# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380 "2022-09-28T11:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 104
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2062 "2023-02-16T15:42:42Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > – @puzzlegal, would the promotion also come with a significantly higher salary? would it promote her out of the area in which she’s working that well? Yes, the promotion would bump the salary, probably more than I could give her otherwise. And whether or not it would promote her out of the area where she is working so well is another “it depends”. I had a fabulous employee who was doing twice what his predecessor or his replacement could do. (Maybe 3 times what his predecessor did.) My boss wouldn’t let me promote him, so I counselled him to consider jobs outside my department. Sadly for me, he took me up on that, and he’s since rocketed up in the company. It was rough on me and my team, but it was a win for him and for the company as a whole to move him to a place where his contributions have more scope. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2063 "2023-02-16T15:57:10Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Not only don’t i have an unlimited budget, HR has extremely strict rules and guidelines around raises. My answer would have been something along the lines of: If there are standards in place that determine how much employees get paid, and when, why, and how much they get pay raises, I would follow those standards. And if there aren’t, maybe there should be? I noticed that the poll didn’t tell us how much the employee was already making (relative to the other employees). For all I know, she’s already paid three times as much as anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2064 "2023-02-16T18:27:54Z")
I don’t know about anybody else, but I never answer poll questions about hypotheticals, such as “What would you do in such a circumstance. . .” I have no idea how I would act in a hypothetical situation unlike any I’ve been through. OTOH, I’m happy to answer poll questions about stuff that’s actually happened to me, or my opinions about things I’ve actually experienced. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2065 "2023-02-16T19:19:59Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > My boss wouldn’t let me promote him, so I counselled him to consider jobs outside my department. Sadly for me, he took me up on that, and he’s since rocketed up in the company. One place I worked I was friends with the department receptionist – we even went to dinner a few times. She’d been going to the local CC and got a two-year degree in document-QA. When she proudly showed me her pocket diploma I said, “I’m sad I’ll miss you.” “Huh?” “You were hired as a receptionist. To this company you will always be a receptionist. They might dump some QA work on your plate but they won’t give you any more money for it. To get what you’re now worth you’ll have to get hired someplace else.” Three months later she said I was right and three months after that, she’d left. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2066 "2023-02-16T20:33:50Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I used wireless for a long time but one day I realized that to keep it charged it was plugged in most of the time, so I figured I may as well just get a wired one. My wireless keyboard uses batteries, and I can’t even remember the last time I had to replace them. My mouse, on the other hand… I need to remember to turn my mouse off when I stop using my pc. > [@suranyi](#): > > I don’t know about anybody else, but I never answer poll questions about hypotheticals, such as “What would you do in such a circumstance. . .” I have no idea how I would act in a hypothetical situation unlike any I’ve been through. I agree. I often skip polls like that. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2067 "2023-02-16T22:29:55Z")
I’m a bit surprised that so few people have septic systems. I would have expected it to be higher. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2068 "2023-02-16T22:41:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m a bit surprised that so few people have septic systems. Actually (and maybe just coincidentally), that proportion (about 20% in the poll) is consistent with this cite for the U.S., which states that about 20% of Americans rely on septic systems. > **[Wastewater](https://infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/wastewater-infrastructure/)** > > Explore ASCE's 2021 report card grade on wastewater infrastructure here. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2069 "2023-02-16T22:44:34Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Not only don’t i have an unlimited budget, HR has extremely strict rules and guidelines around raises. This, exactly, is why I selected Other. And your other comments about raises, promotions, etcetera, are spot on as well. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2070 "2023-02-16T23:01:15Z")
Is there a move away from septic systems? We used to have one, but around 5 years ago we were required to connect to the town sewer system instead. It’s up in the Catskills near one of the reservoirs that supplies NYC with water and there were concerns that older septic systems (ours was from 1969) could contaminate the reservoir. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2071 "2023-02-17T00:49:10Z")
