The Lowest Common Showerhead.
I work out at a local gym.
After I exercise (or what can be called exercise, but most would laugh at my lack of physical interaction with any machines...) I take a shower.
Most people do, they get off the workout floor, go into the gym, (maybe grab a steam) - and then they jump in the shower.
At my gym there are 8 showers stalls.
Each one has it's own curtain, with it's own showerhead.
Out of the 8 showers, ONE SHOWER is better than the rest.
Why is it better?
Because the showerhead is 10x better than the other 7 showers. The other 7 basically, are average in terms of strength of water , they have limited pressure, and you reluctantly use the remaining 7 ---if you have to settle....and cannot get the #1 BEST SHOWER.
1 out of 8 is a GREAT shower. Always aim for that top performing shower, when you go to my gym.
Sometimes, I find myself stalling, waiting to see if the timing is just right, to get in, as the guy is getting out. (it's always occupied, because it's the best)
EVERY GUY AT THE GYM DOES THE SAME RITUAL.
I call it, "waiting and hoping for the excellent shower..."
It's unspoken. However, I have told the manager -- and I will quote his response to me, "we know about it, and we will be working on it."
I found out today what, "working on it means" from a gym manager perspective.
Instead of fixing the other 7 showers, and bringing them up to par with the best shower --- and making all the showers WORK AS WELL AS THE BEST, or #1 shower.....someone decided to......
"IMPAIR THE SHOWERHEAD OF THE BEST SHOWER, THUS BRINGING MY FAVORITE SHOWER, DOWN TO THE WORKING LEVEL OF THE OTHER 7 SHOWERHEADS."
Some "showerhead engineer" made the decision to not fix the shower, but lower the standards for showers at the gym.
I'm alarmed.
How could they? How could someone make a decision to not upgrade, but bring down the BEST, to make them even, across the board...and stop the overuse of the STELLAR SHOWER?
Why not fix it?
Because it's too costly. It cost more to fix 7 showers, than it does to, "make them all even, and upgrade the lowest performing showers to, match the BEST..."
Parallels to life.
I feel as though we do this in our lives. We tolerate it, and encourage it.
In our school systems, are we focused on the, best and brightest? Or, is the smartest kid in the classroom, FORCED TO LEARN at the same pace as the kid who is not grasping the material?
Is the "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" - policy of our education world, at the EXPENSE OF, and does it hurt the, BEST KID in the class?
I felt the sting of "averageness" today - and I hated it...
There are more parallels to this.....I name education, as but one example.
Tonight I'm exhausted, and can't really "nail" any examples -- but, I'm sure some of my readers can....
Feel free to use the comments below and post anonymously if you have something to add.
The Shower Head hit me hard. Not sure why.
But, the complete drive home....I kept thinking of Little League baseball -- and winning and losing, understanding the difference at 6 years old.
It was a great lesson in life -- whether as a little kid, with a bunch of six year olds - we won or lost....to our classmates. We celebrated victory,(with a Slurpee from 7-11) and understood defeat. It taught us how to STRIVE FOR VICTORY, but be a good loser.
Today, amongst six year olds in our town -- EVERYONE WINS. There is no loser .... they are all told (the kids) at the end of the game, "its a tie."
Are we all (metaphorically) allowing ourselves, to become the, 7 showerheads?
Showerheads and Life.....thoughts?
I work out at a local gym.
After I exercise (or what can be called exercise, but most would laugh at my lack of physical interaction with any machines...) I take a shower.
Most people do, they get off the workout floor, go into the gym, (maybe grab a steam) - and then they jump in the shower.
At my gym there are 8 showers stalls.
Each one has it's own curtain, with it's own showerhead.
Out of the 8 showers, ONE SHOWER is better than the rest.
Why is it better?
Because the showerhead is 10x better than the other 7 showers. The other 7 basically, are average in terms of strength of water , they have limited pressure, and you reluctantly use the remaining 7 ---if you have to settle....and cannot get the #1 BEST SHOWER.
1 out of 8 is a GREAT shower. Always aim for that top performing shower, when you go to my gym.
Sometimes, I find myself stalling, waiting to see if the timing is just right, to get in, as the guy is getting out. (it's always occupied, because it's the best)
EVERY GUY AT THE GYM DOES THE SAME RITUAL.
I call it, "waiting and hoping for the excellent shower..."
It's unspoken. However, I have told the manager -- and I will quote his response to me, "we know about it, and we will be working on it."
