YELLOW PAGES SOCIAL EXPERIMENT - PHASE 1

Two of my neighbors have had their phonebooks sitting out on their porch for over a month now. Our porches are shared, or more specifically it's a hallway and the actual space we each can call a 'porch' is not clearly defined. Generally there is an assumption that when a telephone book is delivered to the front of every door, that it is for (and thus belongs) to that respective door's residents.

Upon arrival, I immediately brought mine in. Maybe I'm picky about it, but if I left it outside it may give the illusion that I am not home and therefore lead to vandalism or theivery in a worst-case scenario kind of mindset. I wasn't really worried about that, just stating it.

I've decided to play a little game. The phonebooks are a bit of an eyesore. I walk by them every day upon entering or exiting my apartment. Last night I got home around 3-3:30am and I moved the telephone books to the center of each doorway. This way, in order for them to enter/exit their dwelling they will either have to a) pick up the phonebook and bring it inside, b) kick it or move it to the side, or c) step over the phonebook and act like it isn't there.

The results were odd. I surely thought that placing the phonebook in the center of the entryway would cause both residents to bring the phonebook in as in option 'a'. It looks as if one of the neighbors did follow this choice. The other neighbor chose option 'b'. They basically just kicked or moved the phonebook to the place that it had been previously parked for the past month. I'm really amused by this.

Tonight I'm going to do the same exact action as last night and see if they kick it to the side again. If they do this, then I have more exciting experiments to run. I'll keep you posted.