

My accidental experiment on seller psychology - anirudhtom
http://www.anirudhtom.com/2014/08/my-accidental-experiment-on-seller.html

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wylie
I've been socialized to think that cutting lines of any sort (especially of
the kind mentioned in the article) is rude, both to the other customers in
line and to the shopkeeper. If I try, someone will usually speak up and try to
enforce the "order" of the line. Is this different in other cultures?

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Renaud
It's extremely different in other cultures.

Take China and Hong Kong, parts of the same country. In mainland China,
queueing isn't a well respected practice. If you're at a counter, people will
just come next to you and start talking to the clerk as if you didn't exist.

Try that in Hong Kong and you're going to get an earful at best and will
probably get refused service.

Mainlanders visiting Hong Kong who don't realise these subtle differences in
social norms end-up facing angry crowds and, sometimes, the altercations end-
up on youtube, fuelling the rather prevalent local sentiment that people from
China have no manners.

When you've been educated to respect queueing, visits to countries that have
no concept for it can lead to unnerving experiences.

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covexcom
When people get confused their brains tend to lock up and all their attention
gets absorbed trying to figure out what's happening. Any ambiguous statement
works. It's especially effective if it's the first thing you say. Now not only
do they have to evaluate what you said, but who you are, what your intent is,
etc. It's a much higher cognitive burden.

It's a trick that hypnotists use frequently. I think that's what is going on
here.

Also interesting is that people will typically draw a conclusion about what
you meant, and then become strangely certain that must reflect reality.
Despite their confusion just a second ago, they're remarkably confident
they've interpreted things accurately and won't even realize that alternate
interpretations might exist. It's bizarre and a lot of fun to spot this
constantly happening in the wild.

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rdtsc
I discovered this on my own. English is my 3rd language so while walking in a
bad part of town and teenagers looking for trouble started to get interested
me. I got nervous and responded with nonsense, by accident. They all froze, as
if their brains glitched for a couple of seconds. That gave me enough time to
walk away far enough for them to not bother with me.

Since then I used it multiple times. Accidentally bumped in a drunk person's
girlfriend at a festival. I apologized but he was getting aggressive so I said
"Alright, I'll talk to you later at 4" and walked away. He drunk brain was
presumably trying to make sense of my gibberish.

With pan-handlers (which I admit is rude) when they ask for money I just say
"No thanks, I'm good". As if they were offering me something.

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tzmudzin
You can go for plain "No thanks" as a slightly less variant. Still works, but
does not emphasize your "superior" status and can be passed on really
friendly, as when "thanking them for an opportunity to help them" (which you
don't need to use).

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sireat
Was going to say in Eastern Europe you could get your ass kicked for cutting
in line like that.

Some babushkas are very good at doing that though. They usually use "I am just
going to ask a question, show a note" trick.

Revisiting USA I was pleasantly surprised how well the lines at major theme
parks were organized. Though mostly composed of foreigners no one tried to cut
in line.

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weitzj
A good (popular science) read I can recommend is "Influence: The Psychology of
Persuasion", which explains some of these behaviours.

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barrystaes
This is not a trick, you're just being rude.

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tofof
TLDR: Literally saying "take this money" to someone will grab their attention
and let you cut lines.

~~~
timv
Except in this scenario described, there are no lines.

    
    
        *We don't have the concept of queues back here*

