# 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:** 148
**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:** [March 24, 2023, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2942 "2023-03-24T21:00:19Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > There are three gas stations, all of which have public restrooms, within 5 minute drive (different directions), plus a rest stop about 10 minutes up the autobahn, so I answered no, also because it’s just not done here. That might well make a difference. The nearest public bathroom to me is over 6 miles away by road (partly back roads, slow down) and are only open limited hours. The nearest ones open most hours are about 12 miles away (main roads, but more lights and traffic.) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2943 "2023-03-24T21:05:55Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > There are three gas stations, all of which have public restrooms, within 5 minute drive (different directions), plus a rest stop about 10 minutes up the autobahn, so I answered no, also because it’s just not done here. I answered ‘yes’ because if someone did ask I certainly wouldn’t say no, but I doubt it would ever actually happen, for the same reason. There’s a shopping center with a Target store, a Carl’s Jr., a gas station, and more, less than a half mile from here. If a delivery driver needed to make a pit stop they’d most likely just stop at one of those places. As for making that gesture to as truck drivers to blow their air horn, that was a common thing to do on elementary school field trips. Whenever a truck passed us pretty much everyone on the bus made that gesture, myself included. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2023, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2944 "2023-03-24T21:39:19Z")
I don’t answer the door so having a delivery driver ask to use the bathroom isn’t happening. It would be so out of place that it would feel very suspicious. If I invite someone into my house to do work I would of course let them use the bathroom, and it’s happened many times. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2945 "2023-03-24T21:42:53Z")
Everyone is owed courtesy. Respect has to be earned. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2946 "2023-03-24T22:29:06Z")
A friend had a portapotty in his yard recently, during some construction. It was within view of his desk (out the window). He said he saw delivery people stop by and use it all day long. Finding a place to pee is clearly an issue for a lot of delivery people. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2947 "2023-03-24T23:01:45Z")
I shouldn’t ever but I most often order an appetizer. Sometimes shared sometimes keep your hands to yourself. I’m finding nowadays I rarely order dessert unless it’s somewhere that has one I know I love. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > A friend had a portapotty in his yard recently, during some construction. It was within view of his desk (out the window). He said he saw delivery people stop by and use it all day long. Finding a place to pee is clearly an issue for a lot of delivery people. That could be considered theft of services. The contractor is paying for that to be serviced regularly and that’s based on how many people will be using it. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2948 "2023-03-24T23:02:51Z")
It could be. My friend wasn’t going to tell the ups guy to stay out of the portapotty. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2949 "2023-03-24T23:09:37Z")
Ovaltine? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2950 "2023-03-24T23:31:01Z")
No. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2951 "2023-03-24T23:32:02Z")
I only order appetizers as they’re cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2952 "2023-03-24T23:52:37Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > portapotty Dang it, I meant to include Porta-Potty in my “Trademarks you use as generic terms” poll – in fact it was the word that inspired me to make that poll, but then I forgot it while I was searching for other trademarks to include. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2953 "2023-03-25T00:21:22Z")
I’ve been around skunks who got as far as threatening to spray me, but i backed quietly away and they didn’t. They aren’t very aggressive if you keep your distance. Once, when my kids were small i saw a momma skunk followed by about a dozen little kits. They trailed after her like an enormous undulating tail. I took my small children out to see them, warning them not to get too close, and how to tell if a skunk is alarmed. We all stood not-all-that-far away and watched them cross our lawn. No one was sprayed. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2954 "2023-03-25T00:25:35Z")
I used to leave in near-absolute darkness for work, and once as I headed down the driveway I saw a little dark shape, or the idea of a shape, posed really weirdly with its back legs in the air, and then I realized what was going on and moved quickly around the other side of my car. It did smell everything up as I pulled away, but it didn’t get me directly, so I counted that one as a ‘no’… ETA: as I typed this, I could suddenly distinctly smell skunk, which is pretty funny autosuggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2955 "2023-03-25T01:01:37Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > I keep my butter in one of those upside down holders with water in the bottom. Am I the only one who has no idea what @mordecaiB is talking about? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2956 "2023-03-25T01:01:47Z")
I’m really into breakfast sausage links. Preferably the kind with skin that you have to actually cook and not the precooked skinless ones. With maple syrup. But I have to go with scrapple because I love it also and I’m not confident anyone else will vote for it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2957 "2023-03-25T01:12:12Z")
Couidn’t vote for the appetizer poll, since there wasn’t an option for choosing the a. as one’s main course. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2958 "2023-03-25T01:27:18Z")
Don’t worry I got ya covered. 😉 ---
**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:** [March 25, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2959 "2023-03-25T01:53:27Z")
I never heard of a pumping-arm gesture to get somebody to blow a horn. Some pumping-arm gestures are very rude, I certainly wouldn’t go around making them to random other drivers on the road. I’ve had several dogs skunk sprayed but not been so myself. I agree that skunks aren’t generally aggressive. I once walked into my house (this was a house in the middle of a village, yet): that house was entered from the back through a longish hall with an alcove near the entrance in which we kept a chest freezer. The outer door was often standing open if the weather was good. As I walked into the hall I saw a skunk disappear behind the freezer. As I was already next to the freezer I kept walking straight ahead, went into the house making sure the inner door was firmly shut behind me, left a note on the kitchen table for my housemates (who’d already gone to bed) warning them that there might be a skunk in the back hall, and went to bed. The skunk was gone in the morning, leaving no spray behind; and having en route removed and eaten a nest of ground bees who’d been living under a short flight of steps in the side yard which we’d been having to avoid. I also once sort-of met a skunk on the road. Said road was a long lane into a vineyard I was working in, and was in bad condition in wet weather, so I’d left my car near the end and walked in. When I went to leave there was a skunk walking down the road toward me. No tail up, but very much an attitude of You Will Get Out Of My Way. I Am A Skunk. Skunk was right; I got out of its way, off the road entirely, and waited until it passed by. Which it did, entirely calmly and with no signs of spraying. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2023, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2960 "2023-03-25T02:14:53Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I never heard of a pumping-arm gesture to get somebody to blow a horn. Some pumping-arm gestures are very rude, I certainly wouldn’t go around making them to random other drivers on the road. It’s not to random drivers. It’s to big rig drivers. It’s not “some pumping-arm gesture”. It’s a specific gesture mimicking the very specific motion truckers have to use to blow their air horn. A trucker will immediately know what the gesture is. I did it when I was a kid on long trip. 90% of the time they would give a quick friendly toot. It would be bizarre for an adult to do it. This commercial illustrates it very clearly. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3iH3RH8BGOs/maxresdefault.jpg "The Horn") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iH3RH8BGOs) ---
**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:** [March 25, 2023, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/2961 "2023-03-25T02:16:46Z")
Ah. Thanks for explanation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=147) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=149)