6 ms·

I love this spirit. In the office where I work, the main door locks whenever it closes, so the first person to arrive each morning props the door open for ever

I love this spirit. In the office where I work, the main door locks whenever it closes, so the first person to arrive each morning props the door open for everyone else. Well, a new tenant moved in to one of the other units, and they started taking our doorstop. Morning after morning we had to go find it and retrieve it, for weeks! One day it occurred to me that I didn't have to complain to management, or get maintenance to deal with it, I could just buy a bunch of doorstops. The hallway is now liberally strewn with them, more doorstops than there are doors, and we haven't had to retrieve ours since.

megablast 2y ago
I don't understand, they would take it into their office?
- marssaxman 2y ago
  Yes, exactly. Presumably they still do, but we no longer care.
  - albedoa 2y ago
    I know this is beside the point, but did you try asking them to stop doing that?
    - shermantanktop 2y ago
      I think it is not beside the point, but opposite to the point. In a zero-sum game, it must be all against all. But sometimes it takes only one player to change the nature of the game. And sometimes driving that change is less effort than fighting under the old rules.
dexwiz 2y ago
Many doors have a toggle on the face plate below or above the latch that changes auto lock behavior. But auto lock is good for security. I once had a friend move out of a place in part because he would often get locked out. I showed him how to change this at his move out party.
- rob74 2y ago
  > auto lock is good for security Exactly... in the company where I work, propping open the door (maybe not so much the door to the building, but certainly the doors to our office) would be a sure way to get you into pretty serious trouble. Also, opening the door with your own access card for other people (although I occasionally do that for people I know).
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    Well, yes. Security tends to be opposed to everything that's good and nice about life. Sometimes it's worth it.
    - pavel_lishin 2y ago
      Sometimes that opposition is the reason there's good and nice things at all, though.
  - mikequinlan 2y ago
    >Exactly... in the company where I work, propping open the door (maybe not so much the door to the building, but certainly the doors to our office) would be a sure way to get you into pretty serious trouble. If it is a fire door then it can also be a fire code violation.
    - seabass-labrax 2y ago
      Many new doors in Britain have self-closing mechanisms - for instance, you can see photographs on the government guidance[1] for the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. The door naturally closes shut with a spring-loaded lever (figure 4) or chain (figure 5), but can be kept open with an electromagnet (figure 6). In case of fire, the power to all electromagnets in the building is cut so that the doors can close of their own accord. Hopefully we can see more widespread use of these in domestic properties, where fires are still horrifically common[2] - well over 3/4 of all fire-related fatalities are in the home. [1]: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022-fire-door-guidance/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022-fire-door-guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-engla... [2]: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-and-rescue-incident-statistics-england-year-ending-september-2022/fire-and-rescue-incident-statistics-england-year-ending-september-2022 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-and-rescue-inc...
kqr 2y ago
Yup. Similarly, if staplers and scissors always disappear from office cabinets, it's often because people know they disappear so they hold onto them to have them available. It's a self-reinforcing system. But if one buys a bunch of them, people start trusting that they will be available, and will hoard less!
- eternauta3k 2y ago
  I thought the solution to the tragedy of the commons was institutions: we need a 1000-year old socially-enforced tradition of shunning hoarders and assigning dishwasher duty. Your solution sounds easier, though.
  - s1artibartfast 2y ago
    It works if you can afford it, and avoid a runaway moral hazard. Pretty soon you will have tractor trailers filling up with staplers
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    In a closed system, you could grow the commons until there's no scarcity anymore, and thus no tragedy either. This stops working once some "entrepreneur" figures your commons is their arbitrage opportunity, and opens the system to the outside world.
    - michaelt 2y ago
      > In a closed system, you could grow the commons until there's no scarcity anymore I don't know what your definition of "closed system" is, but I can assure you the only way the dining hall gets more forks is if they enter the system from outside. Unless it's a dining hall at a fork factory :)
    - pjc50 2y ago
      Ooh, you could start "forkr.com", a just-in-time peer-to-peer fork leasing service!
yard2010 2y ago
Imagine how nice it would be the other way around When management realizes they don't need to complain that the work doesn't get done, they just do the work themselves
buildsjets 2y ago
Please tell me you did not work at Uvalde Elementary School.
- buildsjets 2y ago
  For the record, I think this comment was fucking excellent!
chickenpotpie 2y ago
It sounds like they're taking the door stop because they want the security features of the building to actually function and the other tenants are actively conprimising them
paulmd 2y ago
I do this all the time just for common tools around the house. The easy solution to never being able to find a screwdriver is... going to harbor freight and buying a half-dozen screwdrivers and staging them in areas where you commonly use them. Then you just try not to drag them around the house too much. I do this with utility knives, flashlights, screwdrivers, etc. The $10 of "waste" from buying a couple extra screwdrivers is hugely outweighed by the convenience of "saturation".
LegitShady 2y ago
I lived in a building where after a security event all the electromagnetic door holders for some reason were disabled and all the doors defaulted to closed. One of the other people who lived there decided that opening the doors (not locked, by the way, just closed) was too annoying and cut up a 2x4 into a bunch of doorstops. I had to remove the door stops that kept being put into the secure entrance ways as well as actual fire doors required (normally open but magnetically released when fire alarm goes off) to keep to fire code. The guy making doorstops was angry with me (I didn't hide my removing the doorstops) until I explained that we'd had multiple cases of people wandering off the streets stealing mail and one guy actually took a fire extinguisher and sprayed the lobby, damaging cars in the parking level, and that keeping a fire door propped open and unable to close in the case of fire could potentially kill someone as well as open him up to liability. If he wanted to keep the doors open as they were previously he needed to take it up with the building and get the electromagnetic door holders reset.
rkuykendall-com 2y ago
We live near an amazing restaurant with a huge sand pit. The only downside is the toys are always broken. So my aunt just goes to the dollar store and buys a bag of similar beach toys and leaves them there. They cost practically nothing!

