Whoever coined the term “common sense” did the worst naming job in history, for as I look around this planet, I’m convinced the best name would have been “extremely rare sense.” I see little common sense in this modern world. A few examples might help.
A few years ago, I watched a truckload of particleboard arrive at a local warehouse. Particleboard is an interior product and must be kept dry — that’s why truckers always tarp the material to prevent any rain from getting on the board. However, the truck I saw only had the back half of the truck tarped. The shipper must have assumed that if the trucker encountered rain it would only rain at the back end of the truck and not at the front!
Individuals leaving voice messages also suffer from a lack of common sense. I often get messages from people who leave long messages, spoken slowly so I get every word, but when it comes time to leave a phone number, they roar through the number so fast I have no hope of getting it right. Common sense indeed.
Many examples illustrating the lack of common sense revolve around the fact that Canadians are getting, on average, older. You assume that manufacturers, architects and building owners take this into account, but again, in the search for common sense, you’re wrong. Across Canada, numerous airports have been modernized to deal with the increases in air traffic. Naturally, with people getting older, mobility becomes a problem, so walking distances need to be decreased.
However, if you check out Canada’s airports, you will find that the walking distance between gates is no longer expressed in feet (“Sir, Gate 63 is 40 feet to your left) but in time zones (“Sorry sir, but you are in the Pacific time zone. Your gate is in the Eastern time zone — it’s only 4,300 kilometres to your right. Have a nice walk.”)
Another example is the instructions on packaged products. As people age, their eyesight becomes poorer, yet producers are printing instructions so small they are often totally incomprehensible. After a recent eye test, I ordered new glasses, so my sight is as good as my optometrist can achieve. Yet, a microwavable bowl of rice noodles I bought is now on the way to the National Science Foundation in New York, where experts believe that their new electron microscope has a resolution high enough to allow the scientists to finally read the instructions.
If we include governments in our discussion the number of common sense errors increases exponentially. Recounting all these examples would take years, but I do want to applaud the quality of stupidity shown by our own provincial government here in Alberta.
When Premier Stelmach retired, I assumed that the quality of provincial stupidity would simply revert back to the same quality of other provinces, an assumption that was totally wrong. Our new premier has not only maintained the quality of STDs (Stupid Tory Decisions), she has even gone further.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has named a standing committee that continues to pay its members even though it hasn’t met in years as “the most ridiculous provincial government waste in Canada.” Way go to Ms. Premier — keeping Alberta first!
(Brian has advised the premier he is willing to not attend committee meetings, and his price is only $500 for every meeting not attended — a real opportunity for Alberta to reduce government waste).
