On Friday, Bob told you about our staff retreat, where we confronted everyone’s greatest fear: rejection. Our mission was to go out during our lunch break, find complete strangers, and make off-the-wall requests. When those strangers said no, we’d learn once and for all that rejection isn’t as scary as we thought.
As soon as the rejection game was announced, I decided then and there that I was going to win this thing. I would rack up the most rejections. My first stop: Pier One. I started by asking Lauren, an employee, to put on a Santa hat. I didn’t realize that Lauren was actually the store manager, but it didn’t matter-she agreed! In fact, she was so impressed with my fearlessness that she even offered me a job. While this was tempting-I love Pier One-I politely declined and moved on.
My next target was a woman named Betsy. “Will you read this Christmas poem while I film you?” I asked. Much to my surprise, she also agreed.
Finally, I saw a gentleman browsing in the corner of the store. I walked up to him and batted my eyes.
“Do you have a dollar?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Can I have it?”
“Really?” He looked surprised.
“Yeah,” I said. “Really.”
“Okay.”
I couldn’t believe it, and neither could Tammy, my colleague. “Why did you give her a dollar?” she blurted out. The man shrugged. “Christmas spirit, I guess.” So then, I asked him for a hug. He gave me that too! What was wrong with these people? Could anyone resist my charms and tell me ‘no’?
Part of me was starting to get desperate. The other part of me was beginning to think that something more was going on here. That maybe the reason everyone was doing what I asked, was because they weren’t capable of rejecting me. I’d always suspected I was irresistible-this experiment seemed to be proving that my suspicions were right! Maybe my star power was finally kicking in. Move over Daniel Craig! Watch out Derek Jeter! Mary’s Christmas miracle is finally here!
I started to wonder if I should use my powers for good (“Give me world peace!”) or for my own personal gain (“Give me a convertible and a private jet!”) Who knows how far things would have gone if I didn’t have to get back to the staff retreat?
Then again, even famous people deal with rejection. The one and only Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Katy Perry was dumped by her husband Russell Brand in 2011… via text message (ouch!). And even I, the all-powerful Mary, managed to get a few rejections that day. As it turns out, most employees won’t let you smoke in their store or give you their merchandise for free, no matter how sweetly you ask.
I’m glad we did this experiment. It taught me that rejection isn’t scary and most people will do whatever you ask of them. Which reminds me: does anyone out there have Daniel Craig’s cell phone number? I have a few questions I’d like to ask him….
Happy Monday,
Mary
