Daily Dose of Common Sense

In case you missed any Daily Doses of Common Sense this week, here’s a recap.

From Monday, is Facebook making the summer class reunion a thing of the past?

On Tuesday, are you as tired of those long cell phone voice instructions as we are?

Wednesday looked at the nickel-and-diming of airline passengers. $7 for a pillow?!!

Thursday’s post proposed skipping soda in restaurants for a year to fund a family vacation.

On Friday, we discussed the outrageousness of the cineplex concession stand and shared the shame that we spent $4.50 on a small soda.

From Saturday, we had some advice for the sidewalk hogs of the world.

Here’s a tip for folks walking in a large group together: you don’t own the sidewalk, so you need to make way for other pedestrians. It sounds silly to write it (and probably read it) because it’s so obvious, but you would be surprised how many sidewalk hogs are out there. You’ve seen them. A group walk abreast of one another and fan out across the public sidewalk, oblivious to the rest of us trying to get around them. It’s like a game of chicken on foot. To be polite, they should switch to single file or at least double file in the crowd. Otherwise, someone is forced off the curb just to make way for the gang who won’t separate. This act of common courtesy applies to more than city sidewalks; it also includes malls, boardwalks, zoos, parks…any place where large amounts of people are moving.

A good rule of thumb to use in judging whether this applies to your group or not is the “pack” rule. If you are more than two people, you are a pack. Therefore, it is your responsibility to make room for others to travel around you. So, change to single file until traffic passes. If you don’t, you’re likely to get shoulder bumps from other angry pedestrians.

…to get ourselves a treat. So went the movie theater jingle from a bygone era. Nowadays, you have to think twice before ordering from your cineplex’s concession stand. The prices of the snacks, not to mention the ticket itself, have steadily climbed in recent years. When I went to the theater in New York City today, I paid $4.50 for a small drink. That was on top of $12.50 for the movie ticket. Yeee-ouch! I could have kicked myself for not sneaking in a soda. Stupid thirst.

We know the theater chains make their money at the snack bar. However, in this economy the theaters had better wise up. As disposable income dries up, so will snack budgets. People will bring in their own treats and forgo the concession stand altogether. Charging $6.25 for ten small pretzel bites? That just seems crazy. Perhaps not selling as many Goobers will make the cineplexes lower their prices.

If you are a steadfast supporter of the snack bar, sign up for the theater chain’s frequent movie watcher club. Most of the big chains have some version of a customer loyalty club. Then, you might receive discounts and offers on tickets and snacks. And that means more popcorn for less money.

In this economy, almost everyone is looking for a good tip on how to cut corners. I saw an interesting blog post last week by Recession Mama over at MomLogic. It appears you can fund a reasonable vacation for a family of four by skipping soda in restaurants for one whole year.

It sounds crazy at first, but it makes sense after you see her math. If your family sticks with only water every time you eat out, you can save around $1,500 a year. If you don’t put the money toward a vacation, this change may make eating out more affordable for your family.

On a recent flight, my daughter fell asleep in her seat at an uncomfortable angle. I quietly asked the flight attendant for a pillow. She replied, “Sure. We have them available for $7.” What?! For a pillow? Um, no thanks. I’ll use my jacket instead.

As we know, the cash-strapped airlines are nickel-and-diming passengers to death. How to avoid paying those extra fees? Start by packing lightly to avoid a checked bag fee. Also, bring your own food on board. A few airlines charge an additional amount for the exit-row seats, which usually have a bit of extra leg room. So, sit in a regular row instead.

According to this article, some airlines now charge for advance assignment of window and aisle seats. Some day, we’ll all be stuck in middle seats.

Way to go, airlines. You’re making that proposed high-speed rail system look better and better all the time.

You call a friend’s cell phone to leave a quick message. You hear a cheerful and brief message from your buddy. Then, you’re bogged down by inane instructions on what to do next.

“Press 5 to page this person now.” Pause. “At the tone, please leave your message.” Pause. “After you have finished recording your message, you may hang up or press 1 for more options.” Pause. Beeeeeep.

