When we talk about spicy food, it is really a personal view on the matter.  We indeed have different references to what is considered hot or mild.  So, how do you answer the question "Is it spicy"?
I found it very tricky as plenty of factors make the answer accurate or not for the person who asks:

• Who is the person asking this question? and what is the person used to eat?
• Who is the person asked to? and what is the person asked used to eat?

For example, while I was leaving in Peru, I got used to eat the aji sauce, which is a kind of chili sauce. I remember that when my parents came to visit, we ate a famous "pollo a la brasa" - the Peruvian famous roasted chicken, and so the sauce was on the table. My dad asked if it was spicy to what my husband answered negatively. Knowing my dad, I jumped in the conversation and said that aji sauce is indeed spicy even if for my husband's palate it is not. At least he had a warning! He obviously tried it and immediately said "ooooooh, that's spicy". It is because I know the kind of food my parents are used to that I can easily determine what will be spicy for them.
However, when you don't know the person, it is quite hard. Yesterday night, I ended up eating in a Chinese restaurant here in Singapore. It was my first experience with the double boiling soup and it felt refreshing to be completely ignorant of what to order. Of the 2 soups we ordered to boil all of our food one was spicy but a neighboring Chinese customer told us it would not be so spicy. Sure enough, it was very spicy, even for my husband who is more used to spicy food than I am! (the dinner was delicious though - so no complain!).

So, how is our tolerance to spice determined?
I am not sure what it is, but I'm guessing is part of the food education we receive as kids. I have seen kids from Peru eating dishes or sauce I couldn't. Another example of how our palates are educated is my 2 year and a half niece eating blue cheese or any kind of "stinky" cheese while some of my friends can only tolerate spreadable cheeses. Nevertheless, our body also plays its part to our spice tolerance, and so it's not only acquire, it is also innate. That's a good news! It's not because you were not used to eat spicy as a kid that you will not enjoy it later and vice versa.

You can read more on spice tolerance factors on Popular Science, learn why a chili burns and what you can do to soothe the pain on I Fucking Love Science and train yourself to eat spicier with Serious Eats.

Bon appétit!

Customization seems to be the answer to clients new requirements and the textile industry adopted this concept really quickly.
On demand - just in time production - no inventory cost, but what about the cost of production? The business model is not yet perfected, many former companies can testify it. 
However customization allows a company to adapt its products or services to the exact (or almost exact) needs and desires of an individual. And this is just perfect, because we all want to be special, have our own and individualized products and services. 

Even Apple now declines its iPhone in different colors (maybe for Apple it's a bit different, I mean, is it a sign of understanding customers wishes or a lack of further innovation to offer?)!
We want new, individual, unique experiences in a global market where everyone wants the same product!
The answer is then mass customization, where a company can take advantage of both mass production combined with customization. And it is becoming very important for company to understand and apply it because alternative is mainstream and customization, a mass concept.

This video about Tailorwork was really well done, unfortunately, the company no longer exists or so it seems.
I am leaving you, I have to go drink my made to order extra hot, light, chai tea latte with soy milk and eat my personalized M&Ms ;)

It is amazing what you can learn from an afternoon with women. I was invited last spring at a Cabi showroom at my friend's and met very great women. I am sure you know the feeling of knowing only one or two people in the room. First, the conversation can be a bit awkward but then people relax and it's when it becomes really interesting.
So it usually starts with the weather, your work, activities - clothes in this case - and what you have been doing during the week or weekend. After the ice breaking, you don't know how these themes come into the conversation, but here you are talking about very deep/crude/ohmygosh topics.
During this particular afternoon, we got into the "restrooms at work". Have you already been talking about it with your friends? Man, this is a hot/long/fascinating issue. I say "issue" as for most of the people I know, there is always something wrong with this place.Bathroom, restroom, lavatory, powder room? 
How do you call it? I really like powder room, even if it is a bit over the top. When I go to wash my hands before I eat, I am actually not going to the restroom, right? Nevertheless, I don't hear it very often; last time I heard it I was helping out the organization of a gala surrounded by 50+ affluent +++ women. But back to our restrooms at work! Hover or a nester?
Choose wisely, because these are two species that hate each other... And I am both: I nest and I hove because you never know! I am probably your worst nightmare then, but for my defense, the nest protects me from former hovers and the hove from former nesters, plus, I throw it all away before I leave. Good girl!Three in a row!
So you just pushed the door of the women restroom and took the one at the far left, because all three are free and you won't take the one in the middle of course. You are peacefully peeing when you heard someone entering the restroom. Here you think: "I am here in the left toilet, this person won't use the one in the middle, she'll use the one from the right, so we both have our space". But this person is "Susie", and Susie is a nice girl, if it wasn't for her restroom habit to always choose the toilet next to the one in use. Really Susie? Don't worry, there will always be a Susie at your workplace, no matter how many toilets there are, she'd be using the one next to you. And be reassured, it's not you, she is doing it with every women in the company, there is no escape from Susie!
Who designed it?
I was working once at a place where the recurrent complaint was about the design - who would place the paper towels there? Yes, restroom design is important. Maybe I should rephrase, restroom design is a BIG DEAL. Let's take one example. JD Wetherspoon is always proud to win the Loo of the Year Awards and for a reason: you own a cool bar - excellent choice of beers & cocktails, welcoming ambiance, nice music, maybe good food - but ultimately if your restrooms are in bad shape, (and I would add especially the women's ones), well you will loose customers. It's all part of the customer experience and you can't minimize the impact restroom will have on it.Do you check first?
Cleanliness? Toilet paper? Trash can? Hanger? There is so much things you want to check before going to use the restroom and it is actually very hard to feel comfortable in your company's restroom, but you can't stop going so you have to make sure you know the place quite well, so you make the experience as pleasant as it can be. (that was weird to say).   Unfortunately, you can't control Susie but you can still have a good laugh about it with your friends as I did back in the spring!
And if you know great restroom, I just found this Cintas US best restroom contest, so please share where to go pee!