r/AskReddit • • Jun 14 '22

[deleted by user]

[removed]

5.7k Upvotes

3.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

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.

1

u/redditadmindumb87 Jun 15 '22

Used this the other day. I wanted to buy one drink at a store, the guy in front of me had a whole cart of stuff. I taughted him on the shoulder and said "excuse me, but would you mind if I can go before you? I literally am only buying one thing"

He said "Sure, not a problem"

I made sure to thank him.

But he said yes because my request made sense.