mental negotiations team
“Hey, you can’t bring that coffee into the movie.”
Quick, get Charm up here to work this guy.
It’s too late — he wasn’t ready yet and got soured by this ticket-taker’s smugness. There’s no time to prepare.
Do we have Bully on standby?
Yes, always — Quick, send him in.
“Wanna bet? Go get your manager.”
Okay, that bought us some time. How we gonna work this?
It depends, do we have a visual on the mark yet?
I’m scanning our memory banks. No, we didn’t see anybody in a suit on the way in. I want a contingency plan set up to make a hasty run for the theater with this coffee.
Wait, this is him — Let’s size him up. Oh no, he’s a foot shorter than us. Persuasion sent an emergency message, he wants us to slouch our posture a little, let’s make the manager here feel more comfortable.
Okay, done. Charm, you ready now? Let’s open with the two handed handshake — Increase the grip on the lower hand by 18% to feign sincerity.
“Is there a problem here?”
Yeah, your Designated Boogerpicker here is making a power play on my coffee and I’m about to ask for my damn money back.
Impulse, no! What are you thinking? Did that get out in the open? Oh thank God, we had our Sensibilities Filter on. Impulse, you go sit down somewhere.
Charm, you’re up to bat.
“Yes sir. I stopped to get this coffee on the way here at 7-11. I love having coffee when I see a late show… you know, a little caffeine to keep me up. I didn’t mean to be any trouble.”
Is he buying it?
The Observation Analysts are saying 47% success rate here, not looking good. Let’s hint about taking our business elsewhere. But keep it subtle.
“You see, I usually go to Tinseltown in Grapevine, and they have this nice little coffee shop in their lobby. You guys don’t sell coffee, so I brought one with me because I like this theater better.”
Oh nice, a theater compliment. Nice audible at the line of scrimmage, Charm.
Let’s bring this thing home. Up the volume by 12%, just enough to include the other nearby moviegoers.
“I’m sure you’d rather me come here with 7-11 coffee than go to Tinseltown, right?”
Persuasion sent another message, he wants us to glance over at the people in line.
Did the manager follow our glance? Sweet, that worked out nicely. Now he knows he has an audience.
Okay, big smiles, big smiles everybody. We have a decision coming up here. Wait for it….
“I guess that would be alright.”
Woo hoo! Congratulations everybody. The Ego sends word that he is pleased.
Bully wants to say one more thing to the first ticket-taker guy when the manager walks away.
Okay, I guess he earned it. Go ahead, Bully.
“Hey look, I’m still bringing my coffee in. You know what’s even funnier? I don’t wear a bowtie to my job.”