megablast 2y ago

I don't understand, they would take it into their office?

marssaxman 2y ago
Yes, exactly. Presumably they still do, but we no longer care.
- albedoa 2y ago
  I know this is beside the point, but did you try asking them to stop doing that?
  - shermantanktop 2y ago
    I think it is not beside the point, but opposite to the point. In a zero-sum game, it must be all against all. But sometimes it takes only one player to change the nature of the game. And sometimes driving that change is less effort than fighting under the old rules.

dexwiz 2y ago

Many doors have a toggle on the face plate below or above the latch that changes auto lock behavior. But auto lock is good for security. I once had a friend move out of a place in part because he would often get locked out. I showed him how to change this at his move out party.

rob74 2y ago
> auto lock is good for security Exactly... in the company where I work, propping open the door (maybe not so much the door to the building, but certainly the doors to our office) would be a sure way to get you into pretty serious trouble. Also, opening the door with your own access card for other people (although I occasionally do that for people I know).
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  Well, yes. Security tends to be opposed to everything that's good and nice about life. Sometimes it's worth it.
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    Sometimes that opposition is the reason there's good and nice things at all, though.
- mikequinlan 2y ago
  >Exactly... in the company where I work, propping open the door (maybe not so much the door to the building, but certainly the doors to our office) would be a sure way to get you into pretty serious trouble. If it is a fire door then it can also be a fire code violation.
  - seabass-labrax 2y ago
    Many new doors in Britain have self-closing mechanisms - for instance, you can see photographs on the government guidance[1] for the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. The door naturally closes shut with a spring-loaded lever (figure 4) or chain (figure 5), but can be kept open with an electromagnet (figure 6). In case of fire, the power to all electromagnets in the building is cut so that the doors can close of their own accord. Hopefully we can see more widespread use of these in domestic properties, where fires are still horrifically common[2] - well over 3/4 of all fire-related fatalities are in the home. [1]: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022-fire-door-guidance/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022-fire-door-guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-engla... [2]: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-and-rescue-incident-statistics-england-year-ending-september-2022/fire-and-rescue-incident-statistics-england-year-ending-september-2022 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-and-rescue-inc...

kqr 2y ago

Yup. Similarly, if staplers and scissors always disappear from office cabinets, it's often because people know they disappear so they hold onto them to have them available. It's a self-reinforcing system. But if one buys a bunch of them, people start trusting that they will be available, and will hoard less!

eternauta3k 2y ago
I thought the solution to the tragedy of the commons was institutions: we need a 1000-year old socially-enforced tradition of shunning hoarders and assigning dishwasher duty. Your solution sounds easier, though.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  It works if you can afford it, and avoid a runaway moral hazard. Pretty soon you will have tractor trailers filling up with staplers
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  In a closed system, you could grow the commons until there's no scarcity anymore, and thus no tragedy either. This stops working once some "entrepreneur" figures your commons is their arbitrage opportunity, and opens the system to the outside world.
  - michaelt 2y ago
    > In a closed system, you could grow the commons until there's no scarcity anymore I don't know what your definition of "closed system" is, but I can assure you the only way the dining hall gets more forks is if they enter the system from outside. Unless it's a dining hall at a fork factory :)
  - pjc50 2y ago
    Ooh, you could start "forkr.com", a just-in-time peer-to-peer fork leasing service!

yard2010 2y ago

Imagine how nice it would be the other way around When management realizes they don't need to complain that the work doesn't get done, they just do the work themselves

buildsjets 2y ago

Please tell me you did not work at Uvalde Elementary School.

buildsjets 2y ago
For the record, I think this comment was fucking excellent!

chickenpotpie 2y ago

It sounds like they're taking the door stop because they want the security features of the building to actually function and the other tenants are actively conprimising them

paulmd 2y ago

I do this all the time just for common tools around the house. The easy solution to never being able to find a screwdriver is... going to harbor freight and buying a half-dozen screwdrivers and staging them in areas where you commonly use them. Then you just try not to drag them around the house too much. I do this with utility knives, flashlights, screwdrivers, etc. The $10 of "waste" from buying a couple extra screwdrivers is hugely outweighed by the convenience of "saturation".

LegitShady 2y ago

I lived in a building where after a security event all the electromagnetic door holders for some reason were disabled and all the doors defaulted to closed. One of the other people who lived there decided that opening the doors (not locked, by the way, just closed) was too annoying and cut up a 2x4 into a bunch of doorstops. I had to remove the door stops that kept being put into the secure entrance ways as well as actual fire doors required (normally open but magnetically released when fire alarm goes off) to keep to fire code. The guy making doorstops was angry with me (I didn't hide my removing the doorstops) until I explained that we'd had multiple cases of people wandering off the streets stealing mail and one guy actually took a fire extinguisher and sprayed the lobby, damaging cars in the parking level, and that keeping a fire door propped open and unable to close in the case of fire could potentially kill someone as well as open him up to liability. If he wanted to keep the doors open as they were previously he needed to take it up with the building and get the electromagnetic door holders reset.

rkuykendall-com 2y ago

We live near an amazing restaurant with a huge sand pit. The only downside is the toys are always broken. So my aunt just goes to the dollar store and buys a bag of similar beach toys and leaves them there. They cost practically nothing!