Dance With the One What Brung You

I’m not trying to make an argument against loyalty or decency. Rough way to start a blog post, I know, but follow me on this.

I’ve noticed more than once recently that I’ve got a strong inclination to see things through with someone who’s done even the smallest thing for me, regardless of what’s happened since then.

Salespeople work the ‘reciprocity principle’ - folks have a natural inclination to want to return favors. It’s why they give away some small service to get a foot in the door. They know that for some portion of punters, some combination of obligation and laziness will keep them around no matter what happens next.

I guess I’m saying I’m a bit of a mark, and a few times in recent years I’ve noticed my spidey-sense and this owe-you-one inclination battling it out. One part of me says ‘this person is a con artist / garbage person / asshole’, and one part says ‘yes but they did revise that estimate for you that one time.’

It’s a good thing we don’t have door-to-door salespeople or I’d have more tupperware than I know what to do with.