Favorite four-letter word

Recently I was talking with a friend about raising money for a good purpose, and she commented on how negative many people were when they were approached for a donation. It seemed that people dragged out 101 reasons for not donating, as if they needed an excuse for saying "No."

I was reminded of a story I heard more than 40 years ago about a man who was the worst typewriter (remember typewriters?) salesman in his company. He was about to be fired, although his manager didn't really want to give up on him.

His manager assigned him the Empire State Building, with these orders: "Ride the elevator to the top of the building. Knock on every door that doesn't say "Women" on it. Open the door, stick your head in, and say, "You don't want to buy any typewriters today, do you?"

If the secretary says, "No", thank her, close the door and go on. If she doesn't say "No", go in.

Now that has got to be the worst sales talk ever; right?

And so he followed his orders. And it didn't take long at all for him to become the best typewriter salesman!

Back to my friend and the money-raising. As she was relating her story about all the people who would likely say "No" to her cause, I interrupted and asked if she knew what my favorite four-letter word is.

If they aren't buying, you say to yourself, "N-E-X-T !!!" and move on.