Aren’t we at the point where we know what to do when we hear the beep? Cell phones aren’t exactly new. And, even if you’re confused on what to do, most people say something in their outgoing message that gives a hint. “It’s Rich. I can’t take your call but leave a message at the beep and I’ll get back to you.”

And, has anyone ever really pressed 5?

Not all cell carriers have this standard instruction paragraph. The ones that do should get rid of it. From what we’ve read, it’s not exactly easy to remove yourself but you can go through your set-up options to try. If you succeed, your friends will thank you later.

As summer draws near, thousands of committees are wrapping up plans for their high school class reunions. Parties, BBQs, bonfires, brunches, and parades will take place to gather classmates that we have forgotten. Or, have we? Facebook has made it easy to reconnect with old school chums. So easy, in fact, there’s almost no need to make a pilgrimage to your reunion in order to find those folks you lost touch with.

Facebook claims it has more than 200 million active users, more than two-thirds of which are outside college. Not only that, the fastest growing demographic is the 35 and over crowd. Chances are, if you’re on Facebook, you’ve already been “friended” by old pals you lost touch with, an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend, people you never talked to in school, and people you hardly remember. And now, thanks to the ever-changing status updates, you know every detail (important and mundane) about what’s going on in their lives.

Some say that a virtual connection isn’t as meaningful as chatting in person. However, airfare is expensive and an internet connection is cheap. (And really, you do most of your Facebooking at work anyway.)

If you still want the intimacy only face-to-face can provide, use your reunion budget to spend time with the friends you’re closest to. Most graduating classes have two to four hundred people. How many of those graduates do you really want to hang out with? Instead, get together with friends and rent a beach house or go to Vegas. You’ll probably have more fun than you would if you were listening to the same old yarns around the reunion punch bowl.

In a move that will elicit many “Yeah, duh” responses, a Chicago radio host declares that waterboarding is torture. Only, he was trying to prove waterboarding isn’t torture. Yesterday, conservative shock-jock Erich “Mancow” Muller subjected himself to a waterboarding experiment in order to silence the critics of the procedure. Mancow expected to chill out for thirty seconds while water was poured down his nose. Instead, he lasted six.

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,” Mancow said. Yes, that’s what we thought you would say. If you’ve ever been in a pool and read the description of waterboarding, you should be able to put the pieces together. It would be hellishly horrible. A Vanity Fair reporter did the same experiment last year and said he was traumatized for months afterwards.

It’s not called “torture” for nothing. The technique of waterboarding has been around for centuries and there is a reason why bad people still use it as an interrogation device. Now that Mancow has seen how awful it is, let’s hope he puts his big mouth to use and pressures our government to stop doing it.

An older kid at the playground today was coughing and hacking all over the park. I was completely skeeved out and made sure my daughter wasn’t in spit-shot. Since you can’t chase random kids with Kleenex and Purell (at least where I live), more people need to realize the importance of covering coughs and sneezes.

It’s a basic rule of consideration and hygiene: cover your mouth when you cough but especially when you sneeze. It seems simple, but many people don’t bother and it’s never been so important. This week, the flu caused more schools to close in New York City. If you don’t know what happens when you sneeze, watch this great simulation that takes place on a subway car. (It’ll make you want to walk to work from now on.)

It’s best if you don’t use your hands. Cough or sneeze into your arm or sleeve to prevent the transfer of germs from your hands later on.

In other words, keep your germs to yourself.

In a move that will appeal to tens of people, designer men’s shorts are now carrying a price tag of more than $500 a pair. Tom Ford, Armani, Prada, and others have shorts on the market that will set you back hundreds of dollars. It seems like the wrong year to sell such an extravagant item considering the economy is in the tank. Remember, you don’t even get enough fabric to fully cover your legs.

For the cost of one pair of Tom Ford’s $650 chino tennis shorts, you could buy:
- 32 pairs of shorts from Old Navy.
- 13 pairs of shorts from H&M.
- 16 pairs of shorts from Banana Republic.

If you can afford $750 shorts, good for you. The question here isn’t whether you can buy them. It’s whether you should buy them.