[Doriana] New rules and regulations

[Doriana]

Brittany's place of work is getting ready to re-open after being closed due to the pandemic. One of the rules they put in place to comply with social distancing guidelines makes sense at first glance, but they overlooked something that makes the rule a lot less useful.


Based on a true story
Brittany = H/A/F

[Earnest]

relevant her work? Since she is re-opening among the last ones I would ask: is she hair stylist? beautician? Health care involved? Pubs? Restaurant? gym? Does her job involve animals? food? technology? clothing? sport? cars? catering? wedding planning?

Is it less useful in light of her job? Is there a risk of creating lines/rows? gatherings? Is it a lot less useful because it is already solved by another rule? (e.g. booking/reservation?) Because of something already applied in her job? Because it does not help social distancing? Because social distancing is already ensured by something else?

Size of clothes relevant? Rental? Masks? Glasses? Something people wear relevant? Certificates? Monitoring? Fever elevator?

[Doriana]

relevant her work? Yes Since she is re-opening among the last ones I would ask: FA, the puzzle statement is based on a situation that occurred about 6 weeks ago. Sorry for the confusion is she hair stylist? beautician? Health care involved? Pubs? Restaurant? gym? Does her job involve animals? food? technology? clothing? sport? cars? catering? wedding planning? No or not relevantly to all

Is it less useful in light of her job? There is something about her job that makes it less useful Is there a risk of creating lines/rows? gatherings? Yes to all Is it a lot less useful because it is already solved by another rule? (e.g. booking/reservation?) Because of something already applied in her job? No to both Because it does not help social distancing? Yes Because social distancing is already ensured by something else? No

Size of clothes relevant? Rental? Masks? Glasses? Something people wear relevant? Certificates? Monitoring? Fever elevator? No to all

[hominid]

Does the rule involve the number of people in the space at one time? Do other people work there besides Brittany?

[Doriana]

Does the rule involve the number of people in the space at one time? Yesish Do other people work there besides Brittany? Yes

[hominid]

Is there likely to be more than one employee in the space at once? More than one other person?

Is anything about Brittany specifically relevant, besides the fact that she's one of the people at that workplace? Is she the owner/manager/boss?

[Doriana]

Is there likely to be more than one employee in the space at once? Yes More than one other person? And more relevantly, also yes

Is anything about Brittany specifically relevant, besides the fact that she's one of the people at that workplace? No Is she the owner/manager/boss? No

[hominid]

Is the number of people set too high? Too low? Are more people likely to be in the space at once than the "official" maximum amount?

Is it a store? Is the workplace indoors?

[Doriana]

Is the number of people set too high? Too low? The number set by the rule is technically just right, but... Are more people likely to be in the space at once than the "official" maximum amount? Yes

Is it a store? No Is the workplace indoors? Yes

[hominid]

Is the maximum number of people: 1? 2? 3? 4? 5? 6? 7? 8? More than 8?

Are the people likely to be adults? Children? Babies?

[Doriana]

Is the maximum number of people: 1? 2? 3? 4? 5? 6? 7? 8? More than 8? This

Are the people likely to be adults? Children? Babies? Teenagers or young adults

[hominid]

Is it relevant exactly what the maximum is?

Are people likely to bring an extra person with them? Are they likely to ignore the rules? Do they unintentionally break the rules?

[Doriana]

Is it relevant exactly what the maximum is? No, assume 50

Are people likely to bring an extra person with them? Are they likely to ignore the rules? No to these Do they unintentionally break the rules? Yes!

[hominid]

Is it hard to determine exactly how many people there are? Are the employees responsible for keeping track of this? Does it appear that there are fewer people than there are?

[Doriana]

Is it hard to determine exactly how many people there are? Noish Are the employees responsible for keeping track of this? Does it appear that there are fewer people than there are? No to rest

[hominid]

Are the people unaware of the rule? Is there a sign relevantly posted with the rule?

[Earnest]

Sorry for the confusion --> no need to be sorry

The number set by the rule is technically just right, but... --> something like "the rules apply inside a room but nothing is said about the outside where people gathers"? Are there relevantly elevators? Maybe they did not take into account the fact that allowing less people would have slow down a process thus creating rows outside?

Do people enter one at a time? More than one at a time? All people together? Do people relevantly need a ticket to enter?

Did the new rules fix a lower amount of people? Or maybe they are vague in specifying such number? Are cinema involved? Entertainment? Means of transportation? Churches? religion? Carousels (e.g. bumper cars: not allowed in couples but social distancing is not respected after a collision)? Tattoos? Museum? Driving license teacher? Social media? Spa? Disco? Dance (e.g. they did not take into account that, though only few people is allowed, they need to dance in couples...ok maybe too much)?

Do they unintentionally break the rules? Yes! --> Because of their age? Because of what they are allowed to do? Because Brittany did not take into account the employees in the number of people allowed? Are the rules broken in the sense that there are more people than allowed? That, though the number of people is right, but social distancing is not respected? Maybe everyone handles the same thing (e.g. they play with a ball)?
Are there places to sit relevantly? Are there not enough places to sit?

Is the fact that they break the rule a risk for their health? Or maybe simply the rule is not well stated? Do everyone (i.e. each single person) break the rule unintentionally? E.g. it is said that people should keep a distancing of 1.80 cubic meters, hence people taller than 1.80 automatically break the rule.
If there are only two people, do they unintentionally break the rule automatically? More than 3, but less than 50?

