The Hanger Shortage Cycle Is Now Officially a Procedure

Stage 1: The Shortage

A household member needs to hang something. No hangers are available. The closet is full of hangers. The hangers are all occupied.

This is the hanger shortage. Not a shortage of hangers. A shortage of free hangers.

Stage 2: The Assessment

The subject considers the occupied hangers. Most of them hold clothes the subject has not worn recently. Several hold clothes the subject has not worn in the past year. A few hold clothes whose ownership the subject does not fully remember.

The subject does not remove any of these clothes. To remove them would be to make a decision about whether to keep them, which is a different task from the current task, which is hanging something.

Stage 3: The Solution

The subject purchases more hangers.

The hangers arrive. The new clothes are hung. The closet is now more full than before. The capacity problem has been addressed by adding to the capacity rather than reducing the load.

Governing Rule

Once a hanger shortage cycle acquires a daily workaround, the workaround becomes the official storage system.

The workaround is: buy hangers. The workaround addresses the symptom without addressing the cause. The cause is that the closet contains clothes that are not being worn. These clothes occupy hangers. The hangers are therefore full. New clothes require new hangers.

The cycle continues. Hangers accumulate. The closet becomes more full. The next shortage requires more hangers.

Stage 4: Recognition

At some point, the subject recognizes the cycle. This recognition does not break the cycle. It simply makes the next hanger purchase slightly more aware.

The subject, in the store, holding a pack of hangers, thinks: this is the third time. And then buys the hangers.

Stage 5: Steady State

The closet currently has forty-one hangers. Thirty-eight are occupied. Three are free. The subject considers this adequate.

A new item of clothing is on the way.