DIALOGUEletters
Debate goes on
In response to the October
Debate, “Should paid sick leave
be mandatory?”
Job interview tips
YES. When employees have to work while
they are sick, their work performance is
impaired and illness recovery is prolonged.
Eileen Ball
Onaway, Idaho
Nontoxic advice
No one ever needs to wonder whether or
not they should take a child to an emergency
room for an accidental poisoning [“When to
Take Your Child to the ER,” September 2011].
Poison control centers around the country are
available 24 hours, seven days a week, to
assist parents immediately with this type of
emergency. In 2009, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers,
poison centers safely and effectively treated
72 percent of all poison exposures over the
phone, saving people expensive and unnecessary trips to their local ER.
In this time of tight resources and rising
healthcare costs, I know your readers can
certainly benefit from having the nationwide
1-800-222-1222 Poison Help number programmed into their cellphones. Calls are free
and fully confidential. You can even call about
medication mistakes. There is nothing worse
than feeling helpless in the face of an emergency; for poisonings, you don’t have to.
Wendy Blair Stephan
Miami, Florida
dangerous practice and runs the risk of the
fire flaring up and causing more damage.
Grease fires should be smothered by
using the lid that fits the pan and turning off
the heat source. Any flames that continue to
flare around the sides of the lid mean that it is
larger than you can extinguish yourself. You
and everyone in the house should be evacuated and the fire department should be called.
It is too easy for small grease fires to become
dangerous kitchen fires.
Electrical fires require that the electricity
be turned off at the master switch. If anyone
is touching the wiring and has been electrocuted, do not touch [that person] until all the
electricity in the dwelling has been turned off.
Again, evacuate the building and call the fire
department. Electrical fires in the wall could
easily ignite building materials and travel
within the wall where they cannot be seen.
For more information about fire safety
procedures, I recommend the American Red
Cross’ Fire Safety Checklist ( www.redcross.
org) and visit www.nfpa.org to explore “Safety
Information” from the National Fire Protection Association.
Caren Bedsworth
Las Vegas, Nevada
NO. It should not be mandatory. I don’t
believe the small businesses can afford it.
Robert Stevens
Homer Glen, Illinois
YES. It helps [toward] a good work ethic and
boosts employees’ morale knowing that the
company they work for cares about them.
Sandy Sands
Scottsdale, Arizona
Boys can sew
When I read “young women are embracing needle and thread” in the article on sewing
[“In Stitches”] in September’s Costco Connection, I literally gasped out loud. How could the
author not know? Boys sew too!
My 13-year-old daughter took several sew-
NO. If you don’t work, you shouldn’t get paid.
Freda Emmons
Troutdale, Oregon
Member comments
Opt-out option
With reference to the item on page 81
(“Practical Tip: Safe Mortgage Shopping,”
October 2011), the correct URL [for the mail
opt-out service] is www.dmachoice.org.
Leslie Rothenberg
Pacific Palisades, California
Fire safety
As a fire and life safety educator, I would
like to correct one item in “The Wonders of
Baking Soda” [September 2011]. Fire safety
experts do not recommend using baking soda
to extinguish grease or electrical fires; this is a
MONTHLY READER SURVEY
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10 ;e Costco Connection NOVEMBER 2011
Jacqueline speaks
I just finished reading the cover article
[“The Kennedy Conversations”] in the October issue. My mother insisted to my father that
I be named after Jacqueline Kennedy, and now
that I’m “more mature,” I’m grateful. Since I
was little I have always looked up to and admired this woman. While reading the comments that she makes during the interview with
Arthur Schlesinger Jr., I could [almost] hear
her speak them to me. I truly cannot wait to
pick up my copy of the Historic Conversations.
Jacqueline Husar Moshref
San Jose, California
Have something to say?
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to our editors on any topic or issue covered in The Connection. Please include
your full name and phone number or
address. Send an email to dialogue@
costco.com; or write to: Dialogue, The
Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088,
Seattle, WA 98124-1088; or fax to (425)
313-6718. The editors reserve the right
to edit letters for publication.
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