I Believe in the Blue Tub.

I love so many things about polite paper commands. I love how they reflect the nature of institutional life -- small amounts of distributed power, some measure of disagreement regarding norms, attempts to temper demands with human kindness. Desperation. Hope.

I love thinking about what would happen to this sign if someone *really* moved the blue tub? Like to a different room? Or stole it?

I love wondering how long the sign would remain.

I love imagining the younger readers who would encounter it in such a situation. Blue tub? They'd read. And I love imagining them peering up and down the hall curiously and then wondering whether to attribute this "blue tub" to the category of metaphor, theory, folk tale or religion. *Grown-ups* they'd mutter to themselves, and shake their heads.