How many is a ‘handful’?

[BlackRoseRed]

If someone has requested ‘a handful’ of something, assuming they are talking figuratively as the thing in question can’t possibly fit in anyone’s hands, how many do you think they are expecting?

For example if it's 'a handful of times' I would say up to 5 since that's what you can count on one hand.

As it's tasks I would interpret that to mean it varies each day and you'll need to learn the frequency based on need. But they are also telling you it isn't too frequent, a handful is a small irregular amount that's more than a couple of times. For example it it's "hoover the carpet a handful of times a day" it depends on the amount of dirt on it but you'd be expected to hoover more than twice.

3-5

Ah I'd missed your last comment. I would say between 3 and 5, then, and the person wants you to use your own judgement to determine what's appropriate/sufficient on any given day.

I would think between 3 and 5, but as it is a work based situation I would say it's reasonable to ask for clarity. If you don't know how often doing this thing is reasonable, ask them to give you an example of the number of times they would like it done. Then assume that is slightly flexible, and you could do it perhaps once or twice more or less on an given day.

As they have used a vague term, I assume they don't have a definite number of times in mind.

But honestly, rather than tying yourself up in knots trying to figure it out, and risking getting it wrong, just ask.

No sane, decent employer will mind being asked that. Some people prefer more literal instructions than others and that's fine.

Usually this kind of instruction means something in the region of the above - a general rule rather than a hard and fast one, and, in particular that it might change depending on circumstances. So if you want clarity the above is good: ask how often the person would tend to do it and that will give you your benchmark. Then do it slightly less often or more often depending on what's going on.

So for example in a coffee house you may be told to wipe down all the tables at least 3 times a day. But if no one's been sitting at 2 of the tables you know you don't need to do those again, and conversely, if there's rubbish and spills and a huge mess on half the tables you would definitely do them again even though they were last cleaned half an hour ago.

Something like that.

6 is half a dozen. 2 is a couple.
So it's between these two.
If a range works, say 3-5. If you must pick one - pick 4.

3-5 times, or every couple of hours.
eg ‘Ted can you check the rollers a handful of times’ I’d expect Ted to check the rollers every two hours or so.
’Anna can you check and email me the new client details a handful of times’ 3-5 times a day.
basically a job that’s needs doing or checking or sorting every few hours, it’s not an urgent priority, but run of the mill regular task.

I'm not autistic and I'd struggle with that descriptor. A handful is something I would only use for something that would be an amount of items.

Can you ask for a clearer explanation of how many tasks you are expected to carry out? I don't think it's fair to ask someone to DO a handful of tasks.

But why is a handful between ‘a couple’ and ‘half a dozen’? We could equally confidently state that a handful is between ‘a few’ and ‘umpteen’ and use that as the starting point.

Just seen your update, in that case 5 times.

That is annoying in a work context! I’d take control and respond something like “I’ll start by doing it 4 times a day and we can agree to change if that’s not working”
I’m a planner but a lot of people aren’t so I’ve had to learn to take control and make the request work for me

I agree, it is wishy washy. What I find interesting though, is that even though it's a handy-wavy approximate term at the general level, on a personal level people (including NT folk) do seem to have a very set idea of exactly how many it means. It can vary due to context, but it seems it is generally relatively set within that context for that individual. Hard to guess what the other person is actually thinking though!

I think it's generally a way of passing the decision making on to the other person, which could be a little unfair. I try not to use it now unless I genuinely don't care eg how many peanuts I get. In the OP's situation, I think it's been used because the manager genuinely doesn't know how many times the task will have to be done and thinks it's helpful to let the OP decide. I think OP needs to go back and ask for more info about how to decide when to do the task.

It’s often used as a way to minimise or highlight how small something was in the broader context e.g;
-there were errors in only a handful of instances
-there are a handful of boys in the group
-of the people in the team, a handful turned up to the event.

Otherwise ‘infrequent’ but probably less than 5
-I vacuum a handful of times a week.

otherwise an amount you aren’t bothered by eg
-can you put in a handful of nuts
Jamie Oliver is terrible for it. Last nights dinner needed a ‘handful of rosemary leaves, picked’. Couldn’t work that one out.

DH knows rice measures by handfuls

Having thought about it it’s probably interchangeable with the word ‘few’.
Also means ‘difficult to manage’. ‘The children were a handful’

I was trying to avoid asking for clarification at work as past experience tells me people think I’m just being deliberately awkward.

It’s basically an admin based task that often gets neglected by the team as it’s low priority but if left can build up to an unmanageable level so if everyone does ‘a handful’ daily it will keep the number down.

In that case if I were you I'd literally do it a handful of times daily. 4 or 5. It's not urgent so just fit it in a few times a day.

It's not as simple as "wishy-washy is annoying, a specific number is better". Sometimes the task that's been delegated includes using your judgement on the day.

I had this conversation with my autistic son just yesterday. I offered him "a few" pieces of my sushi. He wanted a number, I didn't actually have one in mind, and we talked through the decision process of how he could judge what would be a suitable amount. If he were having a terrible day I would have to do the extra steps myself and just give him a number, but I felt he had capacity that day so we worked it out together. In this case it was practice for him and confidence building in making his own judgement, but in a work setting it might be that the judgement is being delegated as well as the task. If you are not specifically told 5 times a day, it's probably because it doesn't need to be done specifically 5 times a day.

4 or 5 but because I think it alludes to having a ‘handful’ of fingers or fingers and a thumb ie being able to count it on one hand

I would take that to mean 15 mins on it maybe 3 times a day but varying so on a busy day less and on a less busy day more. Though need to see how much admin needs doing and divide it to work out sensible amount.

Yes exactly. Many things in life aren't perfectly rigid.

For many people, saying 'please do X a few times a day' is absolutely fine and isn't wishy washy at all; it gives a general guideline but puts control of the particulars of how you fit it into your schedule into your hands, allowing a sense of autonomy which many people appreciate.

However if one really doesn't feel comfortable with the nebulousness of it I think any reasonable manager would be happy to put a number on it to help out.

If it's something that can be fitted in between other, more pressing tasks, then I'd say do as many as you can as and when, without thinking about it too much. One day you might be able to do it five times, some days that could be eight if you're less busy with other things. I don't think you need to think of a number, just do what you can when you can, every little helps :)

A few is more than a couple. Perhaps 3-4 (unless there are lots). A handful is similar to a few but perhaps slightly more.
Yes perhaps 4-6
🤔

Generally speaking 4-5ish.

But if you're referring to something specific then lemons for example would be 3-4, raspberries 10ish, sticks 6-7, matches 20ish.

It's all relative to what you're referring to

In that case, you should be able to work out a reasonable estimate. How many people in the team are there that should be doing this task? How many times a day should the task be done to reduce buildup, or if there’s already buildup, how many times a day should the task be done to get it down to zero?
Divide the number of times the task should need doing daily by the number of people in the team, and that’s an approximate estimate of what they mean.