Daily Dose of Common Sense

Here are some of our favorite brief Web stories from this week.

Some people had common sense.

• In order to avoid the chaos and tragedy of recent years, many stores have revamped their Black Friday policies. For example, Walmart stores will remain open Thanksgiving night and into Friday morning to prevent a 5AM stampede.
• You may feel, like me, that rude people abound these days. Well, one woman is fighting back, one intervention at a time.
• Kellogg’s has decided to stop bragging that Cocoa Krispies build a child’s immunity. Added vitamins were the company’s defense, but they have now rethought the marketing language after complaints about promoting a sugary cereal as a health benefit.
• Facebook prevented a 19-year old man from going to jail. Arrested as a suspect in a crime, the man was able to prove he wasn’t guilty by the time on his Facebook status update. Social media to the rescue!

And, some did not.

• A Florida man called 911 looking for sex. FOUR times. He said it was the only number he could dial after running out of cell phone minutes. What the WHAT?
• A 24-year old Texas woman lied about having breast cancer in order to get implants. She shaved her head and held a benefit, then spent the money raised on breast implants. Look out, honey. The karma train can be a bitch.
• Three words: Michael Jackson seance.

Crazy cat ladies, beware. If you live in Dudley, Massachusetts, you’ll need to get a special license to own more than three cats.

One woman there is responsible for the new law. She owns fifteen cats, and they’re tearing up the neighborhood. Literally. She’s being charged a $100-a-day fine, and is looking to move to more cat-friendly digs.

To be a responsible pet owner, you have to be able to properly care for animals, which isn’t cheap. Shots, medicine, flea prevention, food…the list goes on and on. This also means you have to clean up after the pets, bathe them, and keep them from being a public menace. That’s where a lot of crazy too-many-cat owners get into trouble.

I suppose it’s a judgement call to determine how many is “too many” cats. But, when you reach double digits, common sense dictates that you need to reexamine your priorities.

There are tens of millions of workers in the U.S. who do not receive any paid sick leave. That means that about 40% of Americans either have to work while ill or take the hit to their paychecks. For people living paycheck-to-paycheck, this usually means sucking it up, taking some cold medication, and heading to work. And you know who’s catching what they have? Everyone else.

This is one reason that public officials are very worried about this flu season. Many of the workers in this category are waiters, child care employees, office temps, and cashiers. They’re handling your food, your kids, and your money. That means germs are spreading at the speed of light.

You can hardly blame John/Julie Q. Worker who doesn’t get sick leave. Yes, he/she should stay home but what if he/she fears being fired, or can’t afford to take the pay hit? And, you can hardly blame struggling Small Q. Business, who can’t afford to pay workers for not working. But, businesses should at least help sick workers make up the hours lost with additional hours later on.

So, shame on bigger companies like Wal-Mart (who can afford sick leave) for not treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Workers at many retailers and restaurants say their employers’ policies discourage them from calling in sick. At Wal-Mart, when employees miss one or more days because of illness or other reasons, they generally get a demerit point. Once employees obtain four points over a six-month period, they begin receiving warnings that can lead to dismissal.

In addition, when Wal-Mart employees call in sick, their first day off is not a paid sick day (although workers can use a vacation day or personal day), but the second and third days are paid. The policy is meant to keep workers who are not actually sick from taking a day off to, say, go fishing.

Paul Hotchkiss, a support manager at a Wal-Mart store in Hastings, Minn., said the point system pressured him to report to work two weeks ago even though he had swine flu.

Forcing people to come to work sick only gets other workers sick. Offices are notorious germ factories, even outside of flu season.

A recent study found the average office desk contains 20,961 germs per square inch! The worst hot spots for germs? Phones, computer keyboards, and computer mice. If not cleaned regularly, they are a great breeding place for viruses that cause colds and flu.

Also, don’t forget about communal bathrooms, the office coffeepot, microwaves, and water coolers. Gossip isn’t the only thing being exchanged in these places. Germs are also traded on any commonly touched surfaces.

If you get sick leave, USE IT. If you don’t, lobby your bosses and companies for better sick policies. This flu season, we may need all the help we can get.

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As I’m sure most parents have now heard, Southwest Airlines flight attendants kicked a cranky two-year old child off their plane last week. Mother and son were flying together from Amarillo, Texas to San Jose, California, and the toddler started shouting and crying before the plane took off.

Pamela Root’s 2-year-old son was screaming for the Southwest Airlines plane to “Go! Plane! Go!”

“I want Daddy!” Adam shouted. Over and over again.

Despite her embarrassment, the stay-at-home San Jose mom remained confident that once the plane took off and she fed him, Adam would calm down and take a nap–just as he had on the half-dozen other plane rides with Mom.

The flight crew wasn’t willing to find out.

The mother couldn’t give the kid a few small snacks to keep him quiet before takeoff? He’s hungry, in a strange space, and screaming, and she decides not to give him anything. Huh? I’m assuming they were not the only two passengers on the plane. Did the mother not care at all about anyone else around them? I’m not saying the airline should have kicked them off the flight, but come on, lady. When it was obvious her son wasn’t calming down, her common sense should have kicked in. Giving him something small may have distracted him and prevented the whole episode.

