# 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:** 153
**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 28, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3042 "2023-03-28T19:20:30Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > I can’t remember whether I ever seriously believed in Santa Claus. That doesn’t seem to be an option. > > Yeah, I don’t remember my parents ever talking about Santa Claus. My grandmother took us a few times to have our pictures taken with Santa Claus when we were little, but it was obvious to me that it wasn’t any kind of “real.” Mine labeled some of the presents as being from Santa Claus. I remember knowing that’s not who they were from, but I can’t remember whether I ever thought they were actually from Santa when I was younger than that. I don’t remember it ever being discussed among other little kids when I was that young; but I don’t know whether it wasn’t, or whether I just don’t remember it, or whether everybody had figured it out and was no longer discussing it by the time I was often among other kids my own age. (Preschool was not a thing in the mid-50’s, even kindergarten was sort of optional, and I only rarely went to kindergarten because I hated it and it wasn’t considered important. There were neighbor kids around the same age, but I saw them only occasionally, especially before I started going to school regularly.) – I stick my arm out if I’m on the (old) tractor; but I almost never take the tractor on the road. I answered according to the car/work van, in which I’d only stick my arm out if the turn signals were broken and I hadn’t been able to get them fixed yet. > [@InternetLegend](#): > > Alice is right in a moral sense, but HR is right in a practical one. They’re only right in a practical one until one of their long-term workers finds out about it and tells the others. After that it’s going to become harder to hang on to long-term workers even if their pay is belatedly raised. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3043 "2023-03-28T19:42:05Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > Alice is right in a moral sense, but HR is right in a practical one. Yeah, it depends on what you mean by “right.” I have no reason to doubt that HR is right in the sense of being _correct_. And depending on whether HR has any say in deciding people’s salaries, that may be the _only_ sense in which HR could be or not be “right.” I suspect it’s not at all uncommon, at least in companies without set salary guidelines, for the pay of new hires to correlate with what the company can afford to offer and what the market will bear at the time they are hired, while the pay of long-time workers correlates with what they were paid last year, which correlates with what they were paid before that, which correlates with … eventually, what the company could afford to offer and what the market would bear way back when they were first hired. ---
**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 28, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3044 "2023-03-28T19:51:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I suspect it’s not at all uncommon, at least in companies without set salary guidelines, for the pay of new hires to correlate with what the company can afford to offer and what the market will bear at the time they are hired, while the pay of long-time workers correlates with what they were paid last year, which correlates with what they were paid before that, which correlates with … eventually, what the company could afford to offer and what the market would bear way back when they were first hired. Quite possibly true – but isn’t that going to encourage anyone who’s been working there for very long to leave, on the grounds that they’ll get better paid elsewhere as a new worker than in their previous company as an old hand? So it seems to me that all the companies doing this are going to have to spend on hiring efforts, training people, and problems when some of the new hires don’t work out, what they could otherwise have spent on retaining more of their existing staff. ---
**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 28, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3045 "2023-03-28T20:50:21Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Does a 3 hour “booze cruise” at a corporate event count? I’d say not. I’d define a cruise as one where you sleep onboard, tho certainly you can have a day-long one somewhere which kind of stretches the duality there. [You might nap on a deck chair say] ---
**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 28, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3046 "2023-03-28T20:50:58Z")
I only never use my turn signal when there is nobody there to signal. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3047 "2023-03-28T21:59:16Z")
I’ve been to Catalina a bunch of times, but I wouldn’t call it a cruise. ---
**Author:** ![Allecher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a6a055/32.png) [@Allecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Allecher)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3048 "2023-03-28T22:07:37Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I only never use my turn signal when there is nobody there to signal. That is exactly when my driver’s ed teacher said you _should_ signal - when you don’t see the other car and are relying on them seeing you. ---
**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 28, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3049 "2023-03-28T22:39:51Z")
If a friend asks for a vote in a contest I vote for the friend. I don’t even look at any other contestants. If the website asks for too much like signing up for an account I don’t vote at all. If it’s a simple click I’ll give the friend as many clicks as possible. I’m currently in government service and I get paid by contract. Everyone knows what everyone is paid. When I had a corporate job it was pretty well known new hires had an advantage with salary because that’s the only way to hire them. Starting salary inflation was higher than yearly wage hikes. The only solution was to move between companies. It was a choice between stability and money. My ex is pretty high up in pharmaceuticals. She changes companies every couple of years and gets a huge raise each time. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3050 "2023-03-28T22:46:25Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > If a friend asks for a vote in a contest I vote for the friend. I don’t even look at any other contestants. I suspect a lot of people do this, so those “contests” are really just contests to see who has the most online friends. Which seems pretty pointless to me, so I don’t bother. ---
