I’ve been noticing a trend lately for explanations that don’t really explain. eg “because health and safety”.
I really need to write down some examples to try to decipher the thinking, but the current pattern seems to be people expect to be believed if they say “Because” and some loosely related words.
Having recently taken up barefoot walking, and having been asked to leave establishments quite a few times on exactly that basis, I am beginning to treat that phrase in particular as very definitively magical thinking >.>
Oddly, thus far, I have not yet had a single person cite that as a concern when pressed. The closest anyone has come is that something heavy might fall on my foot. And they were asking me to put on sandals, so...
It would still bother me, though, because pretty much anything small enough for me to miss is probably safe for me to walk on (I’ve walked over broken glass a few times without harm :)) The case studies suggest that suing only works if there was an obvious danger and the store failed to resolve it (i.e. leaving a pile of shattered glass sitting in the aisle and not cleaning it up for 30 minutes)
I’ve been noticing a trend lately for explanations that don’t really explain. eg “because health and safety”.
I really need to write down some examples to try to decipher the thinking, but the current pattern seems to be people expect to be believed if they say “Because” and some loosely related words.
My tentative theory is that it’s a version of this effect: http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/rationality.htm
Having recently taken up barefoot walking, and having been asked to leave establishments quite a few times on exactly that basis, I am beginning to treat that phrase in particular as very definitively magical thinking >.>
I’d think of it as “because if we let people walk in barefoot, and they step on something that cuts your foot or something, we could get sued.”
At least, I’d think that would be part of it.
Oddly, thus far, I have not yet had a single person cite that as a concern when pressed. The closest anyone has come is that something heavy might fall on my foot. And they were asking me to put on sandals, so...
It would still bother me, though, because pretty much anything small enough for me to miss is probably safe for me to walk on (I’ve walked over broken glass a few times without harm :)) The case studies suggest that suing only works if there was an obvious danger and the store failed to resolve it (i.e. leaving a pile of shattered glass sitting in the aisle and not cleaning it up for 30 minutes)