."

And physics! A round X-acto, according to the Laws of Gravity, will roll down an angled light table, gaining momentum as it rolls, and according to the Law of Murphy, will land blade-down. :-)

Sherry

I rest my case. BTDT, but at least I learned after the 2nd time (neither requiring stitches though...)

Doc