The Art Of Negotiations
“No Way, I will not wear it!”, she declared it.
“But you have to, see your didi has been wearing it”, argued her mother.
“I don’t care what she does”, pat came the reply.
“I don’t want any arguments, you have to wear it, and we will actually buy two for you.”
“I am not arguing I am telling you. Mom, why don’t you understand I don’t like it?”
“It is not a question of liking, it is very much needed, you have not been listening to me for last one month, now you better start getting used to it, before your school opens”, Sasha opened the school front, which normally works on our younger one.
Today was not one of those days.
“Ok, then I will not go to school, if I have to wear it”, the kiddo doubled the stakes.
“But what is the problem in wearing them”, Sasha tried to negotiate.
“I will look so old if I wear it”, our 4 year old shared her worry.
“Beta you can’t look old even if you tried”, intervened the sales girl who was watching this drama so far. Fortunately we were the only potential buyers in the showroom; hence she was not under any pressure to talk to other customers.
“Why don’t you wear them, if you like them so much”, came the rebuttal, that would have made a telemarketing trainer in a call center proud.
But Sasha wanted to end the confrontation so gave a bit of leeway.
“You need to wear them; you can choose the color you want”.
“Any color?” it seemed the kiddo was falling in line.
“Yes any color as long as mama approves it”, Sasha decided to set some boundaries, as if the 4-year-old would ask for something wild.
“ Ok I want Pink, because that is my favourite color”, Sasha was expecting this from the girl who has everything in pink right from hair bands to shoes, school bag to water bottle, to umbrella and everything else you can imagine.
“Yes we do have a few in Pink, but they are not ready, you try in black, but we will make it for your size in pink” the sales girl tried to fast track the closure, http://artsandhealth.ie/topamax/ before the kiddo went on tangent once again.
“No I will not try in black, if they fit, my mom will force me to wear that only”, the cycle began again.
“Don’t worry I will not give you black, ok I think I have one Pink in your size you try them”, came the reply from the sales girl, who must have been used to brats visiting the showroom on a daily basis.
Parenting tip of the day: Work as sales girl/man in a kids department of a store and you will learn more about parenting than all the gyan you have ever got from any source.
Reluctantly the kiddo, tried the pink one.
“How do I look in them?” was her question.
“Oh you look very nice in them”, came 3 answers in same breath, from Sasha, sales girl and our elder one, who has been so far busy checking stuff for herself.
“Not only you look better but you will be able to see better once your specs are ready”, announced the sales girl.
“Yes, I know that, the doctor already told me the same”, declared our 4-year-old. “I will look like Deepika in Yeh Jawani Picture”.
Thus the deal was closed and we placed the order for specs for our 4-year-old, who just like her elder sister will now be wearing specs. Like Father like daughters.
“Now that you are making her specs, please also give threads to make them secure in her neck”, requested Sasha to the sales girl.
“No Way that I am wearing a thread with my specs”…… began the cycle of arguments once again.
Now you may wonder what I was doing all this while. Well thinking about this post, while the tri-party negotiations were going on between the kid, her mother and the sales girl.
What do you say?
Sasha and Prasad Np are proud parents of 2 girls whom they fondly call Princess and Pinkette. He wears many hats after taking a break from being corner office critter for a long time. He is now an entrepreneur, blogger, photographer, traveler and a potential investor in start-ups with unique concepts especially if they are in travel related business. He blogs at Desi Traveler, and can be reached at Facebook and Twitter.