Foible #3: Hot Pink Construction Shirts

Always concerned with safety, our highway department was constantly looking for new ways to keep its workers safe while they were repairing potholes, laying pavement, or landscaping near roadways. Someone in the highway department had read a study that hot pink was the most visible color and that it was scientifically proven that drivers would notice workers in hot pink shirts much more quickly than with any other color.

Always wanting what was safest, one summer they bought hot pink shirts in XL, XXL, XXXL for all their highway workers. The workers got noticed alright and they were no injuries due to inattentive drivers. But, the workers were whistled at, waved at, stared at, honked at, laughed at, and even propositioned by passing drivers. All of the male workers quit and the highway department was worried that it was not going to be able to complete all the beatification projects and fill all the potholes before summer was over. The female workers, however, did not quit, but there were not enough of them to do all the work.

Our highway department was in a quandary. However, things worked out as they always do in our town. More women were hired and there was a batch of new men who applied for the job who did not seem to mind wearing the hot pink shirts. In fact, these men seemed to enjoy wearing the shirts. They were all hired right away. Suffice it to say, that summer the landscaping along the roadways and the flowers beds that lined Main Street never looked better. Everyone in town commented on how nice everything looked. But even after things worked out so well, the highway department never again used hot pink construction shirts after that summer. And the flower beds suffered because of it.