Is it just me or do people just like to discuss without reason? And could it be that information is not a blessing, but a curse?
The other day, I was at a Leonard Cohen concert. In case you are unfamiliar with him, he is an old singer/songwriter who is in his seventies now and makes pretty calm but good music. It's not the kind of gig where you rush to the front and go crazy, but where you sit back and listen to the music. I don't think there would ever be a moshpit to "Who by Fire" (although I have seen weirder things happen).
Anyway, it was seating only, and each seat was numbered. The ticket gave information about what block your seat is in (in case you were seated in the stands), and the numbers of your seat and the row it was in. If you have ever been to a stadium, you know it. Big signs displaying the number of each block, little numbers at the end of each row and a small number on the back of your seat. And just to make sure, there are people at the gates -each gate leads to two adjacent blocks- telling you which side your block is on. It is literally idiot-proof.
So I had a seat in the stands, and I found it immediately with no problem. Get in on the right side, have a short glance which way the row numbers go and there you are. No problem. And yet, some people are even too stupid for that. So when the gig started, there were two people standing next to the row in front of me, staring at the row number, at the seats (which were taken), and at their tickets. They literally stood there for minutes looking around not knowing what to do. Only after they were nearly panicking, they asked the people who were sitting in what they thought were their seats about it, and they had no clue either. After another few minutes had passed, a security person came to them, and explained that they were simply in the wrong block, and they just needed to go to the neighbouring one. They still did not seem to understand the concept, but went as the security led them. Case solved? Of course not, because now the people in the seats were irritated and started discussing for no apparent reason. First two songs spoiled because people just couldn't think to save their lives.
Today, there was a problem with the metro. My town has two metro railways, an underground one and an overhead one. The underground is called "U-Bahn", the overhead one "S-Bahn". They are administered separately, but use the same fees and so on. But they look completely different, and it is pretty hard to mix them up, because one is underground and one is overhead. It's really not difficult.
The "S-Bahn" is currently in a crisis and pulled a great number of their trains out of traffic to repair them. It's annoying, the schedule is f'cked up, but it's not too hard to deal with it. For commuter convenience, the "U-Bahn" stations have notifications everywhere saying that the "S-Bahn" is currently not operating properly. It's a good service, not strictly necessary, but still not bad to have.
This morning, in addition to the "S-Bahn", there was also a delay in the "U-Bahn" for unknown reasons. The electronic signs in the "U-Bahn" station notified commuters about that, in addition to the information about the "S-Bahn" delays. I.e. two delay notifications on one sign that don't have to do with each other, especially because it specifically said which was which. It was top-notch information, nothing more to ask for. And yet I overheard two women discussing about what it meant, how these two bits of information go together, and if they accidentally went into the "S-Bahn" station. They did not even think about considering that they were two separate pieces of information that just happened to be displayed at the same time.
There should be less information published, so some people's blatant stupidity is not exposed.
The other day, I was at a Leonard Cohen concert. In case you are unfamiliar with him, he is an old singer/songwriter who is in his seventies now and makes pretty calm but good music. It's not the kind of gig where you rush to the front and go crazy, but where you sit back and listen to the music. I don't think there would ever be a moshpit to "Who by Fire" (although I have seen weirder things happen).
Anyway, it was seating only, and each seat was numbered. The ticket gave information about what block your seat is in (in case you were seated in the stands), and the numbers of your seat and the row it was in. If you have ever been to a stadium, you know it. Big signs displaying the number of each block, little numbers at the end of each row and a small number on the back of your seat. And just to make sure, there are people at the gates -each gate leads to two adjacent blocks- telling you which side your block is on. It is literally idiot-proof.
So I had a seat in the stands, and I found it immediately with no problem. Get in on the right side, have a short glance which way the row numbers go and there you are. No problem. And yet, some people are even too stupid for that. So when the gig started, there were two people standing next to the row in front of me, staring at the row number, at the seats (which were taken), and at their tickets. They literally stood there for minutes looking around not knowing what to do. Only after they were nearly panicking, they asked the people who were sitting in what they thought were their seats about it, and they had no clue either. After another few minutes had passed, a security person came to them, and explained that they were simply in the wrong block, and they just needed to go to the neighbouring one. They still did not seem to understand the concept, but went as the security led them. Case solved? Of course not, because now the people in the seats were irritated and started discussing for no apparent reason. First two songs spoiled because people just couldn't think to save their lives.
Today, there was a problem with the metro. My town has two metro railways, an underground one and an overhead one. The underground is called "U-Bahn", the overhead one "S-Bahn". They are administered separately, but use the same fees and so on. But they look completely different, and it is pretty hard to mix them up, because one is underground and one is overhead. It's really not difficult.
The "S-Bahn" is currently in a crisis and pulled a great number of their trains out of traffic to repair them. It's annoying, the schedule is f'cked up, but it's not too hard to deal with it. For commuter convenience, the "U-Bahn" stations have notifications everywhere saying that the "S-Bahn" is currently not operating properly. It's a good service, not strictly necessary, but still not bad to have.
This morning, in addition to the "S-Bahn", there was also a delay in the "U-Bahn" for unknown reasons. The electronic signs in the "U-Bahn" station notified commuters about that, in addition to the information about the "S-Bahn" delays. I.e. two delay notifications on one sign that don't have to do with each other, especially because it specifically said which was which. It was top-notch information, nothing more to ask for. And yet I overheard two women discussing about what it meant, how these two bits of information go together, and if they accidentally went into the "S-Bahn" station. They did not even think about considering that they were two separate pieces of information that just happened to be displayed at the same time.
There should be less information published, so some people's blatant stupidity is not exposed.
