If you don't ask you don't get

I walked into a book shop, which as per my standards is very posh, and was about to buy a book. All my life I used to think that this was a big book shop and it always sold things at marked price. I was almost ready to pay the money and buy it, when my friend jumped in and asked from the sales assistant whether he can get a discount on it. For a moment I felt odd specially since I had grown with a shyness to get NO for an answer. I had this feeling and asked him "dude do you ask for discounts even at super markets?", since that's the closest comparison I could make to this book store. To my surprise, she said she will check with her manager and then came back and said she can give a 40% discount on it!

He told me that its a simple rule, "If you don't ask you don't get" and there is nothing to loose in getting a No for an answer, but what counts at the end of the day is the YES you get. Now I had been observing this pattern everywhere, frequent travelers always tell me to ask for a complementary upgrade in planes, good negotiators tell me that ask what you want and then keep silent and let the other party do the talking, I over heard another expert explaining that when you ask out girls when you try ten, out of that seven might work but if you don't ask you don't get any :D So remember, if you ask you increase the chance of getting !