I Wonder....

I have to say, first off, that I love my workplace and who I work with. 

The gym I work at is a great place to indulge in the fine art of people watching.  More to the point, it's a great place to watch otherwise smart people do stupid things. 

No, I don't mean exercising.

What I mean is.... well, I'll give you an example.

We have automated paper towel dispensers, that are powered by batteries.  One of the two in the women's change room hasn't been functioning for about 2 weeks.  I put a clearly-legible black-and-white note in the centre of the front face of the machine that says: "Out of order. Dead batteries." It could not be any more plain than that. It's there for all to see!

There is even a roll of paper towel sitting loosely on the counter beside it.

This afternoon, I was wiping down the counters in the women's change room at the end of my shift.  I watched a woman approach the afflicted paper towel dispenser and wave her hands in front of the sensor a few times.  She paused, looked around the machine for (I'm assuming) some kind of feed button, but apparantly did not see the glaring sign that was in front of her at eye level.

Then (this is the great bit), she turns to me and says: "Miss, the paper towel dispenser isn't working."

It was a few seconds before I felt I could respond without either laughing or staring at her in awe. "The batteries are dead.  There's a note on the machine, and some paper towel on the counter."

Some incidents, like the above, are one-off events. Some are getting redundant, because I see them every day that I work.

Here's another example.

I start my day by vacuuming/sweeping all the floors.  I finish this up by sweeping up and then tidying the aerobics room in the downstairs area.  Since I don't have a photo, I'll the paint the picture.

You go down the stairs, and a big hardwood-floored space opens up before you, with a wall of mirrors on the side you enter on, and a wall of windows (including a balance bar) on the opposite side.  Off to the right corner is a little recessed area where extra balance balls, mats, steps and risers, a punching bag, and a big garbage bin. There is also an emergency exit that is clearly labelled in two places as such.

At the left corner of the room is a carpeted area, where the spin bikes are kept stacked against the wall until they are used in class.  There is also a bathroom off to one side and another emergency exit opposite it. Again, the exit is clearly labelled.  Multiple times, in fact: there is a glaring red exit sign suspended from the ceiling, the words "Emergency exit, alarm will sound when opened" on the glass of the door itself.  There is also a paper sign on the door saying the same thing, and a sign on the wall next to the door that says "This is an emergency exit. In the event of an emergency, this door needs to remain free of obstacles." Heck, I printed that last sign myself.

Couldn't be clearer, or so I thought.

Yet, day after day I have to pull the spin bikes away from where they have been left blocking the door. If there were an emergency that blocked off the other exit points, like a fire or a quake with falling debris, people would be prevented from getting out that way.

It makes you wonder.

It's like those silly warnings you see on product labels.  Someone, somewhere, had to have done the thing the packages warn you about. Probably repeatedly. People are, after all.....people.