It Never Hurts to Ask
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that it never hurts to ask. I’ve had job offers in the past and have always gone back and ask for more money and vacation time. I’ve always gotten something by asking; either more money or vacation time or both.
Years ago after being offered a job, I told the recruiter to go back and ask for more money and an extra week vacation. He laughed at me and told me most likely the company wouldn’t offer any more money or the additional vacation. I told me to ask because it wouldn’t hurt anything. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no. He did and they gave more money and the extra week vacation to my recruiter’s surprise.
When I was a single young man on the prowl, I would get very upset at myself for not asking a woman for her phone number. I would meet an attractive woman, think about asking for the phone number, but then decide not to because I didn’t think she would give it me for whatever reason. The problem is I would always then wonder if I should have asked. I then realized I would rather ask and be shot down than not ask at all which would cause me to wonder what would have happened. I soon learned that it’s best to try and fail, than not try at all. Taking this new approach proved my gut feel was right most of the time where I wouldn’t get the phone number, but every once in awhile I’d get a surprise where I would get the phone number. 
The reason why I thought of writing this post is because my home modem has been acting funny lately and causing a lot of noise on my phone line. I called AT&T to get some help. The representative told me it’s either my modem or the DSL filter on the phone lines. I told him I swapped the modem filter with a filter that wasn’t being used and the line was still noisy. He recommended changing the modem; however, I’d have to purchase one for $40. I told him I’ve been a customer for a long time and I would like a free modem. He stated he couldn’t give me a free modem. I then asked to speak to his supervisor. He then stated I’d have to speak to Customer Relations. I said Ok!
He transferred me to the Customer Relations representative and I explained the problem. She immediately said, “Mr. Birmingham, we’ll overnight a new modem to you at no cost!” It was that simple. It just never hurts to ask.
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11:14 pm on December 5th, 2009
[...] July I wrote a post about how I’ve learned over the years that “It Never Hurts to Ask“. Here is another example I experienced yesterday. [...]