Proximity-Card Door Readers - Doing the pants-dance...

My workplace, and many others, uses proximity cards (AKA RFID) to access employee-only areas. Like Suity McBriefcase in the photo, you just get your card to within two or three inches of the reader, some radio-transmitting magic takes place, and the door unlocks. Neat stuff, but What I'd like to call attention to are the real-life use patterns I've observed having to do with those cards and the readers. Specifically, there are a lot of people (myself included) who just keep the card in a front pocket; and not infrequently, those worker-bees are buzzing around with both hands occupied, say, with a laptop and cuppa coffee. This situation leads to what might be called the pants-dance - trying to get the card to unlock the door from inside your pocket. The problem is that the readers are invariably installed just barely too high for this to be easy - though low enough that it's possible for most people. Hence, the pants-dance - lifting a leg, moving it around, hopping on one foot - it's entertaining, if not convenient. It also makes me wonder if there's anyone in the decision chain about where the readers are installed who thought to consider how they're actually used, and how a little change might just make a great big dancing difference!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In our building many men have the card in their back pocket. Imagine the dance we get to see every day!