Anticipated Action

I moved my hands back and forth under the airport washroom sink. Nothing. I moved to the next sink. Same thing. Nothing.

The attendant cleaning the sink next to where I stood in dry frustration said, "Push the top."

I looked down at the faucet and realized that it had a push valve to release the water. No electric plumbing here. (Isn't that still a strange concept: electric plumbing?)

For water, in this smaller city airport, you actually pushed the valve to enable the flow.

So accustomed had I become to automated sinks in airports that I stopped considering any other possibility even when repeating the usual action consistently didn't trigger the usual response.

A few lessons present themselves.

First, recognize that repetitive patterns can lure one into the Trap of Expectation. Because it has been, so it will be.

Second, becoming comfortable with familiar responses can thwart awareness of changing circumstances and block the pursuit of alternative actions.

Third, an interruption in repetitive patterns should trigger inquiry, not mindless redoubled effort to stimulate the expected response.

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