What’s the Family Discount?
June 11, 2008 | A Kick in the Butt, How to Change Your Life
You know, life is very different when you look at it from behind a retail counter. Or, maybe, it’s just that I’m made much more aware of just how many different people there are out there. I don’t know, but I have some weird incidences happen at the store.
For example, a few days ago, a man came into the store (an unaccompanied man is a strange occurrence - mostly it’s women who are interested in our shop), he walked right up to the Stainless Steel Water Bottle display and started looking at the prices of the different bottles (we sell a few different sizes). He finally settled on the one he wanted and looked at the price.
Then he picked up a second bottle (in the same size) and looked at the price again. (I of course have nothing else to do in the store but watch what people do, that’s why I can narrate this back to you in detail.) He hesitated and put the second bottle back. And then, this is the really strange thing, he looked at me and asked:
“Do you give discounts if people buy more than one?”
Isn’t that odd? I mean, who does that (outside of say China and the Caribbean)?
I laughed (he said it half jokingly) and then agreed, as if it were just between he and I, that if he bought more than one I’d give him 10% off. At which point he decided to buy three of them.
What would you have done? In my situation it certainly made sense to give him a few dollars off and make the better sale. Besides, I’m convinced he really wanted to buy two and needed some reason to give himself permission to pay for the other one.
But you know, he’s not the first person to ask that. A few weeks ago a man came in (it’s always the men!) he looked around for a bit and seemed like he wanted to buy a few things. He was looking at the Klean Kanteen Sippy Cups (always with the stainless steel bottles - you guys are going to think I sell nothing but those bottles) and taken aback at the price asked if he could have the family discount.
I chuckled (this actually was funny for two reasons, the first I’ll get to in a moment, but the second is that Wakizashi told his family that the family discount was plus seven percent), and pointed out that considering he was a considerably black man and I was what you might call “Lily White” I didn’t think he’d pass as family. To which he responded that there are lots of inter-racial marriages and we could be step-siblings (got to admire a man’s persistence!).
He followed that argument with a swift comment that he might work in the mall; don’t I give discounts to others who work in the mall? In fact, I do give discounts to others who work there (because they do the same for me), but I don’t really work in a mall - it’s more a hallway with a handful of stores in it. It’s technically called a Marketplace. It’s not like he could fool me into believing he worked there.
But, after telling him I didn’t think he could have hidden from me at the other stores (he was a big, black man who clearly worked out a lot), I did tell him that I’d give him the discount if he really wanted it. Apparently, this made him really happy because he proceeded to make a huge purchase (he was making gifts for some women he knew).
I didn’t really think about it with the first guy, I knew it had paid off to extend the discount to him (he came back again to buy more for the gift bags), but I hadn’t really thought about it. It wasn’t until the second guy, the stainless steel guy, that I really thought about what had happened.
The first thing that popped into my mind was: Hey, why has it never occurred to me to ask other small store owners for discounts? I bet most of them, like me, would agree in exchange for the business. Which made me realize: You never know what you can get until you ask for it!
I mean, it’s just not a normal occurrence to think we can walk into any old store and ask them to charge us less than they are charging other people. But there are a lot of other things that we don’t get simply because we don’t ask.
Maybe you could be living your joyous and abundant life right now if it had occurred to us to just ask God for what we wanted instead thinking it was improper to ask. Maybe, we’d be getting the 10% discounts and the free family benefits if we’d just piped up and said, “Hey, do you happen to give out careers that involve creating, and being with people, and are a ton of fun?”
Truth is, you don’t get anything you don’t ask for. Sure, God knows what you want, but that’s not the point (after all, every one wants to save 10% - that doesn’t mean I’m just handing it out to anyone who walks through the door!), there’s a powerful shift that happens - even just inside of you - when you draw up the courage and ask for exactly what you want.
That reminds me… years ago when Wakizashi graduated university he started looking for a job. Five months into the job search he had no bites; he’d been doing a temporary contract but hated it and wanted a real job. He was truly frustrated and angry and only had a month until he had to pay back his student loan.
I remember we were driving in the car and he was venting and complaining and I, calmly (I’m sure I was calm about it), asked if he’d tried, maybe, just asking for a job. Didn’t it make sense to ask God for the job?
He was so frustrated he looked right up at the top of the car and yelled something along the lines of, “Can I have a d@*& job already.” (I’m paraphrasing, it has been twelve years since then ya know.)
It was quite amusing that within the week he had a response to a resume he’d put out a while ago, went in for the interview and was offered the job. (He worked that job until it led to a better one and he’s been at the better one ever since…) I’m not sure which one of us was more surprised at the speedy response.
And the lesson in this is:
How to Change Your Life Lesson #3: ASK!
Unless you’ve said it out loud, written it down, or phrased it as a specific question then it’s safe to say that you haven’t actually asked for it yet. You can’t get what you don’t ask for so go ahead, stick your head out there, and let the Universe (God, Spirit, or the World at Large) know that you want that thing (gosh darn it)!
Asking is always the first step to getting - no matter what it is you’re looking to get (material or immaterial). Remember to be specific, and positive (i.e. ask for peace, not for the end of war), and most importantly expect to get an answer.
(This is why the Wish List is such a great activity, that’s just one of the many ways we go about asking for things we want!)
If you decide to take part in my How to Change Your Life series, or if you are declaring today to be your new beginning I’d LOVE to hear from you. Post a comment or shoot me an email (muse @ flamingrenaissance dot com) and I’ll be sure to join your personal cheerleading squad! If you are up to sharing you goals, and hopes and dreams feel free to put them in your comments - or better yet - blog about them yourself, be sure to include a link for us!
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On June 11th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Rick Wood Says:
Thanks for visiting my blog at http://www.rickywood.wordpress.com I really enjoy your comment! Your posting is a great pick me up yoday.We are looking at anew home…it never occured to me to just ask for this “home”.Once again “Thanks” and keep posting !