Seems like an unfortunate incident that could have been avoided with a few Cheerios.

Let’s face it: we all want free candy. The only thing better than free candy is free money, and that doesn’t happen very often (like, never). But, there comes a point where it becomes obnoxious to intrude into what is, essentially, an event for littler kids. For example, have you ever had a trick-or-treater with a real five o’clock shadow? Well, the Chicago Tribune has a great piece today on helping us all learn who is too old to trick or treat.

Here are some of the suggested guidelines:

I say that if you’re old enough to shave, you’re too old.

Old enough to drive? Too old.

Are you old enough to have an iPhone? Too old to trick-or-treat.

Old enough to remember life before Google? Too old.

Older than Miley Cyrus? Too old.

Not sure who Miley Cyrus is? Beyond too old.

[via Pat's Papers]

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On a plane a few days ago, the man sitting directly in front of me sneezed repeatedly. While this occurrence is not noteworthy, perhaps this will grab you: he never covered his mouth or nose ONCE. Okay, you sneeze unexpectedly and you might not contain your germs in time. But, you only get that excuse once. The rest of the time, cover your mouth!

If you don’t think a little sneeze is a big deal, watch this video from CNN: The Anatomy of a Sneeze. It shows what happens when unchecked sneezes are released into small spaces (such as airplanes and subway cars).

As H1N1 deaths climb, a lot of people are wondering what this flu season may hold. Every little bit of effort we put towards not spreading germs helps.

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Most pedestrians jaywalk at one time or another. For those who don’t know, jaywalking is defined as, “to cross a street at a place other than a regular crossing or in a heedless manner, as diagonally or against a traffic light.” I’m a fan of jaywalking if it helps you get where you need to go a little bit faster. However, if you’re jaywalking, you should know to move your ass if cars are approaching.

I’ve seen it time and time again: lollygagging jaywalkers. Some pedestrians appear to think that traffic should stop for them, even though they are in the middle of the street. I don’t know whether that attitude stems from selfishness, naiveté, ignorance, or what. But, it’s very unwise to play chicken with something much larger and heavier.

I want to have a sign that says, “You’re the one breaking the law and a 4,000 pound metal machine is speeding towards you. Can you get a MOVE ON?!”

Photo courtesy of Flickr: Adrian Miles

At the mall one morning recently, I overheard two parents talking. As our small kids were all riding kiddie rides, one mother told the other that her son was sick that day and he wouldn’t be in pre-school that afternoon. She wanted to keep him out of school to “you know, be considerate.”

How about keeping your kid home from the mall, too? If your son or daughter is too sick to go to school, does it really make sense to let them spread germs at the mall? When my kids are too sick for school, that means no galavanting around town, either. Kids are everywhere, and sick kids can spread germs as easily at the mall as they can at school.

What’s wrong with some parents?

Photo courtesy of Flickr: Mykl Roventine

I recently began driving again after a sixteen year car-free existence. I have one question: What happened to the friendly “thanks a lot!” driver wave? No one seems to bother anymore. If another driver does me a solid by letting me in, I give a friendly wave to show appreciation. Some days, I feel as if I’m the only one.

This also applies to pedestrians, cyclists, roller bladers, people on scooters…really everyone. But, there seems to be something about being in a car where people feel they can be rude without repercussion. It’s no wonder there are so many incidents of road rage.

Come on, drivers. Just remember to be polite and people won’t key your car later.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: tedkerwin

Ever driven an ashtray? If you’ve rented a car that has been driven by a heavy smoker, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The smell lingers and gets stale. It’s awful. Hurray for the two major car rental companies who just announced they will ban smoking in their rental cars. It’s about time.

Beginning Oct. 1, Avis and Budget will become the first major rental-car companies to ban smoking in their entire North American fleets and to impose a cleaning fee of up to $250 on customers who smoke in the cars.

“The No. 1 request we get is for a smoke-free car,” says John Barrows, spokesman of the Avis Budget Group, the parent company. He says a common customer complaint is a car that smells of smoke, adding, “We’re addressing both concerns.”

Barrows says employees who drive the vehicles are no longer allowed to smoke and the cars will undergo a new inspection upon return. He says it costs the company more to clean a smoky car, because it often has to be taken out of service longer.

Now, we’re not saying people don’t have a right to smoke. They do. But, it’s one thing to smoke in your own car, where the stink is your own problem. It’s a whole other ball of odor to smoke in a car that doesn’t belong to you. What you do in a rental car affects a lot of other people. And, smoke is one of the worst pervasive odors. That smell cannot be completely removed. Ever.

Just ask hotels. The smell of cigarette smoke is so bad over time that you can’t even have non-smoking rooms next to smoking rooms. They had to create entire FLOORS where smoking is prohibited. And, a hotel employee once told me that in order to change a room from a smoking room to a non-smoking room, everything in the room had to be replaced: the furniture, the carpet, and even the wallpaper and/or paint.

So, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. Just do it in your own space.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: johntrainor