Isn't it a pain the the neck trying to change the speed of your fan, when you can't figure out what speed its at?
Just about everyone has at least one ceiling fan, and most of them work the same way. You pull the string, and the fan goes on. Each time you pull it after that, the speed of the fan slows down. The trouble is, when you walk into the room, you might not be able to tell what speed it's at, to know how many times to pull it to make it go off.
Half the time, you guess wrong, pull it too many times, and instead of shutting it off, you end up making it go full speed.
The solution is simple. Fans should have a distinct beep to let you know what speed it's at. Then, each time you pull the chain, you won't have to guess how many pulls you'll need to shut it off.