That is very likely right. Spatial memory is often stronger than verbal instruction, especially in noisy places where no one wants to pause for a lecture.
That clarification helps, and it addresses the practical issue more effectively than colour alone. I have seen similar systems in reading rooms, where one cloth was never to cross the threshold of the stack area, and the rule held because the storage point was different, not because anyone was noble.
Yes, and fatigue is only one of the enemies. The other is ambiguity, because if two cloths look equally available then the nearest hand will choose the wrong one with great confidence.
That is not laziness, exactly, more a species of haste.
The most useful distinction may be between a system and a habit, since bars often confuse the two. A hook for the glass cloth, a bucket or caddy for the dirty one, and some physical distance do more than a sign ever will.
I would resist the premise slightly. More towels help, certainly, but only if they are located where the work actually happens, otherwise one merely creates a…
Exactly. A rule that depends upon memory after midnight is not really a rule at all, merely a wish with laundering attached. The cloth does not care, of course, but the bartender eventually does.
