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September 19, 2005
Run the gauntlet
The administrators at school here did an amazing thing. Every day when you walk in to the building, there is always a cluster of people hanging out by the door smoking. The dean of the school decided that this was not going to work, and got rid of the ashtrays and installed no smoking signs. Then, she sent out an e-mail explaining exactly why she was taking this step.
I had to laugh, because the e-mail did not invent any sort of BS reason for the ban. Visitors, important lawyer types, were simply annoyed that they had to walk through a "gauntlet" of smokers to get into the building. People visiting the next door Chicago Bar Association had similar complaints.
Now, I think it's fair to say most anyone else would have come up with another reason than "it's annoying." There's all kinds of reasons: it's unhealthy to the workers; it is a bad influence on kids; etc. But never have I heard of a ban because other people are annoyed.
It was an interesting decision, to say the least. While I think I approve of it, I would have liked there to be a better reason than people complaining about it.
It got me to thinking. What other stuff do you think could be banned if enough people complained about it? Talking on a cell phone is not an acceptable answer, either.
Posted by oz115 at September 19, 2005 10:45 AM