The purpose of a traffic cone.
The Headsmack Award of the Week goes to: My employer.
From Wikipedia:
Traffic cones (also called road cones, safety cones, or pylons) are cone- shaped markers, generally made out of plastic, that are placed on roads to temporarily redirect automobile traffic in a safe manner. They are are easily movable and about 24 inches tall. Traffic cones come in many different colors, with orange, yellow and red being the most common colors due to their brightness. They may also have a reflective strip to further increase their visibility. They may be used to create merge lanes during road construction projects or automobile accidents
Now, if I'm not mistaken, the real point of a traffic/safety cone is to BE EASILY SEEN.
Apparently my employer doesn't know that. In order to prevent employees from parking in one area of the lot, maintenance was instructed to paint a single parking space with yellow X, leaving an area for employees to exit the parking area and proceed toward the building without having to walk between cars. First of all, the space is completely unnecessary, and second, hardly anyone actually uses the space anyhow. 95% of the employees exit the parking lot...yep, that's right...by walking between the other cars. So, naturally, when the parking lot becomes full, someone will disobey the 'rules' and park in the space.
So...in an attempt to prove their authority, it was decided that maintenance would partially bury a 3ft 1 inch solid metal rod in the asphalt of the far corners of parking space, then place a cone over each pipe, then secure them, by welding a steel cap over the top of each cone. Here's the problem: No one was told that there was a metal rod under the cones...How's that for...ummm, safety?
Well, I parked in the adjacent space one day, and noticed one of the cones had been hit and damaged. It was crumpled and leaning over. I thought nothing else of it. (Remember, at this point I had no idea there was a metal rod under the cone. I just thought it was damaged from being run over...) Later that day, as I was leaving for lunch, I got in my car, looked around, didn't see the cone and figured they'd taken it from the space to replace it with a new one. As I backed out of the space I crossed into the 'forbidden' space a bit and rolled over something huge and noisy. I swear the sound of it was worse than nails on a chalk board. I immediately realized I'd hit that stupid cone and figured I'd rolled it under the car and crumpled it even more. (I'm grumbling to myself as I get outta the car..."See? This is EXACTLY why they need to REPLACE the damn things when they're damaged and bent over...BECAUSE YOU CAN"T SEE THEM! I mean, isn't that the whole POINT of a freakin' SAFETY CONE?"
Well, I see the cone, and it's mangled, but the base is still sitting on the ground flat...so I reach down to straighten it and of course it doesn't even budge. In my attempt to move it however, I SLICED MY FREAKIN' FINGER OPEN on the mangled metal cap that they welded on top. So, I'm standing there, completely dumbfounded and bleeding as all of this falls into place...the bent cone, the horrible noise, the metal cap...I lift the bottom of the cone and see a piece of metal buried in the asphalt. OMG, I was just seething at this act of pure stupidity and carelessness. I mean, someone actually decided this was a GOOD IDEA!
I marched into the security office and demanded a bandage, then asked why no one had fixed or replaced the damaged cone, considering it put employees at risk of hitting it (ya think?) because it wasn't visible. Get this...they had NO IDEA there was a metal rod under the cones either. I went to the head of security. He didn't know either!! I was furious. So I insist that they need to correct the problem before someone gets hurt worse or damages their vehicle.
This weekend, I pull into the parking lot...same cone, mangled beyond recognition, completely bent over to the ground, metal rod visible now because it's been hit by someone else...and right beside it: a piece of someone's bumper.
I work for morons. Absolute morons.
From Wikipedia:
Traffic cones (also called road cones, safety cones, or pylons) are cone- shaped markers, generally made out of plastic, that are placed on roads to temporarily redirect automobile traffic in a safe manner. They are are easily movable and about 24 inches tall. Traffic cones come in many different colors, with orange, yellow and red being the most common colors due to their brightness. They may also have a reflective strip to further increase their visibility. They may be used to create merge lanes during road construction projects or automobile accidents
Now, if I'm not mistaken, the real point of a traffic/safety cone is to BE EASILY SEEN.
Apparently my employer doesn't know that. In order to prevent employees from parking in one area of the lot, maintenance was instructed to paint a single parking space with yellow X, leaving an area for employees to exit the parking area and proceed toward the building without having to walk between cars. First of all, the space is completely unnecessary, and second, hardly anyone actually uses the space anyhow. 95% of the employees exit the parking lot...yep, that's right...by walking between the other cars. So, naturally, when the parking lot becomes full, someone will disobey the 'rules' and park in the space.
So...in an attempt to prove their authority, it was decided that maintenance would partially bury a 3ft 1 inch solid metal rod in the asphalt of the far corners of parking space, then place a cone over each pipe, then secure them, by welding a steel cap over the top of each cone. Here's the problem: No one was told that there was a metal rod under the cones...How's that for...ummm, safety?
Well, I parked in the adjacent space one day, and noticed one of the cones had been hit and damaged. It was crumpled and leaning over. I thought nothing else of it. (Remember, at this point I had no idea there was a metal rod under the cone. I just thought it was damaged from being run over...) Later that day, as I was leaving for lunch, I got in my car, looked around, didn't see the cone and figured they'd taken it from the space to replace it with a new one. As I backed out of the space I crossed into the 'forbidden' space a bit and rolled over something huge and noisy. I swear the sound of it was worse than nails on a chalk board. I immediately realized I'd hit that stupid cone and figured I'd rolled it under the car and crumpled it even more. (I'm grumbling to myself as I get outta the car..."See? This is EXACTLY why they need to REPLACE the damn things when they're damaged and bent over...BECAUSE YOU CAN"T SEE THEM! I mean, isn't that the whole POINT of a freakin' SAFETY CONE?"
Well, I see the cone, and it's mangled, but the base is still sitting on the ground flat...so I reach down to straighten it and of course it doesn't even budge. In my attempt to move it however, I SLICED MY FREAKIN' FINGER OPEN on the mangled metal cap that they welded on top. So, I'm standing there, completely dumbfounded and bleeding as all of this falls into place...the bent cone, the horrible noise, the metal cap...I lift the bottom of the cone and see a piece of metal buried in the asphalt. OMG, I was just seething at this act of pure stupidity and carelessness. I mean, someone actually decided this was a GOOD IDEA!
I marched into the security office and demanded a bandage, then asked why no one had fixed or replaced the damaged cone, considering it put employees at risk of hitting it (ya think?) because it wasn't visible. Get this...they had NO IDEA there was a metal rod under the cones either. I went to the head of security. He didn't know either!! I was furious. So I insist that they need to correct the problem before someone gets hurt worse or damages their vehicle.
This weekend, I pull into the parking lot...same cone, mangled beyond recognition, completely bent over to the ground, metal rod visible now because it's been hit by someone else...and right beside it: a piece of someone's bumper.
I work for morons. Absolute morons.
posted by Mo at 9:15 AM
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