Friday, October 31, 2014

Tips to Stay Sanitary in Public Restrooms

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The unfortunate truth is that all of us, at one time or another, have to use a public bathroom. Nobody likes doing it there, but there comes a time where you just can't make it back to the house. Or, maybe you're on the road a lot and have to frequent the public restrooms. Regardless of how you end up there, ultimately you want to be as sanitary and clean as possible. Posted below are a few tricks that have helped me survive the horror of public restrooms, and I hope that they will also be beneficial to you.

Minimize Contact

Minimizing contact is huge when using a public restroom. Whether you realize it or not, there are tons of things that you would normally touch that you don't need to due to the unsanitary nature of public restrooms. First off, if the bathroom provides touchless solutions such as toilets and faucets, you should take the opportunity in a heartbeat. You don't really get to choose whether a bathroom provides touchless fixture, however, going touchless plays a huge part in reducing germ pickup and you should definitely choose touchless given the option. One of the most germ infested parts of the whole bathroom is the door handle. Everyone needs to get in and out of the bathroom, so it makes sense that door handles get touched more than other parts of the bathroom and naturally care more germs. Many public restroom doors are push open, but many people use their hands anyways. The best way to stay germ free in such a situation is to use the rest of your body to open the door as opposed to your hands. There will be times where you many have to use a door handle to get in, but it is definitely preferred to use your body instead of touching the handle. The last thing on the list of things not to touch is the toilet handle. On top of the fact that it carries a hefty amount of germs in the first place, people also tend to flush with their foot to avoid germs, essentially adding even more possible germs to the mix. You could either hop on the foot flushing train yourself, or what I recommend, use an extra piece of toilet paper to flush and protect your hand from possible germs.

Avoid Blow Driers

I feel like one of the most unsanitary things you can do to a public restroom is put a blow drier in and not offer an option for paper towels. Although store owners do it to save money, they are only causing bathroom users to be less sanitary. When you wash your hands and blow dry them, you are literally drying the germs right back onto your hands. When you wash your hands and proceed to use paper towels, you essentially wipe what's left of the germs off. Sometimes you are forced to use blow driers, but given the two options, paper towels will kill off more germs every time.


Keep Hand Sanitizer

This may seem unconvenient and unnecessary, but this is one of the biggest ways you can reduce germ pickup in pubic restrooms. For women who carry purses, keeping a small bottle of hand sanitizer can be convenient, but that cannot be said for most guys. I recommend that if you don't carry some kind of purse or bag around that you get a bottle you can put on your key chain. That way, you'll always have it with you, and you can kill off germs as needed.
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Friday, October 24, 2014

When to Take Plumbing into Your Own Hands

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Everyone likes to do what they can to save a buck here and there. Some people pinch more pennies than others, but for the most part people like to be smart with there money. With that being said, many common household plumbing issues can be solved through do it yourself solutions in order to save money. Think of it this way: would you hire a plumber to plunge your clogged toilet? You shouldn't be paying money for such a simple and trivial task. There are other common plumbing issues that aren't rocket science, and you can fix them yourself in order to save money as opposed to hiring a professional.


Risk / Reward

Do it yourself plumbing is kind of a risk/reward system. You run the risk doing it wrong, but it can also save you money if done right. There are two basic residential plumbing issues that I would recommend fixing yourself: faucet leaks and clogged drains. Many residential plumbers will offer to do both these tasks for you at decent rates, but only because they are simple. You can do them just as easily, free of charge. I might feature blog posts on how to fix each specific issue, but here's the rundown: faucet leaks often occur when your stem goes bad and drain clogs often result from large clumps of hair and other waste clogging up the drain. With a bit of Googling and a trip to your local plumbing supply shop, you can fix your leaky faucet and clogged drain for free.


When to Call a Professional

As I mentioned earlier, DIY plumbing is a risk/reward system. I highly recommend doing the two tasks mentioned above yourself, but I would consider hiring a plumber for anything more complicated than that. The last thing you want is to make the situation worse than it already was and have to pay extra to have it fixed. Saving money is a great thing, but there is a line to be drawn between DIY and calling a professional when it comes to residential plumbing issues.
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Friday, October 17, 2014

10 Humorous Plumbing Memes

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Usually here at the Gorilla Weekly, we like to provide our readers with informational posts. However, that does not mean that we lack a sense of humor. Plumbing in itself is full of satire and jokes, so it is only natural that people will find out ways to express their love and/or hate relationships with plumbing. Posted below are 10 memes that I personally enjoy and hope that you will as well.























































http://i.imgur.com/RvvuJ.jpg

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Friday, October 10, 2014

Takeaways from Metcraft's Viral Video Campaign

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For those of you who don't know, Metcraft Industries has done a fantastic job of creating a viral video marketing campaign based on the large amount of obscure things that their comby toilets can flush. They flushed everything from golf balls to gummy bears, and they have over one and a half million combined views on their videos. Metcraft is a well established brand, but they don't have a big enough following to justify that many views. So what did they do right to strike marketing gold with their videos? Let's look at some takeaways from this viral campaign so that maybe you can come up with a viral campaign for your own plumbing shop.

