In a New York shop, I once got pressure-sold something expensive I didn't really want; when I said it cost too much, I was asked what I might be prepared to pay, and we ended up haggling. Since then, I've had a rule:
- If it's a non trivial price, never decide to buy while you're in the shop
and I have been very glad of it on many occasions. I can go for a short walk to decide, and if I don't want it, I simply don't return to the shop. This means I'm deciding in calm surroundings, based on what I want rather than on embarrassment.
Are there other maxims I could adopt that would serve me equally well?
(Personal note: I'm in the Bay Area for a week after minicamp, Sunday July 29th to Sunday August 5th. Let's hang out, go to things together, help make my visit cooler! Mail me: paul at ciphergoth.org. Thanks!)
A few maxims that serve me well, which might or might not serve you well. include:
Reward the behavior I want, ignore the behavior I don't want.
Get enough sleep. It's amazing how much smarter and more pleasant other people become when I'm not tired.
Attend to likely motives. In particular, if someone says something, consider what they intend to accomplish by doing so. If I'm not sure, then I don't actually yet understand what they said, regardless of the words they used.
Attend to the next thing. That is, large projects and future goals and so forth just tend to distract or overwhelm me; to make progress, I need to know what the next action/decision is, and the one after that, and the one after that.
As K&P put it: "When you make a decision, do something. Don't just go somewhere or make another decision."
(That book is by Kernighan and Plauger, not K&R.)