The S vs N Pool Story

This post is a slightly adapted version of a post I made on Reddit hoping (erroneously) for some engagement exploring practical examples of cognitive function types: https://www.reddit.com/r/mbti/s/VgvCvppnj7

I find it very intriguing, even fun, to analyze various situations in my life and how the different people involved reacted from a personality theory perspective. I'm also a fan of practical examples of theory.

Recently I experienced a situation that to me exemplified sensor vs intuitive preference. I try to take an objective approach in delivering this story in an attempt to avoid "type bias" that seems to prevade many MBTI spaces on Reddit.

The story: 

4 adults and 2 kids (including me) entered a swimming pool. The first thing we saw was a posted sign on the hot tub that said "closed for cleaning". The hot tub was empty of people, but still filled with water, and there was a small blue and yellow object floating in it. 

No one said anything at that moment. We went on to swim in the cool pool and later sat in a different hot tub. It was only then that a member of the pool staff approached us holding the blue and yellow thing that has been floating in the closed hot tub earlier. The staff member asked if it was ours, then gave it to us. It was a kid's toy - a little blue octopus with yellow tentacles. We said it was not ours but the kids were happy to play with it anyways. The adults immediately started discussing what they thought that thing was when we had first entered the pool. Two of us are N type and 2 are S type. Both N types had thought it was something related to cleaning the hot tub (a pH tester, or a chemical dispenser). Both S types thought it was a pool dart left behind by a kid. I thought it was very interesting how the N type thinkers unconsciously looked for connections between the wholistic picture (assuming the object was somehow related to the cleaning sign), while the S type people studied the detail of the object in the present moment coming to a conclusion about that specific object separately from the things around it. 

You can see how both styles of thinking could be beneficial or not in a given situation. In this situation the N types were less accurate in assessing what that object was, making false assumptions, but had it been a different scenario where context was important (perhaps a safety scenario), it could have been beneficial to make the connection. The S type's assessments were closer to reality in this case.