Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? (17 page)

But boiling water isn’t confined to emergency deliveries. Midwives have been boiling water for years for planned home deliveries. Most attempt to boil sterile equipment for thirty minutes and then place instruments in a covered dish (syringes are usually wrapped in a sterile cloth).

Dr. William Berman, of the Society for Pediatric Research, indicated that it couldn’t hurt to sterilize water for washrags used to cleanse mother and baby, whether they are washcloths or ripped-up bed sheets. Actually, it
could
hurt—if they forget to let the boiled water cool down.

 

Submitted by Scott Morwitz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thanks also to Jil McIntosh of Oshawa, Ontario; and Dr. John Hardin of Greenfield, Indiana
.

 

Why
do frogs close their eyes when swallowing?

There is a downside to those big, beautiful frog eyes. While they may attract the admiration of their beady-eyed human counterparts, frog eyes bulge not only on the outside but on the inside of their faces. The underside of their eyeball is covered by a sheet of tissue and protrudes into the mouth cavity. Frogs literally cannot swallow unless they use their eyes to push the food down their stomach. Richard Landesman, zoologist at the University of Vermont, amplifies:

 

In order for frogs to swallow, they must be able to push material in the mouth backwards into the esophagus. Humans use their tongue to accomplish this task; however, frogs use their eyes. By depressing their eyes, food can be pushed posteriorly in the
mouth. Frogs also use this same mechanism to breathe, since they lack a diaphragm.

 

Actually, if we ate what frogs eat, we might close our eyes when swallowing, too.

 

Submitted by Scott McNeff of Wells, Maine
.

 

Why
do the paper bags/sacks in supermarkets have jagged edges where you open them?

Not an earth-shatteringly important Imponderable, perhaps, but we were startled by how little paper bag manufacturers knew about the subject. They couldn’t even agree on what to call these edges; depending upon to whom we spoke, the edges were referred to as “serrated,” “pinked,” “jagged,” and “chain cut.”

But Brent Dixon, president of the Paper Bag Institute (and, in a naked lust for power, also the majordomo of the Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers Association), referred us to the only person who knows the real story—George Stahl, who works in sales for Potdevin Machine Company, a large manufacturer of machines that produce paper bags, and has been in the business longer than most of our sources have been alive.

Stahl explains that sack machines are run at a high speed; they produce from four hundred to five hundred sacks per minute. The individual bags are cut from long strips of paper by an anvil-type blade. For technical reasons, if straight edges were
desired for the sack’s opening, two blades would be necessary, dramatically slowing down the production process.

Although serrated edges might help you open the paper sack faster and more safely, don’t for a second presume that your welfare was the reason for the design. The accountants, not the designers, dictate the form of the finished product.

 

Submitted by Diane Cormier of Bath, Maine
.

 

How
and why do hotel amenities (such as turndown service and bathrobes) spread so quickly among different hotel chains?

One of the stranger aspects of our job is the “publicity tour,” when we are sent to eleven different cities in eleven days, to flog unremittingly our latest tome upon an innocent public. When we are on our own dime, we tend to stay at motels where the size of the complimentary bath soap slightly exceeds the circumference of a commemorative postage stamp, and the “bath mat” has the texture and width of the paper place mat at Denny’s. But for whatever reason, our esteemed publisher sends us to the type of hotels that charge as much for one night’s lodging as Motel 6 does for a week’s. And since we are pliant, malleable types, we don’t complain about being forced to alter our bohemian lifestyle.

On these tours, we have noticed a curious fact. Every year, it seems there is a new “hot” amenity. Two years ago, for example, we noticed that virtually all the hotels we visited now had alarm clocks. In the past, you called the hotel operator if you wanted a wake-up call. We thought perhaps the hotel was saving money by having guests reduce their dependency on operator-assisted wake-up calls. But then last year, those clocks were replaced by clock radios. And when we went up to our room for the first time, the radio, invariably, was on, and tuned to classical
music. If the city didn’t have a classical music station, the radio played classy elevator music.

We could understand how an individual hotel, or single hotel chain, might decide that the “musical introduction” to the new guest was an elegant touch, but how did many different chains all adopt the practice so quickly? How and why did they all decide simultaneously that guests could not enter their rooms without being greeted by Chopin?

Welcome to the wonderful world of what the lodging industry calls “amenities.” In the 1950s and 1960s, patrons of all but the most luxurious hotels were satisfied with a few basic amenities: free soap, a color television, ice, air conditioning, a telephone, and perhaps a swimming pool.

But in the 1980s, when lodging chains overbuilt and the economy turned sour, hotels were faced with severe overcapacity and a true dilemma: how to gain market share without dropping prices? Most decided that the answer was to increase amenities. In most cases, the price differentials among hotels within the same class are small, and business travelers, in particular, are not extremely sensitive to price. As James McCauley, executive director of the International Association of Holiday Inns, told us, the task of the smart hotelier in the 1980s was to attract loyalty among customers by offering amenities that would “impress and attract customers from competitive hotels.”

