Toasters and Teamwork

Yesterday morning while waiting in line at breakfast, I encountered a man by the toaster who was toasting 3 slices of bread. He was reaching to grab in one piece of bread and accidentally dropped the toasted piece onto the floor; he quickly bent over to grab it and looked at me and said “10 second rule, right?” and put it back in the toaster. Well, clearly I didn’t say anything (to be fair I was just having my first sip or two of coffee) and then he put the piece of toast back into the toaster. So now everyone after him who used the toaster has unknowingly accepted that same decision, and that will be true at least until the machine gets washed.

While this seems like a trivial incident, I think it’s almost a metaphor for complacency sort of like the story that David was telling about his… Continue reading →