would YOU do it?

Magnum was telling me about some accelerated life testing they have going on at his work.  He referred to it as "the Monster's Inc. setup".

Magnum designs door locks.  That may sound pretty mundane, but just take a moment to think about the abundance of door locks you encounter on a regular basis - residences, schools, museums, hospitals, senior living facilities (right, Joey?), etc...  And they have to work properly.

Actually, they're kind of like shoes.  You don't really take notice of them unless they cause pain... or unless you design them.

So back to Monster's Inc. life testing.  I haven't seen it, but Magnum describes it as a large room with 10 different doors, each with a unique lock.  The locks are put through rigorous testing on fixtures, but this particular life test uses Real. Live. Humans. Oh. My. God.

These humans must walk through each door by actuating the doorlock.  They must do this all day.  They must walk through those ten doors, each with different locks, over and over and over.

They've brought in workers from a temp agency who are paid, I think, $12/hr, and if they last for something like two weeks, they'll get 6-month temp jobs in the factory.  No degree, certification, or experience is required.  They just have to be able to open doors.  All day.

I can't even.

I told Magnum that it sounds like hell as he told me about the number of temps that dropped out after about an hour.

"They can wear earbuds.  They can take breaks as needed...", he went on.  I should note that this test was not his idea.

"It sounds more like a psychological test than a door lock test to me", I observed, and I'm not kidding.

They want around 50,000 actuations per lock.  Magnum doesn't think they're going to make it.  I'm trying to picture this room with people walking around in large circles as they open ten different doors.  They can't even daydream because they have to know what to do at each door - some they turn, some have a lever to push, some have a button to push or twist...

But, he says a couple of the "lock walkers" are still going strong, with smiles on their faces no less.

"Maybe we should have exit interviews when people drop out", he pondered.

"Heck, I'd be more interested in interviewing the people who stay!  Those there are the anomalies!", I said.

Would YOU do it?  What would it take?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Tell us about the last time you broke a sweat.