Findings on the Continued Use of Water Bottle Refill
The water bottle was empty for six hours while the person passed a working tap approximately eleven times.
FIELD NOTES: Water Bottle Refill Observer: Someone carrying the bottle. Subject: The same person.
9:02 AM. Water bottle is full. The day begins with adequate hydration infrastructure.
10:14 AM. Water bottle is empty. A refill point is visible from the current location. The person does not refill. The person is about to leave for a different location. Refilling now would create a full bottle that needs carrying. This is not a reason.
10:48 AM. Second refill point observed. The person considers refilling. The consideration takes slightly longer than refilling would have taken. The person continues walking.
11:30 AM. Third refill point. Corridor tap. Working. Accessible. The bottle is still empty. The governing rule is clear: a water bottle refill may continue after thirst ends if stopping would make the previous journey feel incomplete. The previous journey has not ended. The refill is being saved for somewhere better.
12:03 PM. Lunch location. There are taps here. The person drinks from the tap while carrying an empty water bottle. The bottle is not refilled. The reasoning, when reviewed, does not hold.
1:47 PM. The person mentions being thirsty. A colleague indicates the nearby tap. The person says "yeah in a minute."
The minute is not used for refilling.
Under the governing rule, the water bottle refill adds one extra decision to an otherwise simple task. That decision is: not here, not yet, somewhere better exists.
2:55 PM. The person reaches a location with a filtered water station and a queue of one person. This is identified as the correct refill point. The bottle is refilled.
3:04 PM. The bottle is full. The person is satisfied. The nine hours since the bottle was last full have not been accounted for in any system that values hydration.
The meal eventually cannot begin correctly unless the ritual is performed in the accepted sequence. The sequence is: carry the empty bottle, pass the taps, find the right tap, refill.
The right tap is the one reached after enough wrong taps.