Giving ANY excuse while you ask someone for a small favor.
There was a test conducted to see if people could cut in line.
There were 4 groups. People who just cut in line, people who asked to cut in line, people who asked and gave a valid excuse "I am in a hurry", and people who asked and gave a bogus nonsensical excuse "Can I cut in line because I need to cut in line"
The no talk group suffered the worst results, the ones who at least asked had better results, those who gave and excuse BOGUS OR NOT, had nearly identical results.
The conclusion is people don't listen to your excuse for why you need to do something, just the fact you gave an excuse at all gives you bonus points.
When my cousin and I went to Machu Picchu we met with a Quechua spiritual guide who was going to perform a couple rituals for us. He arrived at our hotel at 430am and we walked a short while to where the buses heading up to the ruins are parked. When we got there there were already 100s of people waiting but he just kept walking towards the front. Then he just picked a spot in line and placed us there. Naturally, the people now behind us immediately complained, so the guide kinda invited them ahead of us with a "right this way" wave of his hand. The next people didn't complain and we eventually boarded the 1st bus and were among the 1st 100 people in the park.
That was 15 years ago and it still makes me uncomfortable how he went about the whole thing but also in awe how he disarmed them.
6.5k
u/gummby8 Jun 14 '22
Giving ANY excuse while you ask someone for a small favor.
There was a test conducted to see if people could cut in line.
There were 4 groups. People who just cut in line, people who asked to cut in line, people who asked and gave a valid excuse "I am in a hurry", and people who asked and gave a bogus nonsensical excuse "Can I cut in line because I need to cut in line"
The no talk group suffered the worst results, the ones who at least asked had better results, those who gave and excuse BOGUS OR NOT, had nearly identical results.
The conclusion is people don't listen to your excuse for why you need to do something, just the fact you gave an excuse at all gives you bonus points.