I was just talking to Margaret, and somehow conversation got around to sleeping. Neither of us likes to sleep in public, it turns out, while people who don’t mind are always sleeping in places all over campus. I thought, someone should construct ‘sleep booths‘ so that people who want to nap in private, or just have some quiet time in the middle of the day, can do so.
Sleep booths would be small rooms located at central places on campus. Each one contains a big squishy armchair. You pay fifty cents and you can go in (the door will lock after you). There’s a CD player so you can play your own music, but you can also select music there, probably classical, meditation music or ‘white noise’. The booths themselves are soundproof. You can also select the temperature and lighting. There’s a loud, annoying alarm, and you can set it for any time up to an hour. I think an hour is about an appropriate time–longer and you’ll get people living there, shorter is no good. The alarm would have to be so annoying that you can’t stand being in the room any longer once it goes off… maybe the lights could do weird things, too, or other stuff could happen, so people who are deaf or blind won’t be exempt. The booths would open when classes start, at eight in the morning, and would close around six in the evening. That way people won’t move in and start living there, or anything like that.
I think sleep booths are a great idea. Imagine–you could just go there in the middle of the day when you have a free hour, pay fifty cents, and take a nap or do some quiet, private reading or singing or something. And an alarm will wake you up so you won’t miss class! The only problem I can think of is that people might be really dirty and stinky, or people might do strange sexual things, or other stuff that would make you really, really not want to use the booth after them. All I can say to that is use at your own risk, it’s not that much worse than other public facilities. Maybe they could provide antibacterial wipes. 🙂
What do you think of my idea? Besides that I have waaaay too much imagination?
[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 