Each week we treat the project office to chips’n’salsa bought from Rancho Fresco in Barrio Logan. Now, this ain’t no ordinary salsa as B-Daddy (and we believe ‘Dawg and Mongo) will attest but rather life-altering quality stuff and the proof is in the pudding: this salsa is gone by lunchtime…. mere-mortal salsa in the same quantity lingers all day and is usually not even finished by close of business.
We have noticed something, though, upon which we are not sure is remarkable. It seems that the 16 oz. tub of salsa and the corresponding 16 oz. bag of chips we buy decrease in quantity at the same rate until the end state is an empty bag of chips and an empty tub of salsa achieved nearly simultaneously!
How does this happen? Is it mere coincidence that the 16 oz. bag of chips and the 16 oz. tub of salsa are perfectly complementary, quantity-wise or (we feel a “Wisdom of the Crowds” moment coming on) is there a group dynamic in play by which each individual, subconsciously or not, “knows” the precise amount of salsa to dig out with their chip in order for the salsa/chip balance to remain intact?
If so, is there then a psychological motive behind this quantifying that is driven by a desire to not leave anyone in the office chips without salsa and visa versa (i.e. would this balance still exist in a group of strangers?). Further, how does each individual know how much salsa to put on their chip to maintain the equal depreciation in the quantities of both? We suppose that after years of collective chips and salsa consumption with an experienced group as ours, there is an element of “thin-slicing” that takes place which can deduce the current amount of chips vs. that of the salsa and thus make an instant determination of the amount of salsa to put on a chip that would best preserve an equal rate of depreciation.
How would we test this theory? This is where we need your help. We thought about bringing in two tubs of the world’s greatest salsa vs. one bag of chips or conversely, two bags of chips and only one tub of this ecstasy-inducing salsa as an experiment. However, this would appear to overcompensate the one-to-one balance our consumers have come to expect when walking in the door at the beginning of a random work-week day and thusly skew the results.
A colleague in which we confided, suggested a larger bag of chips to maintain the expected one-to-one balance. Seemed like a reasonable suggestion, but again we’re open to other suggestions as well.
We’ll keep everyone posted if we decide to experiment with this apparent phenomena.
We have noticed something, though, upon which we are not sure is remarkable. It seems that the 16 oz. tub of salsa and the corresponding 16 oz. bag of chips we buy decrease in quantity at the same rate until the end state is an empty bag of chips and an empty tub of salsa achieved nearly simultaneously!
How does this happen? Is it mere coincidence that the 16 oz. bag of chips and the 16 oz. tub of salsa are perfectly complementary, quantity-wise or (we feel a “Wisdom of the Crowds” moment coming on) is there a group dynamic in play by which each individual, subconsciously or not, “knows” the precise amount of salsa to dig out with their chip in order for the salsa/chip balance to remain intact?
If so, is there then a psychological motive behind this quantifying that is driven by a desire to not leave anyone in the office chips without salsa and visa versa (i.e. would this balance still exist in a group of strangers?). Further, how does each individual know how much salsa to put on their chip to maintain the equal depreciation in the quantities of both? We suppose that after years of collective chips and salsa consumption with an experienced group as ours, there is an element of “thin-slicing” that takes place which can deduce the current amount of chips vs. that of the salsa and thus make an instant determination of the amount of salsa to put on a chip that would best preserve an equal rate of depreciation.
How would we test this theory? This is where we need your help. We thought about bringing in two tubs of the world’s greatest salsa vs. one bag of chips or conversely, two bags of chips and only one tub of this ecstasy-inducing salsa as an experiment. However, this would appear to overcompensate the one-to-one balance our consumers have come to expect when walking in the door at the beginning of a random work-week day and thusly skew the results.
A colleague in which we confided, suggested a larger bag of chips to maintain the expected one-to-one balance. Seemed like a reasonable suggestion, but again we’re open to other suggestions as well.
We’ll keep everyone posted if we decide to experiment with this apparent phenomena.
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