Steven, Thanks for pointing out the typos, it is a lifetime affliction. I type badly, spell badly, and don't see typos well. My kids can't believe I have basically been writing for a living for over 35 years! Stay on me, I need all the help I can get Bob

Red Smith, the greatest sports writer of all time, said something like "writing is easy, you just open up a vein and bleed."

Brian, Thanks so much. I THINK I fixed it. Bob

Kevin There are always alternative explanations, but note that this research did many things to rule out alternative explanations. The finding about Senators ruled out the time ordering explanation, and the lab studies, which control causality with random assignment, further ruled it out. This journal reject over 90% of the papers rejected to it because they lack sufficient rigor and even by the standards of this publication, these findings are robust. Your umbrella example is red herring. That and many other alternative explanations are ruled out. Perhaps you don't just don't like the finding. There is lots of evidence -- from research on confirmation bias -- that people reject findings that clash with their beliefs regardless of the rigor of those findings. Yes this research may be disproven by future studies, but it is more rigorous than any we have on similar subjects.

Paula from Australia asked me to post this interesting comment. She could not do it as she was at work, and her system wouldn't let her: In the discussion I think there is one thing that is assumed – that is, that processes, procedures and policies guiding workplace activity and behaviour exist. Certainly, the fear driven box-checking exists (been there, done that in a role a few years ago), but there also exists a type of ‘somebody syndrome’ – somebody didn’t tell me what I should do, so therefore I won’t do anything until they do. I think perhaps the United people might fall into this category – it would be interesting to know if the appropriate guidance exists, is clear and unambiguous and is easily accessible for the United people to follow to achieve the correct outcome (which may or may not be palatable for travellers). I’ve often noticed that when nothing exists to guide people in the workplace, they either (a) make it up, hope for the best, and then attempt to make it a process, procedure or policy so that the same does not happen again; or (b) decide somebody will tell them what to do but in the meantime don’t do anything (and generally assume a helplessness mode of operating).

Isaac, Thanks so much for explaining this in detail. It is further evidence of what a great and careful scholar you are even when it comes to the smallest things. For Work Matters readers, when I see Isaac, he is often reading some book that looks like it is 50 or 75 years old, or telling me about something so obscure that no one else ever would find - he is a joy to work with.

To be clear I do delete comments I find to be overly hostile. I have deleted perhaps ten that were too nasty toward the family and at least two hostile toward United. One of them blamed United for 9/11. I try to be fair but do try to omit the ones that get too personal. I also suspect that other places get more attacks on the family because I make clear they are friends of mine. I am doing the best I can. I never had so many comments and have also dealt with at least 25 inquiries from the sometimes hostile media. I am doing the best I can but admit I feel protective of the family.

Who is your least favorite narcissist? Mine is Donald Trump.

Diego, This is beyond splendid... slow hunch... now that is cool and something we all need to follow. I love the turtles.