Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Life's Inequities

Women live longer than men, and now we know how they spend their extra endowment of time: waiting at Starbucks.
How long does it take to grab a cup of coffee? If you happen to be a woman, plan on adding 20 seconds to your morning ritual. That’s how much longer women wait to get their coffee compared to men, according to a study by Middlebury College economics professor Caitlin Knowles Myers, Myers and five of her students timed 295 transactions at eight Boston-area coffee shops. Her study controlled for complicating factors, including the complexity of the drink order (skinny? soy? 3 percent milk?), the appearance of the customer, and the length of the line. But even after accounting for these factors, women waited about 20 seconds longer.
Via The Crimson.