The drug mule arrives at 8:45 PM to give me the first of my evening pills. She turns the bathroom cold water tap on full blast.
Mule: “I’ll run the water to make it colder for you, sweetie.”
Me: “Thanks honey-bun.” The workers refer to us with terms of endearment. Dearie, my love, sweetheart, and the one I dread the most – hon. It’s gratuitous, meaningless and irritating. Depending on how it’s used it can even be borderline demeaning. I usually respond with a ridiculous one of my own.
Back to the bathroom tap. The mule discovers the mug that usually lives there is missing. Anticipating her question, I shout “The mug is in the kitchen sink waiting to be washed.” She leaves the bathroom with the water still RUNNING FULL BLAST, goes to the kitchen and turns the water on there to wash the mug. I freak out.
Me: “You left the bathroom water running. You’re wasting so much water!”
She scurries back to the bathroom to turn the water off there but leaves the kitchen tap running FULL BLAST. OMG! Now I’m horrified and turn the tap off myself. She’s bewildered by my reaction.
Mule: “What’s wrong? I do this all the time at home.”
I cringe at the thought of her routinely letting so much water go right down the drain. And, when she’s at work, if she wastes that much in my room, imagine how much she uses during her entire eight-hour shift as she goes around dispensing pills to 80 residents. I bet it’s enough to fill a swimming pool. I give her my gentle talk/lecture about freshwater being a precious resource we need to conserve. It only comes clean out of the ground once, after that it’s treated and recycled.
We run the risk of running out of groundwater supplies in the near future. Once upon a time, I attended a lecture by Maud Barlow of the Council of Canadians on this very thing, so I’m not just blowing smoke.
I will continue my quiet little campaign, attempting to shine a light on the need for water conservation.
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