Gas Pumps and Failed Negotiations

After about three years in the restaurant business I decided to try my hand at a gas station.

If first you give what the other party wants, they are often very happy to return the favor.

I worked hard again at my new job, and quickly became a favorite of the owner. I was pleasant and tried hard to do more than what was expected. Because of this, the owner and I had a very good working relationship. I would often tell her what my schedule was like, and she would put me in for whichever hours I wanted. The rest of the staff often got the shifts I did not take. She did not mind letting me have more than others and she was not concerned with being “fair”. She rewarded my hard work , by allowing me to work as many hours as she was legally allowed to let me. When I was in my last year of high school I only had afternoon classes. She even changed the shift starting times to suit my needs AND drove me to school at the end of my shift. I am very grateful to have had her as an employer.

Failed Attempt at Negotiating A Raise

I did this job for a few years and one day decided, that I deserved to be paid more based on the amount I was earning for the owner. So when the owner was in her office counting her money, I marched in there and attacked. “I deserve a raise because….” I said.

She was no push over let me tell you. She returned some demands of her own, like that I should leave now and go back to work. But she also let me in on another lesson.

I am paraphrasing what I remember her saying “ I will not give you a raise if you put it like that. However if you can prove to me why you deserve a raise, I might consider it in the future.” So I left, realizing that I had just tried to demand a raise the same way bank robbers do. I was embarrassed and suddenly aware that I was lucky to still have a job. Although she had taught me a valuable lesson in negotiating without really intending. I realized that before I went in to talk to her, she was probably trying to solve some real problems about supplies or money. She was an owner who had many concerns of her own to deal with and could not really care what I wanted or demanded.

Thanks To The Do-Over, I Successfully Negotiated A Raise

If I could some how show her how giving me a raise was going to solve the problems she was concerned with.

But how could I tie my wants to hers?

So I started writing. I wrote all the things that were expected of the person who she would have hired. I tried to imagine all the things that she would be concerned with and labeled what I did that helped her solve them. I wrote down how my efforts could save her money , and bring in more customers. I never gave her any ultimatums or threatened in any way. In fact I never even brought up what I had planned to do if I did not get the raise. With all my prep work ready, and after a few weeks when I knew we were friendly again, I inquired about the raise.

She was impressed that I had returned with a business case and I got the raise. I now had the highest hourly wage of the staff except for the manager.