Opinion: Thrills of new technology pall with age

50 minutes: Average length of a weekly staff meeting, according to a survey for GroupSystems Corp.

59: Percentage of workers who say they don’t take minutes for most meetings.

56: Percentage who say action items are documented only sometimes or not at all.

68: Percentage who say input from the discussions is used only sometimes or rarely when implementing action items.

Reality Bites

$1.25 million: Amount of money made by “Desperate Housewife” Teri Hatcher, 41, in 2005, according to Parade’s annual salary report, “What People Earn.”

$0: Amount made by real-life housewife Carla Kenney, 40, of Saddle Brook, N.J.

$15 million: Amount 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning made last year.

$13,000: Amount LaToya Milana, 26, a caregiver from Lewiston, Maine, made in 2005.

Pet peeves

44: Percentage of employed Americans who cite condescending tones as their biggest pet peeve at work, according to a workplace etiquette survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Randstad.

37: Percentage who cited public reprimands as on of their biggest pet peeves.

34: Percentage who cited micromanaging as one of their biggest pet peeves.

32: Percentage who cited loud talkers as one of their biggest pet peeves.

Liar, liar

19: Percentage of workers who say they tell lies at the office at least once a week, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com.

15: Percentage who say they have been caught in a lie.

24: Percentage of hiring managers who say they have fired an employee for being dishonest.

Sweet tooth

90 million: Number of chocolate Easter bunnies made for Easter each year, according to the National Confectioners Association.

16 billion: Number of jellybeans made for Easter each year.

Learn to earn

48: Percentage of teens who feel college is necessary for a successful career, according to a poll by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

25: Percentage who fear they will not be able to graduate from high school.

48: Percentage who say that their parents significantly influence their decisions.

Blasting the boss

48: Percentage of workers who say they ridiculed a bad boss to colleagues in order to get revenge, according to a survey by BadBossology.com and Development Dimensions International.

34: Percentage who say they have gone over a bad boss’s head to the next boss up with a new idea or complaint.

14: Percentage who say they have quit a project or position at a crucial time to leave the boss in the lurch.

Cyber excitement

47: Percentage of Americans age 18 to 29 who say they are excited when they first use new technology devices, according to a poll by Gallup.

42: Percentage of Americans age 30 to 49 who say they are excited when they first use new technology devices.

27: Percentage of Americans age 50 to 64 who say they are excited when they first use new technology devices.

14: Percentage of Americans age 65 or over who say they are excited when they first use new technology devices.

John MacIntyre is an author and former city magazine editor. His Figuratively Speaking column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.