when you call your reps to ask them to pretty please stop taking away your rights, remember:
In deep red areas you’re a republican who is thinking of voting for someone else if they don’t vote what you want on this specific bill because it impacts your republican ideals so very much
In swing states you’re an undecided voter who’s gonna go blue if they don’t vote how you like
remember to call because that way their phone is going off and their peers can hear it because their offices are close together (emails and letters don’t work like that), so it can rattle them if they get high volumes. remember that you gotta make them feel like they’re losing something.
Talking points I’ve been using in my blood red state:
“I’m a small business owner and [example: anti-drag bill] is making me lose money!” OR “[Anti-drag bill] is going to cost us millions in taxable sales” - If you talk about how it’s making you personally lose money and absolutely need to bullshit, you run a bar or do freelance photography. The intern they have on the other line does not have the resources or the know-how to check that.
“I’m concerned that [anti abortion bill] is the government infringing on my personal rights.” - Self explanatory.
“[Anti-gay bill] goes against family values in my church.” - They aren’t going to call your local Pentecostal chapter to fact check this. You don’t even need to be Pentecost, you just need to assert that you’re part of a community and a major voting bloc.
Remember: In smaller towns, literally every vote counts. And voters generally don’t call in, so your call can carry quite the advantage.
some of those ‘body positive’ people really are like ‘oh wow it’s so brave of you to exist with that ugly ass nose on you face! 🤗 like it takes so much confidence to exist for people who unfortunately look like you 😢❣️ but you’re an actual QUEEN 👑 and you should never be ashamed of how ugly you actually are ✊ honestly power to you for not letting society pressure you into removing all of these ugly features that you do have 😭❤️’
my bf picked up a the habit of shouting “GET SCARED” from another friend of ours as either a punchline or interjection. it’s really funny most of the time, until that time i was so baked i couldn’t speak and he told me to GET SCARED and i started screaming
This is what I tried to explain to US platforms like Patreon when they suspended my account for having a nude statue as the background image: I live in Europe, I can go and see a nude statue within a 5 minutes walk. Children can see them, they’re not in some 18+ container. I will never understand those policies.
For me, for these kinds of small person-to-person sales, the goal is to get a good deal but also leave the seller feeling like they didn’t get hosed, like they talked me into a deal. So there’s strategic reasons for this script, but it’s also honest. I’m not going to lie to the seller, and I’m not going to be rude.
I mostly use this on Marketplace. If someone lists something as a firm price, I’m not going to ask them to reduce it; if it’s been listed for a long time I may ask if they’re still firm on price, and if the answer is yes, I respect that. If it’s something awesome and it’s a good price, I don’t bother with this. Otherwise, here’s how it usually goes.
Availability: Still for sale?
Inquiry: I have a question about _____. (Size, color, function, etc. Not a question already answered in the description.)
Gratitude: Thank you for answering the question, that makes things clearer for me. This, and the inquiry, are about building rapport and investment in the conversation. They’ve put a little time into talking and they don’t want it to be wasted.
Reservation: I have a concern about why this may not work for me. (Indicating you’re on the fence on the sale, and they should move their price point to hook you.) This can be concerns about matching with other things you have, functionality, whatever.
Opening Offer: Your ideal, too-good-to-be-true price. For me this is often about a third below the listed price.
Answer: The seller either counters with another number, agrees to your opening offer, or says they’re firm on the listed price.
Counter or Close: If they’re firm on price, take it or leave it. If they countered, you can make another offer (typically somewhere around the halfway point between your two numbers) or accept the number they gave. You can continue making offers as long as you want but for most people it’ll be offer-counter-final offer.
Oh my god you can see him really acting natural with it, going where he wants, stopping and looking around, not confused or clumsy with it. they really gave this turtle a little mobility aid it took to.