I've also heard that they don't fall in on themselves.

Yeah, that was the answer I couldn't remember.

I don't even remember what that interview was for now.

For Jesse's grandmother: [link]

But I'd guess that the question is designed to show how you think more than whether or not you know the right answer.

The one I heard in an NPR story about -- I think -- interviewing at Google was "What would you charge to wash all the windows in downtown LA (or other big city)?"

Their example of a "good" answer was something like "Ten bucks a window," instead of trying to think of a ginormous amount for all the windows, inclusive.

I would never have thought of that.

I forced myself to go to the gym. Now I'm tired and ravenously hungry, and yet curiously I'm not in the kitchen making dinner.

I could heat up vegetable barley soup. I could cook some pasta and top it with already prepared bolognese sauce. I could make caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes. Or a salad. Or roast some brussels sprouts.

For Jesse's grandmother: [link].

She would be so good on that blog! My grandmother has excellent style, still.

I would never have thought of that.

I can't claim to be Google bright (uh, I interviewed, it didn't work out, but it's obvious I wasn't applying for the job I thought I was), but that's totally the only answer that occurred to me. I was wondering about a bulk discount, but the big ish is...how would I know what's competitive for a single window? It would also take me forever to decide how many basketballs could fit in a given room, because...WTF? I touched a basketball once. I'm not sure how big they are.

Would "I'm afraid of heights and I would never wash skyscraper windows" be a bad answer? Because that would probably be all I could think of. Lordy.

Jesses grandma seems awesome, and I love the little old lady style blog! I wanna be that fierce at that age!

Maybe I'll get stylish when I'm old.

I had a muffeletta for dinner tonight and I thought the Buffistas should know.

Then I had a thick slice of fruitcake and some eggnog with spiced rum.

that's totally the only answer that occurred to me.

Me too, but I think it comes from having been a consultant for so long. Many 'jobs' had to be broken down into components because they were open-ended. And, the truth is, whatever your overall time/person-power estimate might be, the end result will greater.

So you figure the fair wage per hour, equipment/transport/insurance costs, and average time for an average window size, and then add 20% for contingencies.

Also, if you quote the per window cost first, it goes down waaaaay better than, "Your bottom line will be a kabillion dollars." Even if the contract page says so. That way, the client can say that they want to spend less money and you can ask, "Which windows would you like us to skip?" No muss, no fuss.

I may have given that too much thought.