I found out today what, "working on it means" from a gym manager perspective.
Instead of fixing the other 7 showers, and bringing them up to par with the best shower --- and making all the showers WORK AS WELL AS THE BEST, or #1 shower.....someone decided to......
"IMPAIR THE SHOWERHEAD OF THE BEST SHOWER, THUS BRINGING MY FAVORITE SHOWER, DOWN TO THE WORKING LEVEL OF THE OTHER 7 SHOWERHEADS."
Some "showerhead engineer" made the decision to not fix the shower, but lower the standards for showers at the gym.
I'm alarmed.
How could they? How could someone make a decision to not upgrade, but bring down the BEST, to make them even, across the board...and stop the overuse of the STELLAR SHOWER?
Why not fix it?
Because it's too costly. It cost more to fix 7 showers, than it does to, "make them all even, and upgrade the lowest performing showers to, match the BEST..."
Parallels to life.
I feel as though we do this in our lives. We tolerate it, and encourage it.
In our school systems, are we focused on the, best and brightest? Or, is the smartest kid in the classroom, FORCED TO LEARN at the same pace as the kid who is not grasping the material?
Is the "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" - policy of our education world, at the EXPENSE OF, and does it hurt the, BEST KID in the class?
I felt the sting of "averageness" today - and I hated it...
There are more parallels to this.....I name education, as but one example.
Tonight I'm exhausted, and can't really "nail" any examples -- but, I'm sure some of my readers can....
Feel free to use the comments below and post anonymously if you have something to add.
The Shower Head hit me hard. Not sure why.
But, the complete drive home....I kept thinking of Little League baseball -- and winning and losing, understanding the difference at 6 years old.
It was a great lesson in life -- whether as a little kid, with a bunch of six year olds - we won or lost....to our classmates. We celebrated victory,(with a Slurpee from 7-11) and understood defeat. It taught us how to STRIVE FOR VICTORY, but be a good loser.
Today, amongst six year olds in our town -- EVERYONE WINS. There is no loser .... they are all told (the kids) at the end of the game, "its a tie."
Are we all (metaphorically) allowing ourselves, to become the, 7 showerheads?
Showerheads and Life.....thoughts?
posted by Andy at 10:04 PM
34 Comments:
Eb,
Two weekends ago I ran in a 5k community fund-raiser race (the Carbondale Lobster Crawl). After the adult race was over, there was a 100 yard dash for the little kids. They gave prizes out for the first 3 places in each age-group. My friend has twin boys, age 5. James came in third, Tyler forth. It was a sticky situation for my friend. One boy called up to the announcer to pick up his Camelback, the other wondering when he was to be called. I was slinking around awkardly in the backround, as my friend scrambled to find SOME kind of "prize" to award to Tyler. Being a new father has softened me up a little. I found myself weighing what I would do in that situation. After looking at it from several angles, I decided I would tell Tyler, that, if in the future he would like to win the Camelback, he better run a little faster.
KS
There is no question that our society is hampering the star showerhead to save the others. Maybe the loss of a race should emplore people to investigate a different race they can win. In certain European countries you take a test to determine whether you can attend college otherwise you head to trade school.
Imagine how many people are in college right now who would be better plumbers, but because we have this need to fit in they have to attend a college. Only later to they find out they belong doing something college did not prepare them for.
I don't have children currently, but I tell my wife no matter how rich or how poor we are they will dig ditches at some point to learn the value of a dollar. We'll see what happens when they actually whine and complain to me, but in principle that's what I'll expect out of them.
People are happy when they succeed and we need to help people find work where they can succeed that's our responsibility as managers.
i'm suprised your gym didn't take a more capitalist approach: they should've kept the shower running better, put up a gate with a locked entry and force members to pay a premium to use it.
Great post. I think people find it easier to settle among the regulars than to outcome the best.
Great post Andy.
KS,
I get what you're saying, but I would encourage one not to tell Tyler to run faster. I would tell him to find a race (or other contest) he can win when he's at his best (which may take time to discover).
That's what I think we all should be doing.
Great great post. The gym shower as a microcosm for life. Just RSSed you. keep it up.
I suspect that they resticted flow to what you consider the best show to increase flow to the lesser heads.
C'mon, you had to have seen The Incredibles...
"When everyone's super... then nobody will be super."
Great post!! My bet is that now that the shower was fixed to be a sub par as the other seven... that the water is going to go somewhere else.. there is probably a fantastic SUPER flush toilet at the moment that you are not aware of, or maybe you are. Six months from now everything will be "worked on" and you will have a bathroom in a good gym that is just AVERAGE. How unfortunate!
