Back in the early 2010s, I called over a Rogers service technician to help fix a spotty internet connection at my house. Rogers is one of the two big internet providers in Canada (where I was living at the time).
Back then, I was a college student who loved tinkering with our home network setup and, as a consequence, had hacked together an unusual network configuration at home. It was a dual router setup where one router acted as an actual router (located in the basement), and the other had its routing functionality turned off--it acted as a wifi extender up on the top floor. Both were connected by an ethernet cable that went from the basement, to the outside of the house, and back into the top floor. It was a strange little setup but all our devices were on the top floor and I needed to get a stronger signal up there. This setup worked, at least most of the time.
Anyway, back to the technician.
Around noon, the guy shows up and I explain the situation: "the main line is in the basement and, from time to time, the internet drops out randomly. I can't figure out why."
He and I head downstairs and, as he gets situated, he starts talking about his last 20 years of experience in the IT business. He shared big-name companies from his past jobs, complex network topologies he's set up, and war stories from the field. Interlacing his stories with jokes and anecdotes, he was extremely friendly and easy to talk to--a natural storyteller.
After some time, he verified that the signal should be ok and the main line from outside was also coming in strong. I started to think that my odd network setup was probably the cause of the intermittent outages and so, as a last ditch plea, I asked if he would take a look (I couldn't stand another day of running down to the basement to fix the internet).
The technician, without any pomp or ceremony, agreed to take a look.
We spent the next hour walking up and down the house, troubleshooting my Frankenstein setup and, to spare you the details, we eventually fixed the underlying problem. But it's the next part I'll never forget.
Me: "Hey man, thanks for fixing my setup. You definitely know your stuff."
Rogers tech: "Of course, of course. That's what I'm here for. Now, Roger's standard rate for 1hr of work is $150 but if you pay me directly I'll give you my price of $75. That's half the price." (I’m making up the numbers. My memory isn’t that good).
Me: "Huh? I didn't know you charged extra for this.."
Rogers tech: "Oh yeah, technicians are only supposed to make sure the main line is working and that you're getting a solid connection into the house. Troubleshooting anything beyond that is considered additional services and we charge extra for that."
Me: "Dude, you could've just told me the prices upfront, I would've been ok with paying for it..."
Rogers tech: "Nope. If I did, you wouldn't have taken the help."
...
"Damn. He's right," I thought to myself.
Any tinkerer will tell you that it always feels like you're just one step away from figuring out the solution to a problem. If the tech opened with, "Rogers charges $150 per hour but I'll help you out for $75 flat" I instinctually thought I would've taken the deal. "50% off to finally fix the internet? Of course I would've taken the deal!" I (sensibly) thought to myself. But the truth is, I would've refused the help and instead convinced myself that I could figure it out on my own.
Despite all my rationality, this guy scored the sale and I was out 75 bucks.
I'll admit, what he did was a little scummy but, oddly enough, I was impressed that he was able to pull it off. 99 other technicians would’ve given me the straight sales pitch and I would've refused. This guy scored the sale, not by offering a cheaper price (what most rational people would do), but by understanding how I think.
That day, and many days since, I've learned that it's perfectly possible to be both rational and wrong.
Music that makes you go
I found this song a few months ago while on a soul-music binge.
Saturday morning. Brooklyn. On the way to the corner bagel spot to get that bacon, egg, and cheese. This song gives me those vibes.
A 50¢ word (aka words that say a lot with less)
Faustian (Faustian Bargain): “Faust" and the adjective "Faustian" imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success.
For Your Thoughts
“I am more human than rational.”
-Karen Essex, Stealing Athena
I feel this quote captures the essence of today’s post. I think rationality and intelligence have been fetishized in our modern era. Hopefully this post will convince you of the adage: “there are a 1000 different ways to be smart.”
Yours,
-Rahul
P.S. a reminder you can reply directly to oldmanrahul@substack.com, or you can tweet me @oldmanrahul about this edition. If you send it, I’ll read it.