Cialdini would be proud

While walking to the the train for the trip downtown to the Chuck Palahniuk reading, I was approached by a homeless man. I make eye contact with homeless people because I think it's very rude to just ignore them. I'd rather be asked for money and refuse than to just pretend that they don't exist. Plus, sometimes fun stuff like this happens...

He comes up to me and says, "Hey man, can I have four dollars for some food?"

I reply, somewhat incredulously, "Did you just ask for FOUR dollars?!"

He says, "Yeah, so I can get some food."

I reach into my pocket laughing and say, "I'll give you one dollar."

Thinking I'm done with this exchange I start to turn around to leave. The guy looks at the buck I just handed him and says, "Do you have two dollars? Could I get two dollars?"

I turn slowly and just stare for a second. Finally, I shake my head and say, "Hey brother, be happy with what you got." He sort of looked guilty and thanked me.

I was reminded instantly of a story Bly told me a while ago about a guy she works with. It seems that one time he gave a guy all of his change and the guy asked if he had anything else. So, Bly's coworker asked the guy, "Wait, how much did I give to you?"

So the homeless guy hands Coworker back the money and Coworker says, "Now you don't have any change," and puts the money back in his pocket and walks away. While I find this story very funny and somewhat mean at the same time, there is no way I would ever do that. I'm too delicate to try something like that. Heh.

Later as I was thinking about the night, I realized that the Four Dollar Guy was a genius. I don't know if he knew it or not, but he used principles of influence very effectively on me. If he had simply asked for change, change is what I would have handed him. But he asked for four dollars. First, it made me stop and think about what he said. Then, after I understood he actually asked for four bucks, I significantly decreased the amount I was going to give him from his initial asking price. I was able to feel like I was still helping the guy out by giving him a dollar bill, something which most homeless guys probably don't get, but I also felt like I got a bargain because I decreased his asking price by 75%. I didn't feel like I was giving him very much at all after thinking about the four dollar request. A buck didn't seem like much. Honestly, it's not much to me, but still -- how many times do we give paper money to homeless people? That guy was a genius!

That same night I was approached by at least six more homeless guys. One while I was inside a very nice McDonald's eating dinner after the signing. I gave some of them the change I had in my pocket until it was gone. I make it a practice to give change or a buck to homeless people when they ask me, but I always keep loose dollars or change in my pocket so I don't have to stand there and get my wallet out. I don't mind helping people out, but I also don't want to break stride, pause, and become a target, just in case. I used to never give money to anyone because I didn't want to "enable" their addictions or whatever harmful things they might buy with the money, but now I think that they are responsible for themselves and I might miss out helping the people who actually do need and want real help because of those who are addicts. Sort of a one apple spoils the bunch thing, if I can mix metaphors.

posted by Russell @ 4:28 PM Comments : 3