Friday, April 13, 2007

I'll Take Your Word For It.....

Most people these days are very weary about believing other people. Most people, in order to believe someone, need to see some proof or physical evidence to sway their opinion one way of the other.
You find a twenty dollar bill on the ground, and immediately someone walks up to you and says "hey, that's my money, I just dropped it". You would likely stop for a few moments, and maybe even ask a few questions before even contemplating handing over the money.
Taking someone's word on faith is a hard thing to grasp hold of. Well, let me clarify that. Hard to take a stranger's word, but easier to take a friend's word. that sounds more like it.
A friend is easier to believe because we already have a base to judge them from. We know them, know their habits, know if they are a habitual liar, know if they mostly tell the truth. We have probably witnessed most of our friends lying at one time or another as well, which would make it easier for us to spot them lying if they ever did it again.
Strangers though, well it's hard to know for sure if someone is lying. Some people have a knack for seeing right through people's lies, while others have no idea what's going on.

My story took place Monday this past week. After work, I had purchased a video game for my pc. They say hindsight is 20/20, so I'm not going to mention the game title, as I know now the game was a waste of my money. Anyway.....

.....I brought the game to the counter, and asked the girl there whether this game was a pay-to-play online type game. She looked at the box, then opened up the box and leafed through the manual. After 30 seconds or so, she said it looked like it was free to play online, and that most games now had a disclaimer on the box stating if it was a pay-to-play game.

I was relieved, and said I would buy it.

On the way home, I stopped and did some grocery shopping, dropped my car-pool passenger off at her house, and then went home.
I put away all the groceries, and cooked dinner for myself.
I had a leisurely dinner while watching some television, and at around 9:30 I decided to crack open the game and install it on my computer.
I open the box.....and my jaw dropped....

No disk.

I stared at the inside of the box for a while, swearing quite loudly, and cursing the store where I bought the game.

But as I started to calm down a little, I started to replay the events of the purchase in my head. That's when I realized I was likely part of the problem. I had interrupted the girls routine by asking a question at the counter. She even opened the box up, and looked through the manual. This must have thrown her off slightly, and I remember now she had not gone into the back room to get the disk for th game at that point.
For those who don't know, that's how most of these game stores work now. The game boxes are all out on display, but the disks are in the back room. You buy the game, and they go get the game or you.

So now I am thinking, how am I going to get the disk for this game? I have the game box and receipt, but no disk. If I walk into that store and say I didn't get a disk in this game box, are they going to believe me? Why should they? This sort of scenario probably happens a lot, with people trying to scam the store for a free game. The problem here is this was a legitimate missing disk, and how was I going to get it back?
I called the store, but it was past closing time, and nobody answered. I was just going to have to go down there the next day.

Tuesday morning, I've picked up my car-pool passenger, and am well on my way to work (past the point of no return), when I realize I have left the game box and receipt by my back door. Because that's where I put it so I wouldn't forget it in the morning.

Well, I forgot it.

Great!

I got to work, and a few times during the day I ran the scenario past a few people. Half thought the store would give me a disk. They were saying there would be records of the disk in the back room, and that it had not been given out.
The other half of the people were saying I was screwed. There's no way the store would believe me.
Well the only way to find out, would be to go there after work. Maybe I could at least let them know about the problem, and feel them out for a possible solution.

So I stop by there after work, and I explain the situation to the young man behind the counter. Luckily the girl who I had purchased the game from the day before, was working today as well. She was able to agree she had made a mistake. She was even going so far as to say she had made a few mistakes the day before because she was sooo tired. She said she remembered after I had left she hadn't given me the disk, but it had been too lat at that point.....I had already driven away.

So I was given the video game disk right there on the spot, without the receipt, with them just taking my word for it.

I was happy. Today I'm not happy because I've played the game and it sucks, but Tuesday I was happy.

I guess it got me thinking about how people make decisions, and why. Whether your relationship with that person would affect the level of trust. Whether your demeanor would affect the outcome of a situation.

I think having a positive outlook, speaking intelligently, and keeping your cool are some things which will help you to succeed in a situation like mine.
I used to take inbound customer service calls, and have dealt with difficult customers previously. I know people are much more willing to help you if you have a smile on your face, and are not yelling at them. A pleasant disposition can go a long way these days.

Smoke and mirrors can get you the same results, but that's a story for another day.

Take my word for it.

Laterz
AH

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