Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[Yvaine]

It makes my brain hurt when people say that, while dieting, you shouldn't drink diet soda or Crystal Light-type drinks because of the artificial sweeteners possibly causing sugar cravings.
<snip>

I hadn't heard this version, but I have heard/read to avoid diet sodas for weight control purposes because the feeling of virtue from picking a diet soda can translate into letting yourself splurge on something else high-calorier...  Possibly brain-hurty but at least partially backed by a 2005 study discussed here:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight

There was a commercial for one of the artificial sweeteners that showed just this.  The person virtuously putting two packets of the stuff in their morning coffee, then chowing down on a Big Mac-size hamburger for lunch.  Because, you know, they saved THIRTY-TWO WHOLE CALORIES by skipping the two teaspoons of sugar.

But I think a lot of people would eat the same burger with whichever soda they ordered, and burger plus diet soda really is fewer calories than the same burger plus regular soda. That and once you're used to diet soda, the other stuff tastes wrong, so you're not going to just switch to regular for that one meal because "oh well, I'm already eating something that's bad for me." Because it'll taste yukky.

[mbbored]

Regardless... wouldn't some people just be at average (or median, etc), not above or below?

If you want to get into the world of statistics, a value like IQ measured across an entire population assumes a continuous, normal distribution. In such a situation, no one person is exactly at the mean, but many people cluster around that mean.

[greencat]

I have seen Facebook advertisements for a clothing store that's trying to give off a sweetheart/vintage vibe. The name of the store, though, is Riffraff, which has some negative connotations. Why didn't they just name their store "the filthy, unwashed masses"? 

At least to me, RiffRaff actually conjures up images of the Rocky Horror Picture Show - so I would imagine them selling corsets and other lingerie in "manly" sizes.

[Jones]

I have seen Facebook advertisements for a clothing store that's trying to give off a sweetheart/vintage vibe. The name of the store, though, is Riffraff, which has some negative connotations. Why didn't they just name their store "the filthy, unwashed masses"? 

At least to me, RiffRaff actually conjures up images of the Rocky Horror Picture Show - so I would imagine them selling corsets and other lingerie in "manly" sizes.

I was thinking of the cat from the Heathcliff cartoons...I would fully expect to see him and his crew hanging out in the window.

[Elfmama]

So basically she's saying that the one, tiny sentence per day made him more recognisable to the baby than the voice of the person he literally lived inside of 24/7 for several months?    I just can't comprehend how that would make sense to anybody.  I guess you could argue proximity, e.g. the mother's voice is further away whereas the Dad was leaning in closer... but nope, I still can't see any way that makes sense. 

Babies can be attracted to certain voices/vocal ranges. My father is magic with babies- they will instantly stop crying and watch his face with as much fascination as they are capable (depending upon their age). He doesn't coochy-coo, he just talks seriously to them. So perhaps that papa also has a voice that's incredibly attractive to his infant, whereas the mother's voice just turned into background noise? 

My husband works with a guy whose nickname is 'Baby Whisperer.' Whenever there's a potluck or work function that someone brings a kidlet to, BW winds up holding him/her at some point. The baby promptly does one of two things - goes wide-eyed and starts trying to play with BW's beard, or falls completely to sleep. It's hilarious, and pretty sweet too. He's almost always found with a drooling baby asleep on his shoulder while arguing football.

What hurts my brain is people saying: "Ohh, Mr. Seraphia! Don't let Seraphia hold the baby or she'll start wanting one!" Funny, I didn't think pregnancy was contagious.

It does happen!  When Elfqueen's best friend first held Elfbaby, BF said "OH, I WANT ONE!"  Guess what little gift she got 9 months later? 

[mmswm]

Remember, half of the population is below average.

Half is also above average. 

That would be median, not average

Median is a type of "average", the others being mean and mode.

If we're getting picky, mean, median and mode are all "measures of central tendency." 

[exitzero]

This made my brain hurt the other day, and I wish I knew the answer to why it happened, but I was so flummoxed I just walked away...

I went to have some sushi at a stand in a food court. I ordered soup, a scallop roll and two servings of maki.

The soup and the roll came, no problem, they were great. Then I waited. And waited and waited. No maki. Then the waitress came with my bill. I wasn't charged for the maki, but you could see where I had checked it off on the menu.

I told her that I didn't get my maki, and she said, "Yes, we didn't make it for you."

