Easy ways to cause trouble

Who would have thought it?

Here’s a fascinating problem I saw in a school today.

The current teacher is constantly re-calibrating their whiteboard.

Here’s why. These number balloons were attached between the pole for the projector and a wall.

Unfortunately, this is an old school building and the projector pole is coming down from a 20 foot high ceiling. When I took the balloons down I was very surprised at the weight of the rope and balloons.

‘Give me a lever long enough and I’ll move the world’ – the levering effect of the balloons on such a long strut has been to BEND the pole! This is a serious piece of steel tube!

Do you have any similar stories of ‘good ideas’ that caused horrendous problems?