The Campaign

Metcraft's Youtube video campaign consists of 13 different videos averaging over 100,000 views per video. Before we break down their campaign and talk about how it can be replicated, watch the compilation video below highlighting the 12 different flushing experiments they did.




#1: Make it Interesting

The first and biggest thing if you're looking to attempt a viral marketing campaign is to come up with an ingenious idea.Take Metcraft's idea, for example. Anyone would be interested in watching large quantities of miscellaneous items being flushed down a toilet. Come up with something creative that pertains to your plumbing shop; something unique and creative that both highlights your brand and makes for an interesting watch.

#2: Appeal to the Masses

So many people try to turn viral marketing campaigns into a sales pitch, when in reality that's the last thing it should be. The theoretical goal of a viral marketing campaign is to make something that appeals to anyone in an attempt to boost brand awareness. I'm not saying you can't or won't pick up customers because of it, but it should not be your primary goal.

#3: Have Fun with It

This is just a hunch, but I bet the guys at Metcraft had a pretty good time producing those videos. If you aren't having a good time executing whatever your "golden idea" is, you're probably not going to strike it rich with the views. If you're truly having a great time doing it, there's a good chance that other people will be interested in watching it.


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Friday, October 3, 2014

Creative Ways to Incorporate Plumbing into Your Halloween

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Today is the first Friday in October. That being said, people are already starting to think about what they are going to do for Halloween this year. Whether you want to get dressed up to go trick or treating or you just want to stay home and give out candy, there are ways that you can incorporate plumbing into your Halloween plans. Adding a hint of plumbing to your Halloween festivities can not only serve as a creative and unique tradition but also as conversation starter and marketing plug if you own your own plumbing business.


Costume Ideas


#1: Super Mario!!!

You know that Italian guy in all the Nintendo games? Well, whether you realize it or not, he is actually a plumber by profession. Being Mario for Halloween makes for a great plumbing costume for any and all ages. The great thing about Mario is that almost anyone can recognize him. We have all had a time where we got hooked on a Mario game, and sporting him as a costume can help bring back some of those memories. Since Mario is the fairly popular video game figure that he is, you can buy Mario costumes at most Halloween costume outlets, however, you could get creative with it and come up with your own rendition of the Mario costume.


#2: PlumbZilla Gorilla

Seeing that you are reading this blog, you have some connection with the PlumbZilla Gorilla. Whether you are a customer, blog reader, or social media follower, maybe you like our service or branding enough to want to be the gorilla for Halloween. It's a pretty basic costume that can be made in a few simple steps. First off, get your hands on a gorilla suit. After that, get a dark blue shirt and sharpie a light blue "Z" in the middle of it.  Get in the suit, put the shirt on, and that's it! If you're feeling really ambitious, you could get a pipe, plunger or banana (some of the gorilla's favorites) to carry around. If you do something to the effect of a PlumbZilla Gorilla costume, be sure to send us some pictures!


#3: Occupational Plumber

If you are a plumber by occupation, why not be yourself for Halloween? Being an occupational plumber can be a great conversation starter regarding what you do for a living and could possibly even give you some business leads. If you are a plumber by trade, you probably already have a good outfit to wear, but if you aren't, I would still recommend being a plumber. Whether you just have a general interest in plumbing or just want to be the unconventional costume, being a plumber can be a great choice. If you don't already have some kind of plumbing costume or apparel, you can buy a plumbing costume from some Halloween costume outlets or you can come up with the costume yourself. Making your own plumber costume from household items can be easy: just come up with some old clothes, an old hat, and something plumbing related that you can carry around.



But I'm Giving out Candy



#1: Tootsie Poops

If you're giving out candy, tootsie poops can make for a great gag. It's fun, creative, and makes the kids think twice before they go grabbing random candy. The two things you need for this are a miniature antique toilet and some tootsie rolls. Sanitize the mini toilet, take the tootsie rolls out of the wrappers, and use the toilet bowl as your means of giving out candy. The tootsie rolls in the toilet look like miniature poops, making a fun gag for all parties involves. The kids get candy, you get a laugh out of their reactions.


#2: Plumbing Trivia

Another way that you can incorporate plumbing into handing out candy is making plumbing trivia questions to give the kids in addition to candy. Cut some 3 x 5 not cards in half and write a plumbing trivia question on one side, and try to encourage a written answer on the other side. This will give the kids something to do while they eat their candy, and it helps them with their researching skills. Try to make the questions pretty basic so that they can find the answers easily through the internet or even their parents. Handing out plumbing trivia questions can not only help educate the kids in regards to plumbing, it also helps your house rise above the standard level of Halloween mediocrity.
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