The Short Straw: Does It Matter?
If I didn’t have a habit of always using two drinking straws, I’d never have noticed that the straws provided by Burger King are not uniform in length.
One straw is about a quarter of an inch longer than the other.
The question I have is, does it really matter?
It seems unlikely that a large contingent of Burger King customers regularly use two straws, so many people probably never notice.
Even if a customer does notice, using two slightly different length straws doesn’t make it much harder to drink.
In conclusion, I think the answer is no, it doesn’t matter. Even still, it did provide a less satisfactory drinking experience for me.
Do you think it matters?
[polldaddy poll=2050627]
Short straw is generally the loser! Sorry, Conall.
@am
Right you are! In fact I am also curious to know what the implications are when you draw both a short straw and a long straw.
Clearly that means you have to do everything, the good and the bad.
Seems to be that most people think it does matter.
Now I wonder why they think so.
Conall,
I think that the differnce of size in straw does not matter in the usage of such straws, but rather in that I am concerned about any abuse or deviation which may have occurred in the production, shipment or dispensing of the straw. How it happened is what causes the concern, not the mere fact of difference in size.
is BK at the airport any better or worse than BK out in the street?
@ Mark –
That is definitely something to consider. Of course, production deviations happen, but can be limited if you put in the time and money to perfect the system. But is that time and expense worth it? That question might be driven by how much it affects the end customer.
If there was something else along the supply line that caused the difference in straw length, we might need to know more, I agree!
I think BK is about the same airport or not, but I suspect the prices are higher. That said, I don’t eat fast food often enough to know for sure.
In the poll, someone asked “why do you use two straws?”.
Unfortunately, when someone inputs an “other” response, the response doesn’t display to the public, but I’ll answer the question here in the comments.
I started using two straws at a local ice cream shop where I found the milkshake drinking experience enhanced by having two straws. Then I started doing it all the time so as to always know which drink, of those in a group, is mine. Ultimately, I do it now out of habit.
Thanks for asking Mr. or Ms. Anonymous Poll Respondent!