Answer these questions without looking at anyone else answers first. I’m curious what other peoples assumptions would be in the following scenarios. In every scenario you are looking at 2 things right next to each other. So left and right in these cases is with you looking at them head on. All of these are unmarked so you have to follow your instinct. Pick which one you assume is on the left.
Mens room (as in you know there are two bathrooms in front of you but they are not labeled)
Cold water (2 faucet handles and they are not labeled etc…)
Exit door (Got the idea?)
Pepper
Decaf coffee pot (like in a meeting and there are 2 coffee pots but they aren’t labeled)
Dryer
I’m curious if everyone would instinctively choose the same sides for these things.
I have literally never, in my life, seen a faucet where the cold water tap was on the left.
Literally, 100% of the time, the cold water tap is on the right, and in a single-tap, you have to turn to the right for cold (clockwise for shower-type, counterclockwise for sink-type). I’d be extremely surprised if this wasn’t a standard.
In my dad’s house, the dryer had to be on the left, because there was a basin that the washer drained into (poor Freddy the Tree Frog, I remember my dad lifting his remains out of the drain trap where he had escaped to and been inundated by hot soapy water), but in most places, I see the washer on the left.
If the coffee is unmarked, I will make no assumptions. Usually, I can smell the difference, but I have no intention of ever drinking that useless brown water. I will ask.
Except for water taps and exit doors (which depend on whether you are entering or exiting), all the others vary wildly. If I am sitting in a restaurant booth, what is “left”?
Our dryer is on the left. Never knew that was unusual. I’ve lived in a lot of different places, and honestly can’t recall how the washer and dryer were set up in previous homes.
Cannot be determined except through experimentation.
Hot water.
Cannot be determined except through experimentation.
Cannot be determined except through experimentation. (My waiter friends would be disappointed in me. I know there’s an order but it doesn’t come to mind.)
Cannot be determined except through experimentation.
Washing machine.
Sorry, I’m not trying to fight the hypothetical but if I chose a right or left, I’d be picking one at random.
Most places I’ve lived the water hookups and drain for the washer are on the left and the 240 v/AC outlet and vent for the dryer are on the right. That seems to be the standard so the washer is on the left and dryer on the right because there’s almost no other way to arrange them.
The washer dryer thing is interesting to me. Everywhere I’ve ever lived the dryer has been on the left but several folks here are saying it’s always been on the right.
Exit door: On the right as I’m exiting (and obviously that means to the left as I’m entering a store). But some stores have this swapped, to prevent people entering and exiting from crossing paths.
The only one I have any expectation for is the cold water and, like everyone else I expect it on the right. However, I certainly have seen the reverse. My grandfather loved to do plumbing but he had the habit of reversing the taps. And my son, whom I have been visiting since Thursday night, just had the guest bathroom redone and the plumber (!) got them backward. My son and his family never use that bathroom and were astonished. I guess they will have it fixed eventually.
In my bilingual province, tap handles might say H and C or else C and F for chaud and froid. As a result in my house, the taps on one bathroom say C and C.