"Is the "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" - policy of our education world, at the EXPENSE OF, and does it hurt the, BEST KID in the class? "
Education is more complicated than "winners" and "losers". I'm no fan of the "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" act, but the stupidest kid, the slowest learning kid, and the kid who's parents don't care have just as much right to expect to be taught as the "BEST" kids.
There's only so much money to go around. Do you try to raise every child to a standard or screw the also-rans and focus on the "BEST"?
Who is going to decide who is the "BEST"? The kid who answers all the questions, the smartest kid, the kid with the best social skills, or the kid with parents who care?
If your Little League is lying to kids, that's a different problem. Around here, there are Premier Leagues that kids tryout for. They may or may not be the best kids, but the they are the richest.
The Showerhead thing sucks, but what are you actually going to do about it? Complain to the management? Switch clubs? Not bathe - let the world bask in the scent of a real man?
Or type out one heck of a hard hitting blog and make generalizations...
One misconception about "No Child Left Behind" is an institutional regression to the mean. Not true. The smart kid needs to advance, as well as the "slowest" kid, in order to meet standards. To extend this to your showerhead story, "success" would be when the 7 shower heads are as good as the best one, and the best one is now even better, maybe one of the $5000 Kholer jobs with 10 heads.
Your story reminds me of the opening of "Good to Great" by Jim Collins where he says that "Good is the enemy of Great...the reason we have good schools but not great schools is that it is so easy to settle."
I find it sad that there are so many people that are willing to settle for "good" when it is so much more fun (and often no more work) to go for GREAT!
I share your frustration !
I'll tell you what you can do...
give your gym manager our phone number and tell him that we'll get you all 7 new showerheads for a great price. PlumberSurplus.com offers hundreds of styles to choose from, maybe even ones better than the "best shower" for a better price. Seriously I feel the pain on the education parallel because I was in a GATE (advanced learning) and AP classes all through grade school. Once I hit college I became very frustrated and impatient because "other" kids were slowing down the class.
Are you going to change gyms? I read recently that made the point that companies give lousy customer service because they can. We accept it. It won't take many cancelled memberships to justify the investment to fix the other showers. Thanks for the post. Great story. Don't forget to tell us how it turns out.
Rob wrote:
"There is no question that our society is hampering the star showerhead to save the others. Maybe the loss of a race should emplore people to investigate a different race they can win. In certain European countries you take a test to determine whether you can attend college otherwise you head to trade school.
Imagine how many people are in college right now who would be better plumbers, but because we have this need to fit in they have to attend a college. Only later to they find out they belong doing something college did not prepare them for. "
But imagine how many plumbers there are in those European countries who might have made great lawyers. And even those folks in college who would have been better off as plumbers, maybe they needed that experience to get to the knowledge that they'd be better off as plumbers.
I think the lack of tracking in our society is one of its great strengths. I've taught law students, undergrads at a major university, and in a community college. What I've observed is that not everyone develops at the same pace. In its own somewhat disorganized and inefficient way, our system accounts for this and allows people more opportunities to get back in the game if they've fallen out of it for some reason.
Maybe there's the guy who worked as a plumber out of high school for a number of years, because it's what his dad did, so he never thought twice about it. Maybe he didn't have much motivation for school in his teens. But maybe somewhere along the line, he's not happy being a plumber. He signs up for a class at a community college. It's a history class. He get excited by it and works hard. He ends up getting a good grade. So he takes another one. Before you know it, he's got an AA degree and is heading to the local university. He does well there too, and decides to go to law school at night while working part time as a plumber.
To me, this scenario is every bit as amazing and important to the health of our society as the smartest kid being well served. Natural talent is kind of overrated in our society anyway. It seems like focus and drive end up amounting to more in the end.
That's why I like seeing the kid in the community college class who is maybe 25-26. Maybe she partied through high school, and after 3-4 years of shitty minimum wage jobs , she finally realized that getting some more education might not be a bad idea. At this point, she has a purpose, and a lot times these people do very well.
The same goes for the guy who went off to college, drank his way out of school after one year and had to face some stuff down. Not everyone comes back from that. But it's nice that our system allows people to do so.
Having said that, I have to agree that not everyone gets to win all the time. It's probably good to learn that early on. Failure is a drag. But it's also a great teacher. It teaches way more than success does.
