You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. At my son's first swimming class -- a great value compared to the pricey class we took last winter -- at a local Milwaukee Public Schools pool, the water was brrrrrrrr cold. There weren't any ice floes, but the kids shivvered and were reluctant to get in.

If it were me alone, I probably would have bucked up and taken it. But seeing my boy's blue lips sent me to the MPS recreation site, where I sent a friendly suggestion that perhaps the water was too cold. Within a few hours, I had a reply promising action and saw a number of others CC'd on the e-mail.

The following week the water seemed maybe a little warmer, maybe not. I followed up to report that and when we showed up for class this week, the instructor was ecstatic. "Thanks," she exclaimed. "It's almost like bath water now!"

It turned out that the temperature gauge (aka thermometer?) was misreading the water temperature in the pool and my second e-mail appears to have led to that discovery and the rectification of the problem. I didn't really do anything other than let the people in charge know and give them the info in a nice way.

Let that be a lesson to me when I'm feeling frustrated and snarky and ready to crack open the vinegar. It's best to reach for the honey instead.