 

I was so baffled that I said ok and left.  I have no idea what that was about. I was still hungry and had to go get something else to eat!

[Diane AKA Traska]

This made my brain hurt the other day, and I wish I knew the answer to why it happened, but I was so flummoxed I just walked away...

I went to have some sushi at a stand in a food court. I ordered soup, a scallop roll and two servings of maki.

The soup and the roll came, no problem, they were great. Then I waited. And waited and waited. No maki. Then the waitress came with my bill. I wasn't charged for the maki, but you could see where I had checked it off on the menu.

I told her that I didn't get my maki, and she said, "Yes, we didn't make it for you."

 

I was so baffled that I said ok and left.  I have no idea what that was about. I was still hungry and had to go get something else to eat!

That is BIZARRE.  It actually crosses into rudeness, despite the waitress' politeness.  (I'm assuming she was polite about it, anyway.)

[Luci45]

This made my brain hurt the other day, and I wish I knew the answer to why it happened, but I was so flummoxed I just walked away...

I went to have some sushi at a stand in a food court. I ordered soup, a scallop roll and two servings of maki.

The soup and the roll came, no problem, they were great. Then I waited. And waited and waited. No maki. Then the waitress came with my bill. I wasn't charged for the maki, but you could see where I had checked it off on the menu.

I told her that I didn't get my maki, and she said, "Yes, we didn't make it for you."

 

I was so baffled that I said ok and left.  I have no idea what that was about. I was still hungry and had to go get something else to eat!

That is BIZARRE.  It actually crosses into rudeness, despite the waitress' politeness.  (I'm assuming she was polite about it, anyway.)

Question 1: Did you ask why?

Question 2: Is that one of the few 'no tip' times? It probably would have been for me.

[Jones]

You simply must call and ask a manager whether they are in the habit of cutting customer orders in half, and if that's their way of helping the local economy.

[exitzero]

This made my brain hurt the other day, and I wish I knew the answer to why it happened, but I was so flummoxed I just walked away...

I went to have some sushi at a stand in a food court. I ordered soup, a scallop roll and two servings of maki.

The soup and the roll came, no problem, they were great. Then I waited. And waited and waited. No maki. Then the waitress came with my bill. I wasn't charged for the maki, but you could see where I had checked it off on the menu.

I told her that I didn't get my maki, and she said, "Yes, we didn't make it for you."

 

I was so baffled that I said ok and left.  I have no idea what that was about. I was still hungry and had to go get something else to eat!

That is BIZARRE.  It actually crosses into rudeness, despite the waitress' politeness.  (I'm assuming she was polite about it, anyway.)

Yes, she was very polite. I really wish I could give an answer as to why...I was so completely gobsmacked that I just left...I kind of shuffled out like a zombie!

If nothing else, it gave my office a good laugh for the rest of the day. I think it may have to go down in history as one of those unsolved mysteries.

[sevenday]

My guess is that she thought that once you had the soup and the scallop, you wouldn't be hungry enough to eat two servings of maki also.  (nevermind that you might take it home, etc) So to be 'helpful' and to cut waste, she simply didn't make it for you.  That's the logic I'm operating on anyway... I've heard people complain about this before, so that may be what happened here.

[TootsNYC]

I think they forgot it in the kitchen, and she didn't realize.

And then when she went to get the bill for you, she realized that you hadn't gotten it, so she didn't charge you for it.

when you said, "I didn't get my maki" (did you gesture to the bill?) she 'heard' "you didn't charge me for it."

And she answered, "Yes, we didn't make it for you." Meaning, "we already knew that you hadn't gotten it, because we didn't make it, so I'm not charging you."

[LB]

That kind of thing happened to me and DH at a pizza place once. We ordered cheese bread to come before our pizza.  Out comes the pizza, we never saw our bread.  We asked the waitress about it and she said "Someone else took your order, so I canceled it." We asked "Why, how long could it take to make another order?"  She said "Oh, about 5 minutes."
 

[jedikaiti]

That kind of thing happened to me and DH at a pizza place once. We ordered cheese bread to come before our pizza.  Out comes the pizza, we never saw our bread.  We asked the waitress about it and she said "Someone else took your order, so I canceled it." We asked "Why, how long could it take to make another order?"  She said "Oh, about 5 minutes."
 

That's a good way to ensure a lower tip!