I guess others would be the best judge of whether I'm persuasive, or whether my manner is hard to resist. I think I'm persuasive. When I'm in a group setting, there's always a good chance the group will follow my suggestions, and I often find myself in leadership positions among groups, even dating back to when I was in school. Probably it's because I have a big mouth and I have plenty of opinions, and while some people are shy to share their opinions I've never been afraid to share mine.
But I'm not sure if my powers of persuasion are only in my own head. So I tried a little experiment today on the one person who is most persuasive to me - my wife, Jamie.
For the past couple weeks I've been hankering for a meatball sub from Subway. (I'm a simple man with simple needs.) And we happened to be planning a trip to the public library today, and the road to the libary happens to go right past a Subway. So this is how I started.
"Hey babe, when we go to the library later, do you want to grab some lunch?"
"Sure, that sounds good."
"Where do you wanna go?"
She gave me a funny look.
"I don't know, it was your idea."
"I know, but what sounds good to you?"
"Well, we could go to that Mexican place down the street."
"Yeah, but I'd rather get something quick and bring it back home."
"Okay, then there's Taco Bell, or Wendy's, or..."
"But we go to those places all the time. I want something different, somewhere we haven't been for a while."
"We could drive out to Chipotle, or Taco Bueno."
"I don't wanna drive that far, though. I'd like to stay closer to home."
By now, she was confused and more than a little annoyed. But I had struck gold.
"Uhmm... well, I have some coupons for Subway."
"Subway? Why, that sounds terrific! Great idea, sweetheart!"
"All right, weirdo, Subway it is."
After just a few seconds I started laughing. "I gotcha!" I said. "I've wanted to go to Subway all along! HAAAA ha ha ha ha ha HAAAAA!"
Jamie just smiled and said, "So you figured out how to convince somebody else to think something was their idea. Congratulations. You've just discovered what women have been doing to men on a daily basis for thousands of years."
I guess the last laugh belonged to her. But maybe not; guess what I ate for lunch today?
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