justifications for my decision to stop there. So I asked myself the crucial
question, “Knowing what I know about the real price of this gasoline,
if I could go back in time, would I make the same choice again?” Con-
centrating on the first burst of impression I sensed, the answer was
clear and unqualified. I would have driven right past. I wouldn’t even
have slowed down. I knew then that without the price advantage, those
other reasons would not have brought me there. They hadn’t created
the decision; the decision had created them.
That settled, there was another decision to be faced, though. Since I
was already there holding the hose, wouldn’t it be better to use it than
to suffer the inconvenience of going elsewhere to pay the same price?
Fortunately, the station attendant-owner came over and helped me
make up my mind. He asked why I wasn’t pumping any gas. I told him
I didn’t like the price discrepancy, and he said with a snarl, “Listen,
nobody’s gonna tell me how to run my business. If you think I’m
cheating you, just put that hose down right now and get off my property
as fast as you can do it, bud.” Already certain he was a cheat, I was
happy to act consistently with my belief and his wishes. I dropped the
hose on the spot...and drove over it on my way to the closest exit.
Sometimes consistency can be a marvelously rewarding thing.
READER’S REPORTFrom a Woman Living in Portland, Oregon
“I was walking through downtown Portland on my way to a lunch
appointment when a young, attractive man stopped me with a friendly
smile and a powerful line: ‘Excuse me, I’m involved in a contest and I
need a good-looking woman like yourself to help me win.’ I was truly
skeptical, since I know there are many more attractive women than
myself running around; however, I was caught off guard and was
curious to find out what he wanted. He explained that he would receive
points for a contest by getting total strangers to give him a kiss. Now I
consider myself a fairly level-headed person who shouldn’t have be-
lieved his line, but he was quite persistent, and since I was almost late
for my lunch appointment, I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll give the guy
a kiss and get out of here.’ So I did something totally against my com-
mon sense and pecked this total stranger on the cheek in the middle of
downtown Portland!
“I thought that would be the end of it, but I soon learned that it was
just the beginning. Much to my distress, he followed the kiss with the
line ‘You are a great kisser, but the real contest I am involved in is to
sell magazine subscriptions. You must be an active person. Would any
of these magazines interest you?’ At this point I should have slugged
Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D / 85