In many cases, the strategy worked. Adding amenities to what were originally budget motels (e.g., Holiday Inns and Ramadas) allowed them to charge more for rooms. Hyatt became identified with their nightly turndown service (including a free mint on the pillow), and Stouffer gained fans for their complimentary coffee and newspaper with wake-up calls. These amenities came at a price to the providers. That little mint on the pillow (along with the labor costs of the turndown service) cost Hyatt more than five million dollars a year.

Still, the list of amenities now offered in hotels is mind-boggling. Some have: business centers; health clubs; two-line telephones; special concierge floors with lounges; in-room movies, VCRs, CD players, safes, coffee makers, and hair dryers; free
local telephone calls, breakfast, and airport limousines; shoe polishers; voice mail; and nonsmoking rooms.

How do all these amenities spring up at the same time?

 

1. Amenities are often pitched to many hotels simultaneously. As Raymond Ellis, of the American Hotel & Motel Association, put it:

 

the more effective sales representative is going to be presenting an amenity as the ultimate item or service for attracting the guest, without, of course, indicating that the same article or service has just been sold to three or four other competing properties within the community.

 

2. Richard Brooks, vice-president of room management at Stouffer Hotels & Resorts, mentioned that outside rating services often act as stimuli to add certain features.

 

     [AAA, Mobil, and Zagat and other rating services] freely tell us of new amenity items or services they have seen, and often tell us they believe they are appropriate for the ratings we hope to achieve.

 

3. Spies. The big chains can afford inspectors to scrutinize not only their own units but those of competitors.

4. Trade magazines. The American Hotel & Motel Association was kind enough to send us more information about amenities, just from trade magazines, than we ever imagined. There aren’t many secrets in the hotel field.

5. Market research. The biggest hotel chains might employ focus groups or written and telephone surveys. Smaller groups might use guest comment cards (yes, they really
do
read those things) or simply chat with guests about their needs. Richard Brooks indicated that some of Stouffer’s most popular amenities, such as two-line telephones, in-room movies, no charge for incoming facsimiles, and complimentary coffee and newspaper with wake-up call, all started with guest requests. Many such guest requests are inspired by seeing the same amenity provided at another hotel, another reason why amenities spread so quickly.

Market research also helps hoteliers avoid costly mistakes. Research shows that the vast majority of patrons expect a swimming pool but fewer than one in five ever use it. One chain con
templated putting color TVs in their bathrooms until research indicated that guests would much prefer a decidedly less costly offering—an ironing board and iron. Any amenity that doesn’t add market share is wasteful. In fact, most surveys we persued indicate that low-cost items are among the most popular: in-room coffeemakers, TV remote control, and facial tissues were the favored amenities in one study.

 

Occasionally, an amenity may be turned into a profit center. The minibar is such an attempt. Contrary to popular opinion, soft drinks and snacks are consumed much more than hard liquor or beer, but the minibars still turn a profit, since they charge more for the same products than vending machines could. One of the secrets of the success of the minibar: For business travelers, the cost is added to the room charge. Coke machines in the hallway don’t take company credit cards or give receipts.

Amenity creep is so pervasive that budget hotels have tried to create a backlash. Days Inn based an advertising campaign around the slogan, “We don’t have it because you don’t want it.” At one time, Motel 6 forced you to pump in quarters if you wanted light to emit from the television in your room. The truth is—most patrons “want it,” but only if they don’t think they are paying for it.

Of course, amenities can also foster goodwill. On our last tour, we encountered our all-time favorite amenity at Chicago’s Ambassador East Hotel. As we entered our beautiful room, there above the fireplace, on the mantel, was a spanking new copy of
Do Penguins Have Knees?
, with a request for an autograph from the manager. Guess where we are staying the next time we’re in Chicago?

Is
there any difference between men’s and women’s razors?

Our examination of this issue, conducted with the naked eye, reveals that the main difference between men’s and women’s razors, at least the disposable type, is their pigment. Women’s razors are usually pink; men’s razors are found in more macho colors, like royal blue and yellow.

But the naked eye can deceive. Chats with representatives at Bic, Schick, and Wilkinson indicate that there are at least three significant differences:

 

1. The most important difference to the consumer is the “shave angle” of the two. A man’s razor has a greater angle on the blade, what the razor industry calls “aggressive exposure,” for two reasons. Men’s beards are tougher than women’s leg or underarm hair, and require more effort to be cut and, at least as important, women complain much more than men about nicks and cuts, the inevitable consequence of the aggressive exposure of the men’s blades. Women don’t particularly like putting hosiery over red splotches, while men seem perfectly content walking around their
offices in the morning with their faces resembling pepperoni pizzas.

2. Most women’s razors have a greater arc in the head of the razor, so that they can see the skin on the leg more easily as they shave.

3. Women don’t shave as frequently as men, especially in the winter, when most wear pants and long-sleeved blouses. Schick offers a “Personal Touch” razor line for women that features guard bars that contain combs, so that longer hair is set up at the proper angle for shaving.