24 oct 2012

in the locker room at work there are actually four rooms: lockers, sinks, toilets, showers. like a pair of fat pants where you're in a skinny season, the whole place is big in a way that our shrunken company doesn't fill out anymore. a dozen sinks, a dozen toilets... at any rate - cavernous.

the toilet room with its stall upon stall upon stall has a window that provides plenty of light. so, i'll turn out the light whenever i'm passing by - in, out, through (did i mention the rooms all connect?) - out goes the light. why? because i am an electricity conservator. HA. just kidding. i don't give a shit about all that and pluswise, it's not enough to make a difference, is it now. no, it is not. clearly, i am turning it off to mess with my coworkers.

i do the turning-off when i'm in the giant locker cave alone, see. sometimes i will still be in there when someone else comes in, sometimes not, but if i am there, i'll wait to find out if the person going in will turn the light on. there's plenty of light shining in from the window, see, so the fluorescent light's extra. some people will turn it on, some people will not. actually, most people will, very few people will not. pretty strange, really. why are they turning it on? habit, i suppose.

today i upped the ante. there's this fold-up "caution wet floor" sign that is sometimes in the doorway when they've been in there mopping. i brought it out and propped it in the middle of the doorway, turned off the light, and sat down on the bench in the area by the outdoors doors to check my email on my iphone. what? WHAT? okay, we both know i was waiting to see if anyone would come turn the lights on. two people came in. both of them stepped awkwardly around-over the sign (which weighs like 8oz and is easily moved) and neither one turned on the light. a few hours later, i was back up there to change clothes for an after-work run. the sign was still up, the light still off, and i watched another person come and go, negotiating the mid-doorway sign, leaving the light off.

i think this tells us everything we need to know about the effect of just a tidge of authority on the otherwise habitual behaviour patterns of perfectly normal people.