Let's ban the ban
A good and kindly soul in our office regularly cat and house sits for neighbours. In one of these recent house sittings she came across the ‘Family House Rules’ pinned on their noticeboard - all 38 of them! Who on earth has 38 house rules? We only have two.
The thing about annoyance is that if you have the power you can put in a rule to ban whatever it is that annoys you. They must be a very cross family with so much to irritate them.
A few weeks ago the TUC said that employers should be banned from insisting that women wear heels as part of their work uniform. A sentiment that could be easy to agree with, except they then went on to say that our new Prime Minister should stop wearing heels, thereby being hoist by their own petard; calling for something to be abolished by insisting on another ban.
At school we had so many rules it was hard work trying to break them all the time. My Dad once said of a misdemeanour of mine that we were ‘talking through’, that I could be in the middle of the Sahara and see a sign saying Keep off the Grass and would promptly go and stand on it. True, I would have!
We had a discussion in the office about what we would ban if we had our own planet.
Here’s my list:
1. Chewing gum (already banned in parts of Singapore)
2. Old people shopping on Saturday (this really belongs to my husband)
3. Smoking, absolutely anywhere
4. Obesity, make it a crime
5. Rudeness
6. Killing any animal for sport
7. Whistling
8. Numerous politicians from appearing on TV
9. Homework
10. The Death Penalty
Before you rush to judgement, I agree it's a pretty pathetic list and anyway I don’t have the power. That’s my point - if you do have the authority to ban things, then use it wisely or you can appear somewhat stupid.
If interested, our two house rules are:
1) Never tell a lie the truth is always better
2) Don’t upset your Mother!
It works for us.