In response to last week’s question, "Should a business protect its customers from the customer's own stupidity?", my social business advisor Andy proffered, "Only as far as their ethics can be stretched."

My engineering friend Steve lamented, "Some of the time I feel like that's all we do."  To this, my dad's beach buddy Bob added, "They had better or they could end up as former bank customers themselves."  And my cousin Wes shared, "No, but in lawsuit happy America and with anti-business juries, you have to. Think coffee and McDonald's."

My friend Richard replied, "Depends on the business. Many businesses rely on their customers’ stupidity, without which they wouldn’t be able to stay in business.  How else can one explain why someone would pay $6 or more dollars for a cup of coffee at Starbucks instead of $1 dollar at the donut place across the street?"  My poster-making friend Chris expounded on this, "I personally don't think we would have a flourishing economy if any business truly protected its customers from their own stupidity. We certainly wouldn't have "The Pet Rock", "Doggles" (Goggles for Dogs), "Snuggies" (Is it a blanket? Is it a robe? Who cares?), and finally "The Big Mouth Billy Bass" (Who would have guessed we needed to hear Al Green songs from the mouth of a dancing, plastic fish?)."

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' “:

            Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?

Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile!

Hal

If you're in ATL this Labor Day weekend, check out www.noshfest.com.  A great way to spend time (yes, it is kid friendly). Better yet, plan to come Sunday at 5 or 6p for dinner and join us for "Improv on the Rocks, with a twist of Jewish."  $15 tickets includes $5 towards food or drink.

[Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration.]