(Mundane Ramblings of a mind off the rails)
There is a parking lot I walk through every day on the way to work. It is a
little nook that I like to bypass and cut some time off my route each day.
Today was an exceptionally brisk walk, what with the swirling and twirling
of snow wisps, cascading all about me in a stiff wintery breeze.
What is most interesting about this lot, though, is the point of entry. As paid
parking lots go, there is always either an attendant or an automated arm,
governing which people get in and which are shunned away. This particular
lot has a mechanical arm that lowers or raises that is made out of pvc
piping - pipes that are most commonly used in plumbing that are made
from a black plastic composite.
As far back as I can remember walking through this lot, though, there seems
to be an ongoing war with either a parker from the lot or a neighbour with
the owner of the lot. This is most easily seen on my walks
to work when the pvc piping arm has been sawed right off, down to the nub.
This has happened at least 28 times since I started working at NuComm
but even more interesting than the mysterious sawing is that EVERY
time, and I mean every time, not even a day or half a day later, there is
a shiny new pvc piping arm put right back in its place.
It really puzzles me, this whole ritual, and I jog through a few scenarios in
my head every time I walk by a freshly sawed or replaced arm: Who is this
mysterious sawing person and MAN are they ever relentless! I respect
their inability to give up. But the owner...What's the deal there? Does he
not realize that by continually putting pvc piping back as the device that
lets people into his lot, he will run this risk? PVC piping can be cut with
a very regular saw or even cut in one snap with big enough wire cutters
- maybe the owner doesn't have enough money to put a solid steel arm
on there. Or maybe he's trying to catch the guilty party and each time
the arm is cut, he's getting closer to the trail of the felon.
Or maybe...just maybe...people can be really dumb sometimes.
Yeah.
