People Watching by Keller Williams
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/kw2007-04-14.flac16_avantoneCK-1cards/kw2007-04-14d1t02_64kb.mp3]
I’m sitting in the library tonight, and I’m writing my paper. I’m using a computer in a well traveled part of the library so there are plenty of distractions. I’ve got to keep my subconscious occupied, or else it’ll distract me even more than those folks who are around me.
Anyway, in this lounge, there are two water fountains, right next to each other. One has a button to press and turn it on, and the other is sensitive to a person moving in front of it. Neither works very well. The sensor on the second fountain is a little flaky, so even if you stand in front of it, it may not turn on. You can even put your hand right over the sensor, and the fountain won’t budge. The first fountain has a sticky button, so even though it will turn on, it is difficult to turn it off.
After someone’s attempt to get a drink from the sensor fountain failed, they moved on to the button fountain, because they were in such a rush. So they got their drink, and started to move away, and noticed that the water was still running even thought they were not pushing the button. They glanced back and gave it a second to understand this, and kept walking.
The button fountain stayed on for ten more minutes, and nearly one hundred people walked by it. Every single person noticed it, but no one tried to understand or fix it. Some made little jokes to their friends, “Its a ghost.” Other people actually went up to get a drink from the sensor fountain. (this just confuses me…the other fountain was already on! why not just drink from it?) Despite the fact that the sensor fountain was right next to the button fountain, they didn’t bother playing with the button fountain or try and turn it off. So for ten minutes this went on, while the three of us sitting in the lounge looked on in amusement. Finally, one of the other two people in this lounge decided to leave, and on their way out, turned off the fountain.
I know that this was a waste of water and that I very well could have gotten up and turned it off, but this was far too interesting an opportunity to pass up. This paper was starting to bore me anyway, and this little impromptu experiment was a welcome distraction.
This is generally what is known as the ‘free rider problem’ where a person assumes that someone else will take care of it. And in the end, that is exactly what happened. But imagine what a world would be like if the first person to pass it turned it off.