Something that I have noticed at some growing churches I have visited is that they have really clean restrooms. From the door handles—-to the sink—-and mirror, everything is clean.
In fact, the room sparkles.
No, nobody likes to talk about restrooms, but they are a very important statement about the church and the perceived quality of the ministry.
One of the negative experiences a guest or casual attender can have is visiting an untidy restroom.
Imagine Mary’s (first time visitor) reaction when she enters the restroom and sees paper towel on the floor, cobwebs in the corner, water splashed on the counter and a mirror which has not been cleaned in months.
Top that off with toilets that have yellowed in color over the years and stall partitions that have rust spreading on them. Obviously, Mary would not feel good or welcomed by this experience.
5 things to make your restrooms sparkle.
1) Deep clean the restroom monthly. Most of us are familiar with spring cleaning, that time of year when you open the windows and wipe away the cobwebs. With your restrooms, every month should be spring cleaning month. Check them out to make sure all of the corners are clean, all of the smudges are removed from the wall and ensure that everything sparkles.
2) Fragrance can be your friend. I say can. If you are trying to use fragrance to cover up a bad odor, then people will smell what you are trying to do a mile away. If there is a bad odor, first find the source and eradicate it.
What a light amount of fragrance can do is give a fresh clean smell to the room. I would recommend staying away from floral scents and anything that is to over bearing. Really, what you want is to have is that just been cleaned smell.
3) Fully Stocked. Have you ever washed your hands and then went to grab a paper towel only to find the dispenser empty?
Yes, that is frustrating. Even more frustrating is when a stall is out of toilet paper and you have to look for another stall that has toilet paper, praying the whole time you will find one that is stocked.
Really it’s simple; Check your restrooms before services or events and top off anything that is needed.
4) Lighting and sound. Proper lighting helps everywhere. In a restaurant we may desire low level lighting (mood lighting). We like the atmosphere it creates as we don’t want to go to a restaurant and have it feel like you are in a surgical center.
On the other hand, in a public restroom you do want to see that everything is clean so surgical level lighting will also help give it a clean look and feel. Another thing to consider is background music. Again this creates a nice atmosphere and let’s face it, it can also mask some of the noises created in a restroom.
5) Keep up appearances. Before and after a service or event your restrooms get a lot of traffic. This is where the Ambassador comes in, the Restroom Ambassador.
Assign a gender appropriate person to keep tabs on the restroom, wipe up water when needed, pick up paper on the floor and make sure everything is stocked. Doing this will ensure that throughout the event or service everyone will have a positive experience.
One note of caution here, the Restroom Ambassador should be invisible, just randomly entering the restroom to make sure thing look good.
If the Ambassador hangs out in the restroom waiting to take action or continually goes from stall to stall checking supplies, people will become uncomfortable with the Ambassadors presence. People really do like privacy in the restroom.
A lot of ministries get the first 4 steps, but miss out on assigning a Restroom Ambassador. To make sure that everyone has a positive experience having a Restroom Ambassador is a necessity! So go and clean, put in a fresh scent, get the proper lighting and make your restrooms sparkle.
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