law and order / insert brain in head
someone once said, “in democracy, everything that’s not forbidden is allowed, in austria, it’s the other way around.” and most of the time, this is frighteningly accurate. but besides this special kind of …
there’s rules and signs for everything in this city, even for things a 3-year old would be able to do and understand on its’ own. but this one i found beats everything i experienced in the last 23 years. it’s a small, innocent sign mounted on a wall above a trash can:
translation: “please put trash in the trash bin.” well, duh. okay, okay, i can see where a sign like this might make sense - for example if you had problems with people who threw their trash in front of the trash can, but then I guess this is the smallest of your problems. but this is not the only sign there. in this little vestibule in a house in the 6th district, there were no less than 3 different info signs besides this one: “please close door properly” on the front door, “please deposit waste paper in the paper bin” above mentioned paper bin, and “please close door properly to avoid draft” above the second door.
mind you, the whole room was maybe 8m2 in size. I guess this adds a whole new dimension to the phrase “obsessive-compulsive behavior”.
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actually it says “please throw the rubbish into the rubbish bin.” and while i’m at it, let me throw the american spelling for draught into the, err, trash can; it makes me think of austria’s general conscription.