Negotiation Station

Negotiation Station

Russel Peters is a popular Indian/Canadian comedian. He had a sketch in which he would describe why he believed it was tough to do business with Indians. Specifically - he stated that they would never buy anything, unless they got a deal.

I always assumed this was one of those bad cultural stereotypes that were largely untrue. However, I've noticed that this is certainly a trend. For instance, today my colleague offered to buy me lunch as I've bought the team lunch on a few occasions. We settled on a local restaurant and I gave him my order. As he placed the order for delivery, I realized he was haggling over the price. He insisted that in order for us to place the order, that a discount must be extended.

After several minutes, a price was settled upon & my colleague hung up the phone. I asked him if he indeed was able to negotiate a new price. Of course he was, eventually 20% was knocked off the bill. As impressed as I was, he reamained upset as he failed to score the free dessert course he really wanted.