A mayor in Germany is attracting interest from other cities after he installed a special park bench for town teens who refuse to sit properly。
After residents of the southwestern city of Eppelheim complained teenagers always sat on the top of benches, rather than on the seat itself which they dirtied with their shoes, Mayor Dieter Moerlein came up with the idea of putting the seat on top。
The first of Moerlein's benches was installed last week and he is already fielding calls from interested cities in Germany, he told reporters on Tuesday。
"The reception has been overwhelming," Moerlein said. "Whoever wants to build one, be my guest."
The mayor of 17 years calls them "no-interest" benches because teens have "no interest in following etiquette. They all sit on the new benches like sparrows on a branch," he said。
In a country reputed for its orderliness, putting your shoes on a public seat often earns a quick rebuke from passersby。
In one extreme case, a 69-year-old pensioner wounded an 18-year-old man with a knife on Sunday after the teen would not take his feet off of a seat on a train。
But in Eppelheim the bench has been a sufficient solution for all parties in a city best known for strudel and global food ingredient maker Rudolf Wild GmbH。
"Kids are happy because there are no rules against sitting on the back of benches," the mayor said. "Others are happy because they now have a clean place to sit."针对那些“坐没坐相”的青少年，德国某市市长近日发明了一款特制的公园长椅，使得其它不少城市也颇有兴趣。
德国西南部埃珀尔海姆市的居民抱怨称，该市青少年常常踩着公园长椅的座位坐在椅背上，座椅都被踩脏了。于是市长迪特尔•莫尔林恩就想到了这个把座位放在上方的主意。
莫尔林恩发明的首个座椅于上周在公园安装。他在本周二接受记者采访时表示，已经有不少德国城市来电表示对这个发明感兴趣。
莫尔林恩说：“打电话来问的人很多。欢迎所有想安装座椅的人前来咨询。”
莫尔林恩担任该市市长已有17年了。他称这些座椅为“无兴趣”座椅，并称这是因为青少年“对遵守礼节毫无兴趣，他们坐在新座椅上就像停在枝头的麻雀一样”。
在以整洁著称的国度，把脚踩在公共座椅上很快就会招来路人的责骂。
在一起极端案例中，一位69岁的退休老人在某个周日用刀捅伤了一个18岁的年轻人，因为他不肯把脚从火车座位上放下来。
但在埃珀尔海姆市，这种新式座椅就足以解决所有问题。埃珀尔海姆市以香甜可口的薄酥卷饼著称，全球著名食品配料生产商鲁道夫•威尔德公司也位于该市。
市长说：“孩子们见到新式座椅很开心，不用怕因为坐在椅背上而坏了规矩。其他人也很开心，因为终于有干净地方坐了。”