Without mediocrity there can be no outstanding people. For them to be 'brought down to everyone else's level by force' only encourages the really determined individuals to persevere. This should never be done intentionally or made clear by the facilitators (ie. teachers or parents); it's something a student for example should have to focus on and learn for him/herself. Art, Music, Sport, Science - history has a way of telling you this story. You'll notice that every brilliant person history had to struggle to get where they got to. They had to defy odds, come up against massive criticism, had to 'excel beyond the norm that was forced upon them'.
Love this post. And it's SO TRUE! There is one shower at my gym that absolutely better than the rest. I pray they never "fix" it.
Every day we are forced to make a decision to live up to our standards or compromise. It's my job to inspire Realtors to set (and live up to) their business standards.
In real estate, and I bet every other industry, there's a lot of room at the top for those who chose to stick to their standards.
I am going to take the devils advocate just a bit.
Do we sometimes do this to ourselves? If you were to compare the other 7 showers to your shower at home, how would they rate? Were the other 7 truly bad, or is it just that the best was that much better?
Our expectations are reflected in our perceptions, which may or may not be acurate.
Did everyone complain about seven showers that really were not bad at all, and this forced the gym to take some kind of action (maybe the cost to upgrade the other seven truly was not cost feasable) to keep everyone from complaining...?
I usually do not take the opposite side, but sometimes it is good to do @;-)
I hear you! I am in Boston, and I often go to Whole Foods (formerly Bread & Circus) on Cambridge Street for lunch. One of my favorite lunch there is SUSHI. They serve the “regular rolls” which is 8 small rolls for $ 3.99 (salmon), or $ 4.29 (tuna).
Once I asked the sushi chef if they could make a mix, 4 tuna & 4 salmon, and they could charge me the average price of $ 4.14, or the full tuna price of $ 4.29 (there’s a price for variety). The sushi chef told me: “I can’t, if I do it once, everyone will want it”. I asked to repeat what he had just said to make sure I understood correctly, and . . . he did: “I can’t, if I do it once, everyone will want it”.
It gets better. After my delicious lunch, I stopped at the “suggestion box”, where I left my suggestion to add a “mix sushi rolls” to the line-up. That was 4 weeks ago. No response (they post the response on the bulleting board for everyone to see). I left another, similar suggestion in the box every week, and now, 4 weeks later, still no response.
Now I wander: those suggestions with glorious responses posted on the board are fake or do they represent the low-hanging fruit?
If the expert sushi is correct in stating the obvious that then everyone will want it, isn’t that what all marketers are shooting for?
I feel like Tom hanks in the movie BIG: “I don’t get it”.
I recommend Kurt Vonnegut's story "Harrison Bergeron", which satirizes the Tyranny of Mediocrity.
The story depicts a society where anyone who has a talent above "average" is physically impaired with weights and crippling devices. Those who rebel, by showing off talent or excellence in any area, are swiftly put down or crushed.
Not that this extreme situation is likely (static societies are very vulnerable to environmental pressure, especially from invaders)... but the tendency exists.
However, if I may advocate for the devil a bit: it also often happens that individuals tell themselves "If society didn't hold me back, I'd show the world my talent" -- but in reality, they are just making up excuses for not trying harder.
Somewhere in the world, one person is being held back by almost six billion people!
Somewhere there is shower-stall with the Holy Grail as a shower-head, so let's "wait just a little bit" to bathe in it. All the rest are sub-par, but at least they hide our tears of sorrow.
To everyone being held back - get over it. Accept the moment/people/thing, don't tarnish accomplishments with a "it could be better..." or that it has to be anything at all. Not everything has to be BEST or NOT BEST.
It's a shower. Does it clean the sweat and stench from your body?
Sometimes it just is what it is.
As my wise wife pointed out to me once,"It's up to you to decide if you're going to be happy or not. Your happiness shouldn't be dependent on outside sources."
The reason for the showers fix is because your gym manager is average. And lazy. He never experienced the glory of the "mercy rule" in little league...he was mediocre at everything in school except shooting spitballs.
Hey, maybe we should applaud his behavior. Perhaps he's actually a below average gym manager, who instead of doing absolutely nothing, stepped up and did the only thing his under achieving mind could conceptualize...and that is to stuff an old jockstrap in the nozzle cavity to impair the flow.
Hmmm...maybe the other 7 shower heads are all now the BEST!
Tom Kessler
Your assumed plumbing knowledge has lead you to write a great story to illustrate a point. Its too bad that your original assumption, and entire basis for your story, is incorrect.
