Category Archives: Party Dynamics

People have an error rate of 2 percent when performing simple, daily tasks, and in a business setting, this means money being lost. Here’s some ideas on what you can do about it. Error rates: Errare est humanum (get it?) (New Party Dynamics post)

New post on Party Dynamics re. the move towards online table booking at restaurants. Frequent Eater Miles, anyone?

Techno nightclubs have tight security and search their customers thoroughly for drugs. So how come there’s so many drugs in there? Read more in the new Party Dynamics post: Drugspotting.

New Party Dynamics post: The economics of supersizing – about the size of food servings in fast food restaurants.

Let’s say that you are the lucky owner of a prosperous bar called “Frank’s Beer and Daiquiri” that sells only two types of drinks, namely beer and (you guessed it) strawberry daiquiris. Interestingly, you have a crazy bartender called Frank who insists on deciding what people should drink. A customer will approach the bar andContinue reading “Frank and the Hidden Cost of Strawberry Daiquiris”

The aspect I hate to most about bars is not the queueing. It is the standing in an overcrowded bar, waiting for the bartender to get to me so that I can order my drinks. When you are queueing, you can at least talk to people. But when making your desperate grab for the elusiveContinue reading “Godot, the waiter”

Restrooms are an area of interest, as they are often the subject of subtle manipulations. An example occurred a couple of years ago, when some discoteques started disabling the cold water faucets in the restrooms. Why would you do this, you may ask? I heard two possible, related explanations. One is that it is aContinue reading “Restrooms: Hot Water, Size and Mirrors”

Arguably, one of the central reasons for going to bars and discoteques is not only to party with your friends, but also to meet new people, particularly those of the opposite gender (or the same gender, if you are gay). How does this take place? The classical instance of contact initiation is when a guyContinue reading “Meeting New People”

A more socially oriented phenomenon is what I call Trigger Events. Trigger Events are highly public events that happen at a party, and that serves as a precedent, establishing a certain mood for the rest of the evening. In my university years, I repeatedly served as a mentor for the new students. One of theContinue reading “Trigger Events”

A simple yet powerful illustration of the things I want to explore with this blog is provided by music – or, more specifically, the music volume. The DJ or bar owner has a very effective tool at his disposal that can be used to influence how people behave in the disco: turning up the volume.Continue reading “Music Volume”