Story by
Rachel Kaser
Internet Culture WriterRachel is a writer and former game critic from Central Texas. She enjoys gaming, writing mystery stories, streaming on Twitch, and horseback Rachel is a writer and former game critic from Central Texas. She enjoys gaming, writing mystery stories, streaming on Twitch, and horseback riding. Check her Twitter for curmudgeonly criticisms.
Someone’s spotted the new generation of pay toilets in Silicon Valley: namely, bathrooms that can be unlocked by downloading an app. There is such a thing as being too civilized, and I think making a bathroom break in your business depend on an app might just take the proverbial cake.
Noticed first by Christopher Kennedy of One Bright Light, the app apparently interfaces with a code reader on a hands-free door:
Welcome to app hell. You need an app or a printed QR code to use the bathroom here. pic.twitter.com/hYbHcsOOrN
— One Bright Light (@onebrightlight) November 5, 2017
The start-up, with the hellishly innocuous-yet-fitting name “Good2Go,” offers an app for certain locations that allows potential users to digitally queue up, and scan themselves into the bathroom with a code given by a clerk or the app itself. Its subscriptions are “free for a limited time,” which is confusing: do you eventually have to pay the app or the business to use the bathroom?
I suppose this is the natural extension of the age-old “restroom for customers only” policy, but the way the FAQ talks about lining up in-app for the bathroom and “enjoying the cafe” while you wait for the app to notify you it’s your turn sounds just a little too blithe for my tastes.
I don’t know about you guys, but when my back teeth are floating, I don’t want to sit down and download an app. I want a clerk to hand me a darned key, let me unlock the door, and take care of things in a timely manner — I don’t really care if I have to buy a scone in the meantime. I’d just rather not fiddle with my phone.
I’ve contacted Good2Go for clarification and will update if I hear back.
h/t Boing Boing
