Flaming Babies @ Your Library

Below is the scan of the cleaning instructions that came with a new padded mat we have in the children's area of our library. A padded mat that serves as the base of our baby space. I'm sure the manufacturers intended it to be used for all kinds of things, but I'd assume children are a primary audience and direct skin contact is to be expected--that's what mats are for. Which is why these intructions strike me as particularly curious.

Step 1 is pretty basic and expected, clean with soap and water. Step 4 is odd because it's crossed out. Something about rubbing alcohol didn't work in some way; but instead of revising the document and taking away the idea, they very unprofessionally left it there and crossed through it. That kind of quality in the intructions makes me doubt the quality of their product. The thing that struck me about step 3 is that to remove stains you're supposed to leave a pool of bleach setting on it for 30 minutes. Not just anything can handle 30 minutes of bleach.

But the thing that really stands out to me is step 2. For tough dirt that resists soap and water, you should clean the mat with lighter fluid. Yes, that's right, lighter fluid.



*Needless to say, I don't think we'll be following these instructions to the letter.