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Aug. 13th, 2008 10:09 pmDude, the seat next to you is open and my elbow is in your fucking ribcage. Move the fuck over.
...is what I wanted to say on the bus ride home. Instead, I used newly learned psychological tricks to make it less awkward for everyone. Specifically: when a sentence contains the word "because", it activates the this-has-a-reason part of your brain and makes the request recipient much more pliable. This is true if it's tautologically true (can I cut in front of you in this line for the copier, because I really need to make some copies), obvious to the recipient of the request (can you move because my arm is directly under yours and there's an entire open seat next to you), or patently absurd (my client should get to keep custody of her children after she shot at her new husband as he egged her on because it was only one shot. Seriously, my mom heard that, and for 7 seconds it seemed perfectly responsible).
On my side, even reasonably requests feel demanding and pushy and what-if-they-yell-at-me, plus I hate leaving my little isolated bubble. But if I give a reason, then I'm being reasonable by definition. For bonus points, I concern troll my victim. Today I used "could you move over a bit? I'm afraid I'll sweat all over you.", which looks perfectly reasonable because I'm wearing my biking clothes and have the helmet. I think it's a winner.
...is what I wanted to say on the bus ride home. Instead, I used newly learned psychological tricks to make it less awkward for everyone. Specifically: when a sentence contains the word "because", it activates the this-has-a-reason part of your brain and makes the request recipient much more pliable. This is true if it's tautologically true (can I cut in front of you in this line for the copier, because I really need to make some copies), obvious to the recipient of the request (can you move because my arm is directly under yours and there's an entire open seat next to you), or patently absurd (my client should get to keep custody of her children after she shot at her new husband as he egged her on because it was only one shot. Seriously, my mom heard that, and for 7 seconds it seemed perfectly responsible).
On my side, even reasonably requests feel demanding and pushy and what-if-they-yell-at-me, plus I hate leaving my little isolated bubble. But if I give a reason, then I'm being reasonable by definition. For bonus points, I concern troll my victim. Today I used "could you move over a bit? I'm afraid I'll sweat all over you.", which looks perfectly reasonable because I'm wearing my biking clothes and have the helmet. I think it's a winner.
