All employees must wash hands before returning to work.

There was a faculty meeting today. I was beginning to zone out until a fellow teacher, Ms. Rubio, said something that sparked my interest. It had to do with the soap dispensers (or lack thereof) in the bathrooms (a hobo bath is a hobo teacher's best friend, after all). She pointed out that after fifteen weeks the dispensers themselves had been replaced, but on the sixteenth week there was still no hand soap in them.

Principal Pécan responded that the dispensers were ripped off and destroyed because students tend to spread the soap on the floor and slide back and forth in the bathrooms, so no more would be supplied as a way to stop the misbehavior. That's when Ms. Rubio asked why were the dispensers replaced, if there was no intention to utilize them. That's when the following was exchanged:

Pécan pointed out, "The soap dispensers give the school a more pleasant appearance."

"So the outside of the dispenser is more important than the inside?" responded Rubio.

"That's right," confirmed Pécan.

"So the surface is more important than what's inside?" Rubio reiterated.

Pécan shot back, "Correct."

"Are we still talking about soap?'

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Pécan confirms as giggles start to build. I'm not sure that he was in on the joke.

But, I had to appreciate Rubio because she turned an issue of microorganisms into a microcosm of the situation at our school.