I’ve been pondering the cumulative effects of small things. For example, people always get upset about how the sink in public restrooms becomes surrounded by water so that if you lean over it, you get a big horizontal wet stripe across your shirt. They grumble about how inconsiderate people are to leave all that water splashed outside the sink. Well, if you think about it a bit, you realize that there isn’t one person who spatters lots of water around the rim. It’s actually the accumulated effect of many small drops from lots of people washing their hands. Granted, if everyone was more careful and/or wiped around the sink after they were done, the problem would go away. However, not one person is responsible and you are probably just as responsible as anyone else. The same type of thing happens with the kitchen at work. Not one person is a big slob, but the small bits and pieces from everyone makes us all look like a pack of slovenly beasts by the end of the day. A similar topic, but from a different angle, is covered in the new book The Tipping Point : How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (which I’m trying to get to if I can make a dent in the pile of books already on my nightstand).