Nate started to talk, but Sally put up a finger to show he should remember the awareness exercise she’d taught him to try to make an automatic habit. She finished reading the paragraph she was on, placed the bookmark, closed the book, and, put it in her handbag. Then she centred herself, took three deep breaths while he did the same thing. At that point she asked the obvious question: “Well, how did it go?”
“Hmmm. It’s certainly an adrenaline rush to pull a stunt like this. So I can see the addictive stimulus-response that said hooks some people into the lifestyle. I did the mental ‘enthusiasm pump’ you taught me to do. Once that had started, I was able to focus my attention completely at the person in front of me---again as you taught me. Then I manifested the ‘confidence-speak’ attitude that allowed me to persuasively lie to the person in front of me.”
Sally interrupted “But was it a lie? Or did your confidence-speak convince you of the truth too? At least at that particular moment.”
“Right. That’s a more accurate way to express how I felt. Whether or not what I was saying was true---it was emotionally true to me.”
“How did you frame your con?”
“When I found out it was a laptop, I decided not to lay it on too thick. I just mentioned that there was nothing wrong with it, it had never been used, I’d bought it as a gift and then found out that my sister had just purchased one just like it. I wanted to act a little nervous about returning such a big ticket item without the paperwork.”
“The woman at the counter said ‘no problem’. But when she took my membership card and tried to read it, it wouldn’t work. She looked at the card, rubbed the barcode, tried again, and when that didn’t work, entered the numbers manually. When this didn’t do the job, she asked a co-worker over to see if he could get it going. He couldn’t, and mentioned that there wasn’t any problem with the terminal. They both said they’d never seen or heard of this type of error before.”
“Bye-the-way, do you know how the card manages to look totally valid on the company website but says that there’s a temporary systems problem with my account?”
Sally snorted, “Don’t ask me. The Old Ones have some pretty gnarly chipheads, though. I suspect that they not only made a fake card but also hacked into the membership data base on the CostCo server.”
“Anyway, at that point I started to act like I was in a real rush. I complained that I was on my lunch break and I had just enough time to get the refund and leave. Moreover, I said that I’d never had a problem with the card before and I really needed the money right that moment or else I wouldn’t be able to get my sister a present in time for her birthday.”
“The woman behind the terminal repeated that she’d never seen this happen before. She asked if I could come back later. But I looked her in the eye and just said ‘I told you I have a time problem. What are you going to do to help me out of this spot?’, I also said that Costco says on it’s website that they don’t care about the receipts, so I didn’t bother to bring them---although I could dig them up if I have to---but I had had such a good experience with the company over the years that it never occurred to me that there would be a problem’. I also looked at my wrist watch, looked concerned, and, started subtly fidgeting.”
“Good. I’m glad you remembered to add in the body language.”
“When she started making noises about a supervisor, I repeated that I was under a tight deadline, I asked her to take the item out of the box. I told her I wasn’t trying to rip anyone off. She could see it was an item that Costco sells and it was obviously immaculate. The original packing material was all there. And I hadn’t even used it---the security tapes were all still in place so it was good enough to put back on the shelf right now. I just didn’t need it and wanted the money so I could get something else for sis.”
“How completely did you believe in what you were saying? Did you have a specific person in mind when you talked about your sister?”
Nate smiled. “Yes I did. Happy birthday, Sally.”
“At that point she asked if I’d be happy with a gift card instead of a reimbursement on my credit card. She asked if my sister had a Costco membership. I said ‘yes’ and she suggested that she would ‘bend the rules a bit’ and give me a gift card worth the full price. She’d keep my membership card, they’d figure out what the problem was, and, then mail it back to me. That way I could get back to work and my sister could choose whatever she really wanted or needed.”
“At that point I sighed and thanked her. She gave me the gift card, kept my membership, and, I came back out here.”
Sally relaxed into her seat. “So if you had a stolen laptop and a very special counterfeit Costco membership card, you just fenced it at the retail rate instead of having to sell it for half price or less through Kijiji or a pawn broker. You can either use the gift card yourself, or, sell it at only a little less than face price to someone else. Actually it’s a really safe grift---especially as a ‘one off’. But it did test you and I imagine it was pretty scary none-the-less.”
Nate nodded in quick agreement.
“Consider that your first ride on a bike---with training wheels, no traffic, and, me running alongside you in case you started to wobble badly. You did OK. Next time you’ll have a little more confidence.”
&&&&
No comments:
Post a Comment