I am sitting in a cafe awaiting my coffee. I considered ordering more, but was ‘persuaded’ not to by the waiter.

The interaction went like this:

Waiter: “Are you being served?”
Me: “Not yet. Can I have a decaff cappuccino …”
Waiter: Cutting me off “That’s it,” with a horizontal chopping motion with his hand.

I was going to order more, but he stopped me. His statement (not question) combined with a hand motion that is often used to show boundaries or where things stop lost the cafe money. Now I’m trained to be aware of and use these behavioural patterns, yet even though one part of my brain notices this interaction the response coming out of my mouth almost involuntarily is: “Yes. That’s it.”

And I’m sure the waiter wonders why he doesn’t get many tips.

P.S. Happy New Year.

Technorati Tags: [1] Business, [2] Communication, [3] Persuasion, [4] Psychology, [5] Sales