Checking into my hotel tonight, I didn't realize the front office closed at 11pm. I had called at 10pm or so to let them know that I'd probably be in after midnight. So as I dragged myself in through the front doors, I was astonished that the hotel appeared closed. I saw a big sign on the wall to "the attention of late guest checkins". That would be me. I also noticed six electronic boxes on the wall. The sign continued, "Please locate your name on a box, type in the first four letters of your last name, and hit Enter. Your key will be in that box." Okay, so first clue, my name wasn't on any box. So I tried them all. I tried Heimgartner AND Broderick, on all six boxes. Nothing worked. Upset and desparate, I left the hotel and went up the road to a different hotel, where the desk manager mentioned that all hotels in the area are booked. So now I'm thinking that I'll be staying at Hotel Mazda tonight. In my frustration, I was going to call the first hotel and leave a nice message for the morning crew, when lo and behold a person answered the phone. Seems that there is another sign, below the "select-a-box-for-your-key" sign that says to dial x600 for assistance after hours. So I travel back to the hotel, and verily, it is true. However, it is in 8pt type, off to the right hand side, below the boxes, and contained within a lot unrelated text. The idea here is that written word is not the most effective. All that had to have happened would have been for the desk attendant, during the very first phone call, to have told me to dial x600. Then I could have ignored written directions altogether, saving myself lots of time and agony. See any parallels? .... p.s. I think the title quote is by Mike Cohn, to pay proper respects.