[Doriana]

Are the people unaware of the rule? No Is there a sign relevantly posted with the rule? No, but the people have been made aware of the rule in a different way


Sorry for the confusion --> no need to be sorry

The number set by the rule is technically just right, but... --> something like "the rules apply inside a room but nothing is said about the outside where people gathers"? No, but somewhat OTRT Are there relevantly elevators? No Maybe they did not take into account the fact that allowing less people would have slow down a process thus creating rows outside? No

Do people enter one at a time? More than one at a time? This All people together? Probably not Do people relevantly need a ticket to enter? No, but maybe OTRT

Did the new rules fix a lower amount of people? Lower than what? Or maybe they are vague in specifying such number? No Are cinema involved? No Entertainment? No Means of transportation? Yes! (But beware of FA) Churches? religion? Carousels (e.g. bumper cars: not allowed in couples but social distancing is not respected after a collision)? Tattoos? Museum? Driving license teacher? Social media? Spa? Disco? Dance (e.g. they did not take into account that, though only few people is allowed, they need to dance in couples...ok maybe too much)? No to rest

Do they unintentionally break the rules? Yes! --> Because of their age? Because of what they are allowed to do? Because Brittany did not take into account the employees in the number of people allowed? No to all Are the rules broken in the sense that there are more people than allowed? Yes That, though the number of people is right, but social distancing is not respected? No Maybe everyone handles the same thing (e.g. they play with a ball)? No
Are there places to sit relevantly? Are there not enough places to sit? No to both

Is the fact that they break the rule a risk for their health? Possibly Or maybe simply the rule is not well stated? No, the rule is well-stated, but difficult to follow Do everyone (i.e. each single person) break the rule unintentionally? Not everyone E.g. it is said that people should keep a distancing of 1.80 cubic meters, hence people taller than 1.80 automatically break the rule. But not like this
If there are only two people, do they unintentionally break the rule automatically? No More than 3, but less than 50? No

[GalFisk]

Are teens and young adults likely to breake the rule because they're: small? Young? Light? Short? Drawn to something? Uninterested in something? WAG: is there a relevant weight limit instead of number limit? Such as "max 200 kg in elevator"? Means of transportation: walking? Bicycling? Escalator? Elevator? Tram? Train? Revolving door? Amusement park ride?

[Doriana]

Are teens and young adults likely to breake the rule because they're: small? Young? Light? Short? Drawn to something? Uninterested in something? No to all and potential FA WAG: is there a relevant weight limit instead of number limit? Such as "max 200 kg in elevator"? No Means of transportation: walking? Bicycling? Escalator? Elevator? Tram? This Train? And this Revolving door? Amusement park ride?

[hominid]

Is Brittany's workplace itself a tram/train? Is it a station?

Are they made aware of the rule through: a website? A voice announcement? A generally-known government-issued rule?

[Doriana]

Is Brittany's workplace itself a tram/train? Is it a station? No to both

Are they made aware of the rule through: a website? This, and something else A voice announcement? A generally-known government-issued rule? No to rest

[hominid]

A website, and also: a Facebook page? Other social media? An email?

Did people commonly arrive at the workplace by tram? Train?

[Doriana]

A website, and also: a Facebook page? Other social media? An email? This

Did people commonly arrive at the workplace by tram? Train? Yes to both

[hominid]

Are the people students? Is the workplace part of a university? A school?

Did the people all get the email before arriving at the place?

[Doriana]

Are the people students? Yes Is the workplace part of a university? A school? It's a school

Did the people all get the email before arriving at the place? Yes

Quick RECAP

Brittany's school is getting ready to re-open after the pandemic. The school put a rule in place that is meant to limit the number of people in one place at the same time. While the rule itself is sensible, students will unintentionally break it, making it less useful. It is relevant that many students come to school by train or tram.

[hominid]

Does the school make clear which students are supposed to come at what time and which aren't? Does the train/tram schedule line up with the school day? Do some students end up going to school even when they aren't supposed to?

[Doriana]

Does the school make clear which students are supposed to come at what time Yes and which aren't? No, but this is implied Does the train/tram schedule line up with the school day? No! Do some students end up going to school even when they aren't supposed to? Yesish, explore a bit more

Almost there!

[hominid]

So, the school splits up the school day with some students coming for half the day and others coming for the other half, but some students arrive on the tram so are forced to be at school for the entire day, because the beginning and end of the school day is the only time that the tram runs? So the school ends up having all the students all the time after all?

[Doriana]

So, the school splits up the school day with some students coming for half the day and others coming for the other half, but some students arrive on the tram so are forced to be at school for the entire day, because the beginning and end of the school day is the only time that the tram runs? So the school ends up having all the students all the time after all?

Not quite, but I think we have enough for the

********SPOILER********

Brittany's school splits up the students into groups and gives each group an individual arrival time so that the hallways aren't too crowded. However, a lot of students take the train or tram to school, which only runs every 30 minutes, so that e.g. all students in the 8:30, 8:40 and 8:50 groups arrive at the school at the same time anyway.

[hominid]

Ah, I see. That actually makes more sense than what I was thinking. Nice puzzle!

[Earnest]

Cool one! Thanks