#2: Unintended Consequences
History is littered with incidences where good-intentioned actions have unintended consequences. In the social sciences, unintended consequences are grouped into three types: Unexpected benefit, unexpected drawback, and perverse result. We’re all familiar with the unexpected benefit, which we call “luck”, and we all pray for it to come our way whenever we attempt to do something.
The management of this place implemented some measures they thought would keep homeless people from setting up camp at the entrance of their building. Unfortunately, this is one of those examples of unintended consequences. It turns out those poles were thick enough to offer sweet support for those with thick mattresses —a perverse result for management, an unexpected benefit for the homeless.