Two bubblers

[ChadTower]

There is a pair of water fountains near my desk at work.  They are less than a foot apart, identical fountains.  One is about a foot lower than the other.

I see, every day, people line up 2-3 deep at times waiting to use the higher of the two.  A lot of people fill their water bottles there, myself included.  People will stand around and wait to do so...

...always ignoring the second fountain, right next to the first.  I almost never see anyone use the second one, even if there are three people waiting for the first.

 

[Stingray]

I thought this was going to be thread about you & Tommy having beans in the hot tub.

-S

[ChadTower]

I do not want to see a naked, wet, blindingly white tommy.

You cannot make me.

[whammoed]

I do not want to see a naked, wet, blindingly white tommy.

You cannot make me.

So, you are saying you want to be blindfolded? 

[Stingray]

I probably can't, but it would be funny to see someone try.

-S

[Harry Potter]

There is a pair of water fountains near my desk at work.  They are less than a foot apart, identical fountains.  One is about a foot lower than the other.

I see, every day, people line up 2-3 deep at times waiting to use the higher of the two.  A lot of people fill their water bottles there, myself included.  People will stand around and wait to do so...

...always ignoring the second fountain, right next to the first.  I almost never see anyone use the second one, even if there are three people waiting for the first.

 

Everone who drinks from the small fountain, while queuing for the big one is deemed to know 'too much' and promptly vanishes down a trap-door hidden in front of it..

Or maybe people are just dumb... 

[ChadTower]

So, I just went to fill my water bottle.  A guy waits for me to get off the taller fountain while the short fountain is idle.

I turned around and asked him why he was waiting when there is a second fountain not in use. 

He snarled at me as if I'd insulted him.

[Harry Potter]

Or maybe Tommy drank from it once and everyone knows.

[Stingray]

Maybe it's an Ultracade product.

-S

[SirPoonga]

You should put the shorter one on something to make it taller...

[ChadTower]

You should put the shorter one on something to make it taller...

It is attached to the wall.

Clearly, it gets little use while the other is high traffic.  This one is dry every time I see it and the taller one is usually in use.

[SirPoonga]

Heh, you should sneak some rum in the other one, see how long it takes for the trend to change....

[missioncontrol]

stick an out of order sign on the tall one and if theres a cut off valve turn it off and observe peoples reactions.......

take amny note and pictures for this project....

[ChadTower]

Heh, if I weren't averse to doing things that risk my job, I would.

[Sephroth57]

that or put a plastic penis around the fountain tip, then no one will want to drink from it

[ChadTower]

Dude, this place is so PC corporate sterile hell, I can't even SAY that without meeting with HR.

[Sephroth57]

heh, thats funny. im in the most casual office environment ever. i couldnt imagine myself in a cubicle in some 'office space' type place

[ChadTower]

I've been in the casual places.  Once you work your way up to the senior technical roles, those casual places expect you to produce more than I have to produce here.

[missioncontrol]

try to figure out a way to partially clog it so that the water shots right at the person who is trying to dring from it......


oh yeah and take your turn (scrabble)

[Harry Potter]

Totally unrelated, i'm about switch my computer off for the first time in 5 days (Thanks to the UPS i got a while back).

But i will be back.....

[Zakk]

I had the same kind of fountain arrangement at a place I used to work, and it was the same thing.  The second one was 'much' lower, and intended for people in wheelchairs.  People would always use the higher one, myself included, probably for the same reason you would feel guilty using the handicap parking places, even though the spots are empty.

[Sephroth57]

i thought theyre just for midgets and kids

[ChadTower]

It's not THAT low and there are no wheelchair bound people here.

[missioncontrol]

I had the same kind of fountain arrangement at a place I used to work, and it was the same thing.

[Sephroth57]

i actually always use the handicapped ones if i need to use a stall, cause those normal ones youre too close to the walls

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Chad,

Now that you mention it, I've noticed the exact same thing at my office. I work in a large IT firm, 100's of employees, and the shorter fountain is always dry. Weird.

Maybe the taller fountain, designed for people of average height, just accommodates them more...they don't have to bend down as far. They get used to using it and never try the smaller one...even to fill up water bottles.



mrC
P.S. Your townie cred is lackin...it's "Bubbla"   

[Sephroth57]

well you know i just thought of something, they probably wait in line cause its time away from their desk and they dont wanna go back so soon, heh

[Stingray]

Curiosity got the better of me. There are two fountains right across the hall from my office. I hardly notice them because I never use them. Just went out there and took a look. One regular height, one short one. The taller one looks to have been used in the past few minutes, the shorter one is dry as a bone.

-S

[missioncontrol]

all our fountains at work are normal size, when I get my office job I'll let you know.....

[ChadTower]

P.S. Your townie cred is lackin...it's "Bubbla"

[Stingray]

School just got out, which means that 1400ish students just walked past those two fountains. The tall one is still wet, the short one is still dry. This is a very strange cultural phenomenon that you have discovered here.

-S

[SirPoonga]

But school kids are different, they will make fun of someone who uses the short fountain.

[Stingray]

Can't argue with that.

-S

[shmokes]

In my opinion people who use short fountains are inferior.

[Bones]

Reasons for this strange phenomenon can be easily explained by evolution from a time when we had to conserve every calorie to survive.

Excessive bending to reach a shorter bubbler would consume more energy and if we needed to run from a large flesh eating animal it may have made all the difference between life or death.

Preference for a bubbler that is closest to our intake system is simply a hard-wired reflex that we have zero control over.

[duffjr]

you're bending over for both of them.  it's the same feeling.  just use the shorter fountain.  i go for the shorter one nowadays since it seems cleaner to me.  it's not like you have to get on your knees.  isn't it different for the shorter urinal in the bathroom?  if there's a guy peeing in the tall one on the right, i'm peeing in the shorter one on the left rather than the tall one in the middle.

[esser]

Perhaps peple avoid the shorter fountain because there is moe chance that someone could have taken a leak in the shorter fontain!
I waste half the day worying about crap like that, gotta go wash my hands!

[ChadTower]

Preference for a bubbler that is closest to our intake system is simply a hard-wired reflex that we have zero control over.

Now, factor in that most of these people are way overweight, and make it work.

[Stingray]

Perhaps peple avoid the shorter fountain because there is moe chance that someone could have taken a leak in the shorter fontain!
I waste half the day worying about crap like that, gotta go wash my hands!

Being that the one that I mentioned is in the main hall of a high school right next to the security desk, I think the chances that someone has ever peed in it are pretty remote.

-S

[ChadTower]

In a high school next to the security desk, people at my high school would walk right up and drop a steamer in it.  Then they'd flip off the frightened security guy.

Wait, we never had any security guys or security desk, just steamers in the water fountains.

Wait... the water fountains were all off and hadn't been working in a decade.