When 'yes' means 'no'
According to David Robson, for BBC Worklife, people are more likely to comply with requests for assistance, through fear of disagreement otherwise. All very psychological.
Since my German isn't great, whenever I'm approached in the street I give them a cheery Nei', danke!, and continue on my merry way. I just don't want to waste their valuable time.
But this put me in mind of the worst, or at least most insidious, advice that I've ever been given. It came from one of my line managers, by far the worst I've ever had, at MegaCorpUSA. A political, two-faced piece of shit, who climbed the ladder by schmoozing and saying the right
things to the right people.
I've never been that interested in saying the right
thing, I prefer the right thing, even if it's not too popular. That means that if asked if something can be done, I respond with no
if it cannot. That may be a nuanced no
, but anything otherwise would be dishonest and disrespectful.
Her advice to me? Always say yes
, and hope to have moved on before everything turns to shit. By which time it'll be someone else's problem.
Yes, that was real advice from a real manager. (SMH)