New benches are a pain in the ****

[Spookie Monster]

New benches are a pain in the ****

Park officials in China have found a way to stop people from hogging their benches for too long -- by fitting steel spikes on a coin-operated timer.

If visitors at the Yantai Park in Shangdong province, eastern China, linger too long without feeding the meter, dozens of sharp spikes shoot through the seat.

Ummm... O.K.  Isn't this one of the signs of the End Times?

(Just curious, but how many of you fine members of Elliquiy would actually put coins into a bench so that spikes would shoot out rather than would not shoot out?)

Hope that you enjoy the article!

Spel

Yeah, yeah, baby, YEOW!

[Wolfy]

O-o....China is crazy.

[Oniya]

Mr. Oniya said 'This is where someone just brings in a piece of wood (steel, plastic) to put on top of the bench seat.'

[Jag]

I'm guessing that the spikes are visible at all times till the meter is activated. So one wouldn't need to put a quarter in to intentionally make the spikes come out. If the spikes aren't activated till the meter is, then there would be no reason to worry, right?

Either way...wow...aren't benches there to sit on and relax and rest your feet? Who cares if someone sits on one all day. I assume they wouldn't take up the whole bench. There would still be a spot to sit...*sighs*

[Oniya]

The problem is that the parks are overcrowded to begin with, and even assuming three people per bench, there aren't enough benches for all the squatters to claim their spaces and leave room for the average park-goer to take a 5 minute rest.

[Jag]

True. But do they really have to resort to putting what I assume to be push pin sized spikes in the benches, along with meters? Couldn't they of used the money from installing all that to put in a few more benches? O_o

People will just find ways to break the machines and the spikes and then someone will have to be paid to go out and fix it, again with money that could of been used to just put in a new bench. *shrugs*

[Will]

But this way is so much more fun!

[Synecdoche17]

This is a genuine wtf. Isn't the solution to a lack of benches adding more benches?!

[Wolfy]

This is a genuine wtf. Isn't the solution to a lack of benches adding more benches?!

Not for China, apparently.

[Oniya]

I'd personally have to see how much bench-space is actually available.  I know I've seen video footage of some of the Asian shopping districts, and the mass o' people is truly frightening.  (I'm amazed more people over there aren't agoraphobic.)  If the park traffic comes anywhere near that, then you could line all the paths through the park with benches, one next to another, and it still wouldn't handle the load.

[Will]

I'd personally have to see how much bench-space is actually available.  I know I've seen video footage of some of the Asian shopping districts, and the mass o' people is truly frightening.  (I'm amazed more people over there aren't agoraphobic.)  If the park traffic comes anywhere near that, then you could line all the paths through the park with benches, one next to another, and it still wouldn't handle the load.

That was my initial thinking, yeah.  I have to to assume that there's a valid reason for not taking the obvious route of adding more benches.  They may have tons of benches already.

[Oniya]

For the interested, I found a picture of the bench in question.

http://kluv.radio.com/2010/08/17/spiked-park-benches/

[Jag]

That looks uncomfortable to sit on in the first place. I don't think I want to pay to sit on small pegs that will in a few minutes shoot spikes into my bum.

[Oniya]

I'm not sure if that's the deployed position or not.  As Mr. Oniya remarked, though, all it would take is something reasonably sturdy to put on the bench ahead of time, and you could sit all day.

[Spookie Monster]

Thanks for the replies, guys!  I'm glad that you found it curious.  Thanks particularly for the picture, Oniya.  To be fair, I'm not yet convinced that we're getting the whole story -- I mean, maybe there are further details to the setup, maybe it's all a hoax.  Still, how could I resist mentioning here at Elliquiy anything that involves getting spikes in the butt?

Thanks again!

Spel

She's got a police spike... she's got cheeks of rose...