My Hidden Talent

Okay, here’s something about me that I don’t think you know.

It's pretty quirky cool.

I like to do surveys.

Yes, I like to do the little surveys that come in the mail and I always reveal too much information in them.

But, those aren’t the type of surveys I would like to talk about today.

I like to make up MY OWN surveys!

If I have to wait in the car while Randy goes into the store I just make up a survey to do while I wait. In restaurants I make up surveys to do. At the movies, in the car, at school, anywhere really, I like to make up surveys.

You may be asking, “What kind of surveys do you do?”

Thank you for asking. I would be happy to explain.

Here are a few examples of the surveys that I make up:

When in a fast food restaurant I prefer to sit where I can keep an eye on the drink machine. I like to see which soda gets the most refills. I don’t care what drink is picked first. I’m just interested in refills. The people that drink Dr. Pepper get the most refills. This is a long running survey and the results have continuously been the same.

Here’s another one. Have you ever seen the food stand when you come out of Lowe’s? They sell hotdogs, chips and drinks. They may sell other things, but I haven’t actually ever eaten anything from there. While in the car I’ve surveyed how many people stop at the stand verses how many people don’t stop there. The results were 1 in 5 groups stop to get something from the stand. That’s pretty amazing. That hotdog guy is making some cash. While doing the survey I noticed that if someone came out with a huge amount of stuff they never stopped. I guess they were focused on getting their loot to the car.

You want another one? Okay. I like to play “The Car Game.” I’ve played it since I was a little girl and my Grandma Jody got me started on it. (Probably where my passion for surveys began.) We would sit on her front porch on S. Mockingbird, pick a color of car and when our color would pass we would get a point. No doubt about it…the color WHITE always wins. If you choose to play this game your kids and you want to win…Pick White.

I also like to park my car near a busy street and tally up how many cars, trucks, suvs, motorcycles and “other” cars pass. This survey ends up differently depending on where I’m doing the survey. On the far north side there are more cars. Far south has a lot of SUVs’. Clyde is full of trucks. When I need a little break from the house I’ve been known to drive down the street a little bit and do this survey. This one is easy and doesn’t require a lot of thinking. I just make out my chart and then make tally marks when a car passes. It’s relaxing to me and it gets my mind off things.

At the movies 90% of the time when a man and woman go to the movies together the man sits closer to the aisle. I think it’s a protective thing. It really doesn’t make much sense other than that because who in the movies have to get up to go to the bathroom? Women.

There’s a sample of my surveys that I make up. I hope you enjoyed that detail of my life that not many people know. I have one year left at Hardin Simmons to get my degree in Sociology. I picked this major because of all the statistics….and because of all the SURVEYS!