system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why do fans always always go off-high-medium-low and not off-low-medium-high?

I always hate that I can't tell if a fan is off or not and always end up pulling the cord like 20 times over and over again trying to figure out if it's off or not. 
Wouldn't it make the most sense to have it go from the loudest and most obvious setting (high) to the off position? Is there something with the design of fans that prevents this?
gpt
The issue is overcoming friction when you need to get the fan going.  At the low setting might be too weak to overcome the initial friction, even though it will keep the fan moving once it's spinning.  Going first to the high setting makes sure that when you turn the fan on, it's able to start spinning.  The off-high-medium-low sequence deals with this issue.