It really depends on the infrastructure. I currently live in a town that is very large in area but most of it is pretty rural. The parts of town that are more dense have water mains and sewers. The rest don’t. I’m in a town house development built in the 1980s and I do have city water and sewer. I thought of the question because this week I had a job working traffic for the water company. They were putting in water service to a house. I was very surprised that street had well water. It’s was just a couple of streets over from where I grew up. There is a water main on the street but no one is obligated to hook up. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2072 "2023-02-17T01:07:36Z")
Interesting, we’re in a rural area at the edge of a small town and at the foot of a mountain. We share a well with another house, so there’s a sewer system but no water mains. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2073 "2023-02-17T01:17:40Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m a bit surprised that so few people have septic systems. I’ve lived in about 15 different houses in my life. My current one is the first time I haven’t had a sewer hook up. > [@gkster](#): > > Is there a move away from septic systems? I’m sure the health departments around the country vastly prefer sewers and waste treatment plants to septic system. I’m sure homeowners do too. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2074 "2023-02-17T03:09:54Z")
I would WAG that it will correspond to more people living in urban/suburban areas ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2075 "2023-02-17T03:54:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I noticed that the poll didn’t tell us how much the employee was already making (relative to the other employees). For all I know, she’s already paid three times as much as anyone else. I had failed to mention that, but the assumption was that everyone was starting off with the same pay. So, for instance, maybe this employee earns $20 an hour, but so do all the other employees - but everyone else’s production is only the average, while hers is 2x the average. What I was aiming for with the poll was basically, _“How much of an increase in productivity should translate into an increase in wages?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2076 "2023-02-17T04:11:31Z")
Our town would like to have everyone on sewer, but they don’t require it…we’re on septic. Our house was built in the 1700s, I’m curious what the other two pre-1900s houses are. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2077 "2023-02-17T04:37:44Z")
1890’s, for mine. The one I grew up in was probably late 1700’s – I remember being told as a small child, in the 1950’s, that the house was “almost 200 years old”, with the result that I pestered my father every once in a while asking whether the house had turned 200 yet. He eventually managed to explain to me that “almost 200” didn’t mean the “almost” would arrive as soon as if one were saying “almost 5”. I think the septic issue has a lot to do with the average distance between the houses. Running sewer into rural areas costs a lot more per house than running it down a city, or even a suburban, street. Plus which, of course, the further apart the houses are the easier it is to get functioning septic systems for each of them; septic systems, standard ones at least, require not only space for each system but also space between them. How much depends on the local soil types. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2078 "2023-02-17T07:13:09Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > I would WAG that it will correspond to more people living in urban/suburban areas Agreed. But the neighborhood that I was working in was certainly very suburban. My old neighborhood is about four streets over and has city water. The houses were built in 1959-1960. There were no wells on my street. This other street was of similar age but had wells. I knew houses in the much older part of town still have wells but I was unaware that any did in other parts. That’s what got me thinking about the poll. The entire town is on a water grid. Every road has a water main. Any place I have lived that has a well and septic is because there is no main to hook up to. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2079 "2023-02-17T12:45:12Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > What I was aiming for with the poll was basically, _“How much of an increase in productivity should translate into an increase in wages?”_ That’s what I thought; and I stand by my earlier answer: if you want wages to be tied to productivity, which is measurable, there should be standards in place for _how_ wages are determined. I’d be uncomfortable with raises being given only to people who ask for them and at the complete discretion of the boss. If I were said boss, I don’t think I’d trust myself to handle such a (lack of) system fairly. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2080 "2023-02-17T13:02:40Z")
The house i grew up in had a septic tank. My parents were required to connect it to the town sewer to sell the house. (The house had municipal water when it was built.) The housing isn’t any denser than it was, but the rules have changed. (The only new houses on the street replaced teardowns, as the town is mcmansionized.) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2081 "2023-02-17T15:20:41Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The entire town is on a water grid. Every road has a water main. Any place I have lived that has a well and septic is because there is no main to hook up to. If the wells have good water, the residents may well prefer it to the chlorinated city water. I’m nowhere near a city main; but my well water has excellent flavor, and I’ve never tasted city water I like anywhere near as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=103) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=105)