I don't like the title of this post, but I can't think of a better name for the phenomenon I want to rail against. I hate it when people are so oblivious to their surroundings that they gratuitously change things in their environment without noticing, or even considering that someone else might have left things in a certain state on purpose. At lunch today I encountered the example that constantly annoys me: people who walk into the restaurant and leave the door open even though it was closed when they got there. Who walks through a closed door and doesn't even notice whether or not it closes again behind them? Maybe there was a reason it was closed! Even if not, why pointlessly change the state of something? Unless you've got a reason to leave something different than you found it, don't!
Everyone knows that when they go camping they should pick up their trash and leave the place looking clean, and most people don't litter gratuitously. So why do they "pollute" their environment by making other careless, pointless changes? Maybe someone else is counting on something being a certain way! Maybe they arranged it that way for a reason, and your obliviousness is causing real inconvenience to someone who isn't an idiot! Maybe the door you so carelessly and thoughtlessly left ajar causes cold wind to blow on a fine, upstanding citizen who is innocently trying to enjoy a wet chicken burrito with no cheese!
By watching which people noticed the door stuck open and which didn't, I was easily able to differentiate the smart, observant ones from the morons. If I were a hiring manager, that's exactly the kind of subtle signal I'd be looking for while interviewing a job candidate.
I get just as frustrated as you Michael, but honestly, some people just don't notice things like that. It doesn't mean they are idiots.
As a personal example, I live in a part of the country with a large number of very smart engineers. These same very smart engineers are the same ones leaving things in a changed state. They honestly just aren't paying attention.
It means that people like you and I either get to do a lot of "clean up" or we need to just get over it.
When I used to hire people on a regular basis the final deal-breaker no matter how well the interview went was if they pushed their chair back in as the got up from the table.
People thought I was crazy but I just could not hire a person that left their chair out. Just came across as LAZY.
I like to know if they wash their hands after going to the bathroom.
Don't laugh. This often tells you whether they were taught how to behave by example or whether their parents did everything by the because I said so or the because I'm bigger then you rule of parenting.
I guess Heather may be right in a sense that perhaps the negligent people aren't morons; they're just the typical, self-focused, garden-variety oblivion you can find anywhere these days.
Eric: That's a good thing to notice. People who are careful and considerate are likely to be the kind of people you want working for you. Brilliant people who are oblivious to their surroundings might seem like an ok employee, but will probably end up causing headaches.
Ahhh-
But they will only be headaches if they are like you and I. If the managers are the same way, everyone is happy! ;-)