**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 28, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3051 "2023-03-28T23:10:09Z")
I feel like the toaster oven is a legit good compromise between the conventional full-size oven and the microwave. Not as fast as the microwave of course, but you can get most things up to appropriate temp in about 10-15 minutes unless you’re cooking from frozen, without the rubber/sog. You can cut about 33% off of that if you spring for a convection toaster oven. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2023, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3052 "2023-03-28T23:34:56Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > but I wouldn’t call it a cruise. That’s why I like the term “excursion” for time spent on a boat or ship that doesn’t last a full day. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3053 "2023-03-28T23:49:15Z")
As a Navy veteran, sailing on a Navy vessel without having any specific duties definitely counts as a “cruise” in my book. In my particular neck of the woods (ballistic missile submarines) we had two different crews that took turns with the same boat. If your crew was in-port sans boat but you were a nub still working on qualifications you’d often get sent on a “cruise” aboard a sister ship to get additional experience. If you were lucky, you’d have nothing to do with your time except pester people for checkouts and training watches. If you were unlucky, you got to stand watch along with their crew doing whatever you were qualified for. If you were extremely unlucky you had to “crank” in crew’s mess washing dishes and helping the cooks, but I don’t recall any riders being that unlucky. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3054 "2023-03-28T23:50:44Z")
H. Rider Haggard will not be denied!! ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3055 "2023-03-28T23:51:40Z")
I went for full-size oven. After my oven blew up a few years ago and I had to make do with a toaster oven. Despite its being a very nice connection model, it was really not very good for baking, and it took forever to cook anything. I also had to spring for a set of smaller baking pans, since my regular ones didn’t fit. As for the microwave, I’d miss mine terribly if I didn’t have it, but most of the things I use it for would be better done on a stovetop than in an oven of any size. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3056 "2023-03-28T23:55:57Z")
I loved Santa as a kid, but wasn’t too sad when I figured out the truth. Years later, I had to sternly warn our know-it-all eldest son not to spoil it for his youngest brother. I strongly believe in pay equity. People should receive equal pay for equal work, to the extent that can be reasonably determined. A lawsuit and bad publicity aren’t worth it for the company, or any workplace. Microwave for me; gas stove for my wife. And for the record, I have never worn a turban on a cruise while voting for a friend in an Internet poll. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3057 "2023-03-29T00:15:26Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > If your crew was in-port sans boat but you were a nub still working on qualifications you’d often get sent on a “cruise” aboard a sister ship to get additional experience. My first boat was new construction; I was sent to another boat for two weeks to work on quals. I thoroughly enjoyed standing watch with my temporary “sea dad”. No idea when/how I found out Santa wasn’t real; can’t even say for sure if my family tried to convince me he was. I’ve been married 29 years now, and of all the things my wife has done, what irritated me the most was telling the girls Santa was real. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2023, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3058 "2023-03-29T03:55:37Z")
However, you can’t cook frozen dinners in the toaster oven without a lot off hassle. ---
**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 29, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3059 "2023-03-29T04:03:06Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > When I had a corporate job it was pretty well known new hires had an advantage with salary because that’s the only way to hire them. Starting salary inflation was higher than yearly wage hikes. The only solution was to move between companies. It was a choice between stability and money. Yeah. Same. Alice can reasonably be pissed, but hr is telling the truth. And they’ve basically just told her she should be looking for a new job. I didn’t vote because i thought both Alice and HR were right. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2023, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3060 "2023-03-29T04:28:48Z")
Snap… I thought the Gold crews and Blue crews got to take several months off each time… ---
**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 29, 2023, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3061 "2023-03-29T04:39:05Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > However, you can’t cook frozen dinners in the toaster oven without a lot off hassle. And you can’t bake a three-loaf batch of bread in one, at all. Even if you don’t also want to fit in a chicken or meat loaf and/or a couple of pies and/or etc. “She Who Must Be Obeyed” is a name. (A nickname, and at least partly a joke, but still a name.) It’s all one unit; the “she” doesn’t get separated out and treated as an individual part of speech. – I will grant that some people are doing (IMO) “religiously” wrong. However, I voted for what I think the standard usage has been – [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=152) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=154)