Yesterday I went into a public restaurant and saw an out of control ceiling fan only a few feet from my head. To begin it was going way too fast. If this was not bad enough, it apparently had a blade out of balance because the whole fan shaft was severely rocking in the pivot where it's attached to the ceiling. I had gone to this place to have a relaxing meal, instead I found myself more and more tense from watching that fan wobble and wondering when it would break loose from it's pivoting mount on the ceiling, and decapitate myself, my guest, or someone else.
I tried to get someone working at this establishment to turn the damn thing off, but they were busy, and apparently more interested in making money than the safety of their customers. Once, upon catching the eye of an employee situated across the room, I pointed to the fan, but nothing was done to stop it's dangerous wobble. I tried one more time to catch the attention of an employee, and could not get anyone.
At this point we had gotten coffee and placed our menu orders, but watching that fan, right above our heads finally got the best of me. I grabbed my coat, and told my guest we're leaving. I expected an employee to chase after us for at least the cost of the coffee, but no one did. I was actually hoping that they would come after us so I could explain to them about the reason we are leaving.
We went to another restaurant and had a great meal without having to fear our lives due to an out of control ceiling fan. I will be contacting the city building inspection department first thing Monday morning to report that restaurant and their dangerous ceiling fan. Hopefully no one was killed by that fan since we left there on Saturday evening.
I just wonder how many people are decapitated per year by these fans. Even when they are running at a slow speed and not wobbling, they make me nervous, but when they're running fast and wobbling, like this one was, I'm not going to stick around waiting to be decapitated at any moment. Personally I think they should have a speed limitation so they can not operate fast, and they whould have wobble sensors to shut them down when they wobble. Of course the government is too busy outlawing light bulbs and forcing us to get health insurance, than taking care of a REAL problem such as these fans. Maybe the reason health care is so costly, is because of all the decapitated people who are hauled to emergency rooms with their skulls hanging from nothing but a few tendons that managed to remain intact as these fan blades did their destruction to countless human lives.
Robert S