Sunday, August 26, 2012

Lavatory Ambush

While at the Denver Art Museum, I duck into a restroom. It is dark. The light turns on. It was not on. I did not turn it on.

I walked past an automated towel dispenser. I did not then want a towel. It spewed one out anyway.

I find that said light has a timer. It went off in the middle of a bathroom activity. It would not go back on, despite my waving and talking (not voice activated).

The activity was finished (or terminated) in the dark. Then the light went back on. I commented on the rudeness of these robots to myself and walked out. They did not hear.

This is another reason to hate some technologies: unneeded, unhelpful, and maddening. And who or what can stop them? How far will they go?