Olympics means goodwill everywhere you go

Friday night before the Opening Ceremony I experienced one of those indelible moments that could only happen at an Olympic Games. In a bathroom, no less.

I was preparing to wash my hands, when I saw an older man struggling to get soap out of the dispenser. He needed to reach underneath and behind the dispenser and pull it toward him, but he couldn’t seem to figure it out. I told him to reach further back — “toward the wall, then pull.”? Then I gestured what to do. A-ha! He turned, gave me a big smile and said “Merci.”?

I had already scrubbed my hands with soap, but when I put them under the faucet, the water didn't come out. There were no handles, so it had to be an automatic faucet, right? I waved my hands around and up and down, but nothing happened. I tried again in the next basin, and the next. Nothing. Augggh.

Now it was the Frenchman’s turn. He smiled, then pointed at the floor. There was a round rubber button on the ground under each sink. When you stepped on it, water gushed out of the faucet. Voila!

“Merci!”? I said. "Merci!" he laughed.

Only at the Olympics.