IT CAN'T HURT TO ASK

IT CAN’T HURT TO ASK    

My family is the first thing on my mind every morning. And the last thing on my mind at night. They’re with me all through the day, too. Although I’ve always had a career and other interests, being a wife and mom gives me the most joy and also defines me. 

In the Woody Allen movie, Manhattan, Allen lies on the sofa thinking about things that make life worth living. Most important on that list is “Tracy’s face”. Well, I have a Tracy, as well as a Howard, a Cory, a Jonah, and an Avery. They are at the top of my list of things that make life worth living. (Sidebar—if you haven’t seen Manhattan, see it. It’s perfection.) Despite the fact that Howard, Cory, Tracy and Jonah are adults, taking care of them makes me happy. Maybe it’s a tradition  thing— a way of keeping my mother alive. a way of keeping a simpler, gentler time alive. My mother had a friend who had access to a local shoe manufacturer when I was young. (Yes, there was local manufacturing once upon a time.) They would go to the factory and I’d come home from school to find three or four pairs of shoes sitting by my bed. I have no idea how she could be certain that they’d fit, but they did. I remember the warm feeling as I looked at the new shoes. I loved the fact that my mother’s idea of a good day was to take care of me. So it goes in my life.

When Cory was visiting a few weeks ago, we went shopping for T-shirts. He chose the Ralph Lauren Polo brand. I had a Macy’s coupon and looked at the back for Exclusions. Several Lauren labels were excluded, but I didn’t see Polo as one of them. (I don’t quite understand the reason for Exclusions—brand hubris? because they can?) There weren’t many people in the store and the cashier looked a bit lonely. He scanned the package then scanned the coupon. The coupon wouldn’t scan. I looked at him with a doe eyed, perturbed, quizzical look. (I'm not sure how I got all of that into one expression, but I did.) I found that he was a customer service oriented guy in a store that wasn’t busy that day. He and I agreed that Polo wasn’t specifically excluded and he offered to do a manual override. He used common sense— an excellent customer service tool! I don’t think that Macy’s will go under because of this discount, and this salesman will be a "go to"when I shop again. Win/win.

Anyone who’s read The Consumer Playbook knows that I hate to pay full price if there’s a way to avoid it. Last week at my local CVS, they had a Buy One Get One 50% Off” sale on Cover Girl. I found a lipstick that I liked but couldn’t find a second color. It wasn't unreasonable to ask if they would give me the equivalent promotional discount, 25% off of the single item, because they didn’t have a second item that I wanted. The cashier agreed with me, the manager agreed with both of us, and I walked out a happy customer. 

It never hurts to ask. This applies to these small purchases, but also works for bigger things. The worst that can happen is that the answer is “no”. But more often than not, it’s “yes”.