Friday, January 20, 2012

Poor Design


Today at work, I saw a maintenance guy cleaning out the drip tray on the ice machine.  He was chuckling to himself.  So of course being the busy-body Gladys Kravitz that I am I asked what was so funny.  He pointed out that the drain for the tray was 1/4" above the bottom, therefore meaning that 1/4" inch of water will ALWAYS be standing in the tray.

So all present started sharing stories of poor design.

One woman said the brand-new ball field of her town had to be redone.  The contractor had somehow made a hill in the outfield that made it impossible to see home plate.

I recalled a Subway restaurant at home that installed a wheelchair ramp.  The skinny ramp, with a rail, ran up to a small stoop.  Then the door opened out, toward the ramp, and covered the entire stoop.

Carleton College would like everyone to forget their giant sidewalk penis.  They spent a lot of $$$ to make it disappear, but thanks to the inner-webs it will live forever.

Our local hospital had a brand-new sculpture installed in their brand-new lobby.   But it quickly become dangerous.  Seems everyone was clunking their head on it.  They finally installed a planter ring around the bottom after a physician got a concussion.

Anyone have a better story??

6 comments:

Mauigirl said...

Excellent examples! Love the sidewalk penis.

SkylersDad said...

Speaking of wheelchair ramps that are crap, check this out:

http://legacy-cdn.smosh.com/smosh-pit/122010/wheelchair-ramp-thumb.jpg

Mnmom said...

Holy Cow Skydad!! That's just cruel!

E. Anne Larson said...

Recently read about an outbreak of Legionaires disease traced to bacteria growing in water features in the lobby. ick.

E. Anne Larson said...

HOSPITAL lobby I meant to add!

Churlita said...

That sidewalk penis is awesome! I'm no engineer, but how could you not catch that?