Social Studies

I read an article in grad school that had this random paragraph interjected about how elevators make great laboratories for studying human behavior. I would like to agree with that and submit another great lab: the women's class on Sunday in my Church. The specific topic of study is passing a clipboard.

Let me give you an idea of the set up of this experiment. First, the room is probably more than twice as wide as it is long, so we have two sections of chairs, with an aisle down the middle. But to complicate matters, we also have chairs lining the 'long' side of the room (which is really the short side). And on one side, there is room for 3 chairs along the back wall before the built in cupboards start. So, it is not a straightforward layout.

Which is why I have put very simple directions on the front of every clipboard explaining how to pass the clipboards (we always have 2). Because, there is actually a really beautiful system that, if followed, makes everything work out perfectly. Since we have a lot of new faces all the time, it's easiest to just put some instructions on to help people out. And how well does this work out, you ask?

It doesn't. Well, sometimes it does, but just as often it doesn't. I think most of the time, they just don't even look at the cover sheet. But a couple of weeks ago, I saw someone look at the instructions (which say pass it forward) and then pass the clipboard behind her. I've also seen people just set the clipboard on the chair beside them, rather than pass it down three or four chairs to the next person. I'm pretty sure that some people get it from the person behind them and pass it to the person in front of them, instead of the person next to them. Some people sit with one clipboard for about 10 minutes, even though it only has one or two sheets on it.

This isn't that surprising. It seems like passing a roll or sign-up sheet or clipboard should be really straightforward but it just isn't. Ever. Also, people don't read signs. I work in a library. Trust me, people don't read signs.

So, the best way to handle this situation? Don't sit on the end of a row. Problem solved. Unless you are the unlucky winner of the end seat. Then you can just take comfort that it really probably isn't a life or death situation and you shouldn't spend any time worrying about it after you pass it on.