Hong Kong residents are using Instagram to complain about dripping air conditioners

Know the feeling of walking down a city street on a clear summer’s day, soaking in that sunshine, until a random drop of something hits your head? You look up—and only then you might hear the ominous hum of the air conditioning unit that’s gradually leaking its juices all over the pavement–and you.

It could just be that the hottest days of summer can make us all a little extra irate, but some Hong Kong residents are sick of being dripped on. They’re encouraging people to post pictures of dripping air conditioners to Instagram under #dropthedrip with a geotag and specific street location, which they will then forward to city authorities, who they say have not been responsive to individual complaints in the past.

“We realized that it is difficult to report dripping air cons, and that there’s not much follow up when you do,” Kate Desmarais, one of the group’s organizers, told the South China Morning Post.

The Post reports that the Instagram posts tagged with #dropthedrip will be added to a map, and a daily email will be automatically sent to Hong Kong’s Food and Environmental Health Department.

According to the group’s Facebook page, they’ve registered 72 complaints so far. Their map looks like this, with more complaints as you zoom in:

This video from the Drop the Drip campaign shows Hong Kong residents grimacing as air con drip splashes into their hair and coffee, causing frustration and rage:

“There’s a whole range of emotions you can go through when you get dripped on,” Desmarais told the South China Morning Post. “There’s hopelessness, annoyance, anger.”

On Instagram, the campaign has drawn a handful of posts of rows of air conditioners and wet pavements:

https://instagram.com/p/6j6DIgwiTR/?tagged=dropthedrip

https://instagram.com/p/6b7uo7pXCM/?tagged=dropthedrip

https://instagram.com/p/6fOfCzQiZE/?tagged=dropthedrip

It’s unlikely that the water dripping from household air conditioners could be harmful to anyone, apart from potentially raising your blood pressure.