I stopped at a diner outside Tulsa last month and got talking to the waitress about her Yelp reviews. She said she had 47 five-star ratings but one bad one from a guy who was mad the pie was too sweet. That one review dropped her average to 4.8 and she was stressing over it. I asked if she checked how many people actually read the bad review versus the good ones. She hadn't thought about it that way. Made me wonder, how many of us let one bad number ruin the whole picture? Has anyone else ever looked at the split between positive and negative reviews in a poll?
My uncle was a claims adjuster for an insurance company in Cleveland. He retired around 2010 and left behind a folder of old work spreadsheets. I found one a few years ago when I was helping clean out his garage. It was a simple thing, just a way to track how often certain types of fire alarms get false triggers based on the time of day and location. I copied the format for our own station logs. What was supposed to be a 15 minute data entry task each shift turned into something I can knock out in under 2 minutes now. It's not fancy, no macros or coding, just a few hidden columns with formulas that auto populate totals. Has anyone else stumbled on an old file or system that just clicked way better than the modern stuff you're supposed to use?
I saw that viral chart from FlexJobs claiming 70% of remote workers would quit if forced back. But I dug into their methodology and found they only surveyed people who already work remotely. That's like asking people at a pizza place if they like pizza. I cross checked with a Pew Research poll that used a random sample and it showed closer to 48%. Anyone else notice how these surveys always frame the question to get the result they want?
I used to share that chart showing the US beating every other economy. Then I looked at the baseline year - 2020. Pick a different starting year and the whole story flips. Has anyone else caught other stats doing the same thing?
Checked the numbers from the last midterm in my county and only 38% of registered voters actually showed up. Where did you find the real turnout data for your area?
I always thought foam rollers were faster for any wall, but I painted my 12x12 bedroom last weekend and decided to actually time it. The roller took 45 minutes for the first coat, but the brush-only touch-ups ate another 30 minutes because of all the edges and corners. After 3 tries with the roller, I realized a quality 4-inch brush cut the whole job to 50 minutes with zero cleanup hassle. Has anyone else ditched a tool they thought was essential after actually measuring the time?