One of my fantasies – yes, this is my life, and this is a fantasy – is to really organize the monkeys’ toys. We have a bunch of bins, but I want bins with labels. I want the boxes in the bins to have labels. So that everyone involved in putting stuff away knows exactly where to put stuff. And so that when we want to play with something, we know exactly where to find all of it’s pieces.
Sadly, this remains in the realm of fantasy. But I’ll get it done, hopefully in time for the monkeys to be able to read the labels.
I got a little cautionary tale on what not to do with the system the other day at Whole Foods. Here’s their new system for waste management.
There are 6 different bins, each labeled. From left to right the labels read: Landfill Only , Co-Mingle Only, Compost Only, Compost Only, Plastic Bag and Wrap Only, Landfill Only. There are some equally obtuse sub headers under the labels.
The other day while I ate dinner at the little cafe, I watched about four people approach the trash cans, stare blankly, squint, and then throw everything in the “Landfill Only” category. Nice work, Whole Foods. You’ve confused the heck out of your shoppers. And made more landfill in the process.
An effort to create a system where everything has it’s place doesn’t quite work if it’s too complicated to follow. So I’m guessing my ‘creative playthings’ category won’t be as useful as labeling a box ‘finger puppets & musical instruments.’ Good to know.
