Maximizing cookie utilization

[philipmw]

Today I attended a "distinguished lecture" of the Engineering and Computer Science school of UTD. Typically a distinguished lecture takes place in an auditorium and lasts about an hour. About 10-15 minutes prior to its start, the coordinators serve cookies and coffee at a table near the auditorium entrance

Comments

Now I want a cookie.

[with_my_pistola]

But what happens when different kinds of cookies are offered? Will you have to factor in how many usually take which cookie?

This plan really needs to be applied to pizza.

Re: Now I want a cookie.

[philipmw]

If different kinds of cookies are offered, as long as we do not discriminate between them, the same system can be used.

If it is important which cookies people take, the problem becomes a lot more difficult to manage.

And as Maegan says below, I would not want people to physically move greasy slices of pizza with their greasy hands from one box to another.

Re: Now I want a cookie.

[with_my_pistola]

Of course it is important. Poor little oatmeal raisin is never as popular as white chocolate chip macadamia.

Well there are such things as tongs. Usually with pizza there are volunteers to make sure people don't try to steal boxes of pizza. In that case, you just have the volunteers wearing gloves and do all the moving of precious pizza.

[mae_rock]

I don't want to eat cookies from a "free" pile that people have touched. That's gross.

Also, the "free" file would still not be guilt free. As you said before, people take a small amount of cookies due to social awareness of other people and their want of cookies. If there is a pile of free cookies, people would have the same restraints, even if they aren't as intense.

My suggestion is to not give a shit. Either eat cookies until you puke, or don't. No one cares and if they do then they only care because they, too, are self conscious and socially awkward.

[philipmw]

"Giving a shit" is not socially awkward-it's the considerate thing to do, and it is what most people do already. They're just too conservative about it, and with a good reason: no one knows the right ratio of cookies to persons. Not giving a shit is simply antisocial, and I do not condone it. In your case, by taking enough cookies to puke you'd be undoubtedly depriving other students of even one cookie. In my case, you're limited by the free pile and so everyone can get their fair share.

And yes, I do not want a bunch of unwashed nerds moving cookies with their sticky hands. This problem can be solved technologically (by using a counter rather than physically moving cookies), but this is a tangent and so I didn't want to dwell on it.