John Trinkaus

Professor John Trinkaus is a professor emeritus of the Zicklin School of Business in New York City. He has researched and published studies about subjects related to annoyances he found in everyday life. This includes studies about:

• The amount of items people bring to express lines at supermarkets.
• How often drivers come to a complete stop at stop signs.
• The average wait time to see a doctor at their office.
• Taste Preferences for Brussels Sprouts.
• How many people pay for the candles in churches.

He patiently counted things and submitted the findings in terse reports. Many of his ~100 reports can be found in Ammons Scientific's journals of:

• Perceptual and Motor Skills
• Psychological Reports

He conducted the same studies different years and generally found that bad habits are getting more widespread with time.

References

1. Doug Ammons founder of Ammons Scientific, publisher of many of Trinkaus's reports.
2. NPR story about John Trinkaus an interview with Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research.
3. Winner of 2003 Ig Nobel Prize - a facetious award given annually around the time of the legitimate Nobel Prizes.
4. Annals of Improbable Research
   1. Annals of Improbable Research
   2. Trinkaus -- An Informal Look (Overview and Index)