Deep Thoughts: A really bad idea

Yesterday I went to a meeting all the way on the other side of town. It was a pretty official meeting with partners from the company I work for, some other business men, a rep from an international consulting firm and little ol' me. The topic: million dollar investments. I was interpreting back and forth for hours. At one point I actually felt my brain start to heat up. Like those old cars that used to run out of water and the carborator (I think) would overheat and smoke up on the side of the road. My brain felt like that. Anyway, that's not what I really wanted to tell you. The hotel we went to was in a touristic/quaint part of town with a spectacular view of the whole city of Rio. The room we were meeting in however, was not - spectacular, that is. The AC refused to do its thing, and the chairs were almost comfortable, but not quite. This is the interesting bit: the bathroom didn't have a door. You read it right. No door. It wasn't under repair or anything like that, there is no door on any of the bathrooms in any of the bedrooms. It's just not the way they roll. There is a thin threaded curtain that does not offer any privacy at all, all it does is add a bit of color.

Someone at the meeting said it was very bohemian. I guess you can say that, if bohemians like to watch each other use the toilet. To say the least, not the ideal place for a meeting, or a honeymoon for that matter. There is nothing in the civilized world that could ever compell me to stay there. Can you imagine the poor suckers who travel all the way here from countries with bathroom doors and have no idea what's going on before they land in this "bohemian paradise"? This is something that would need to be disclosed way in advance, maybe in bold red letters on their brochure or website.

I can just imagine what the hotel design planning meeting was like: a bunch of old hippies passing around the "peace pipe", sitting cross legged on the floor, clothing optional, lots of beards, braids and super long untrimmed hair, incense burning in the corner for good measure, macrobiotic food buffet - mostly raw foods, no silverware - feel the food in your hands, patchouli oil permeating the air mixing with the "peace pipe", a "love guru" in the corner plucking away on his sitar, eyes closed in meditation....and then someone comes up with a brilliant idea for the hotel design. "Let's paint the fountain and the pool in blood red, remove the doors from the bathrooms and just put some braided colored thread in its place, and let's skimp on AC maintence. Let nature control room temperature, not artificial machines". Then another lost soul pulls away from his wheat grass and tofu smoothie just long enough to add, "Great idea! Why put a bathroom door, when you could put this beautiful braided thread?"

This is how really bad ideas are born.