AH! Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General has fixed your showers!!!
To appreciate this reference, read Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" - one of my absolute all-time favorite Vonnegut stories and a must-read for Vonnegut fans.
Plot: Equality has finally been achieved by handicapping the most intelligent, athletic or beautiful members of society down to the level of the lowest common denominator, a process central to the society which is overseen by the United States Handicapper General, who at the time of the story is the shotgun-toting Diana Moon Glampers.
From Wikipedia:
"Harrison Bergeron" is a dystopian science fiction short story written by Kurt Vonnegut and first published in 1961. It deals with egalitarianism. The theme is set by the first line: "The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal." Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October 1961, the story is now available in the author's collection Welcome to the Monkey House.
-Angus Blackwood
La Honda, CA
My take? Time to change gyms (and follow-up with a letter that tells them why, eh?)
No matter what I'm doing, I always determine who seems to be the best and most successful person doing that, and then I make it my goal to kick their *ss. So, for instance, since I make my living as an artist, my current goal is to kick Piccaso's butt. I intend to produce more work, of better quality, for a longer period of time while getting paid better than he did and influencing more people in more ways… Am I going to pull that off? Heck no! He started before I did, lived over 90 years, and was an insanely productive genius. But the thing is— If I make beating him my goal and really try to achieve it, I'll do so much better than I ever would if my goals were "reasonable."
There are a lot of people I could "expect to beat" but where's the fun in that? In a nutshell, I'm only interested in the projects which I'm not sure I can do. If I know I can do it, it's almost as good as done.
So, I guess I feel that the gym should have put in 10 new showers that were even better than the one exceptional one. Or in some way found a mind-blowingly great way to improve beyond just bring the lesser showers up to par.
But that's me.
I can so identify with this story. Once there were some elliptical machines at the Y where I went that were old from a previous gym there. I so loved these machines after I got used to them because after 30 min you could tell you had really gotten a workout...well from the waist down anyway...much more than 1 hr on a treadmill. People who used these machines would take a number and wait. These machines weren't at any other Y in the area. One day one of them disappeared. I inquired about them and found out that they required maintenance and because they were old their maintenance cost more than the new machines. I got worried. I wrote comment cards. I gave other people comment cards to write. I listened to their stories about how they were injured or had a disease and these were the only machines they could use. Well our initial campaign worked. The machine was repaired and returned. However after a certain period of time passed, the Y had management changes. One machine disappeared, and the other two were quickly sold to an individual without even giving the rest of us an opportunity to buy them. They have rows and rows of other new elliptical trainers that they purchased but none of them are anything like the old ones. I guess they had money to buy all of the new ones but couldn't be bothered with the 3 we liked. This is what I have noticed about our society. When you like something you better grab it quick because it seems like the things you don't like multiply and take over. The few gems are hidden away. Everyone seems to be satisfied with mediocrity. Even the teachers now call the "No Child Left Behind" program "No Child Gets Ahead". If you find something that you believe in, you better keep writing...
I can't stand it anymore. when everything only lives up to the "industry standard.." When I see shoddy workmanship in homebuilding or appliances or cars I am always told it is up to industry standard which usually means "junk." No one has pride in workmanship anymore.
hhhmmm..you say 1 showerhead was downgraded so they would all be equal...maybe when you find something you like and it is working great you shouldn't complain. Showerheads aren't athletes, they aren't contests, they are showerheads, instead of complaing, maybe you should have used your intelligence to find times when the gymn was the least crowded and you could have use of the shower. You find something you like and complain that everything associated with it isn't up to par with it, so you complained, so now take a shower at home.
Jackie
This though is as ald as the trees!
Read any Ayn Rand book (such as THE FOUNTAINHEAD) and learn about the struggle of te individual to not be drawn down to the level of the crowd!
Have a nice day!
This story parallels reality in so many ways. It reminds me of my 5 year old son on the local YMCA soccer team. They don't even keep score anymore because parents complained it made the losing team feel "bad"......what...... losing should not be a time to celebrate unless it's Russian Roulette.
Ironically the parents of the kids on our team "unofficially" kept score.... Our kids knew that we lost 9 of the 10 games even without the score. One of the 5 year old soccer teams even had a 7 year old on it that was the superstar player (surprise).
This is reality... like the Chinese Gymnastics team... the world wants to win......sometimes without any code of honor... Our kids still learn life's lessons....hopefully through parents like us...
How could they!
Maybe they are trying to save water?
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