The Dilbert comic has a recurring character named “Topper” that has to top any statement anyone else makes. Recently I had a chance to play at being “Topper.” I was in a yogurt stand with a bunch of friends and someone was complaining about how hard it was to get the top off a water bottle. He commented that someone had to actually design this, approve it, and finally it had to get made all with this same idiotic design.
I said I could top that. I knew a woman who had a stay in a mental facility. On the floor she was on, there was no woman’s shower and so she asked if she could be allowed to the next floor down so she could bathe. She was told, “no”, and given a rubber sheet the size of a shower door with “Woman in Shower” emblazoned across the front. She was told to take that into the men’s room, cover the door, and shower there. Let me reiterate that it was the men’s room on floor for mental patients.
Needless to say, she didn’t take a shower during her stay. But imagine. Someone had to design this, other people had to approve it, then others manufacture it, picking out colors and font and so on. And no one stopped the process and said, “This is utterly absurd.” Obviously, this tops the water cap example.