Tuesday, June 03, 2008
the art of negotiation
On Saturday, I went to Mayfield Park to take photos of a friend's family. Because of the way the day worked out, I need to bring J with me so that I could subsequently drop her off at a friend's house in Central Austin. The friend's mom was then driving the girls to a yoga retreat at Turning Stones Ranch. But even if all of the commuting stuff wasn't true, I was looking forward to taking J with me as an assistant. I needed someone to carry around my tote bag of props while I was chasing after kids with the camera.
At breakfast, I told J that if she was willing to work as my assistant, I would pay her, but she would have to work to earn her money. She wanted to know what she would have to do. I told her she would have to carry the bag of distractions and hand me things when I needed them. She briefly thought about it and said, "Ok. I'll do it. One dollar." I laughed and said that I had been willing to pay her $5. She quickly replied, "Ok. I'll take that." Meanwhile, T came around the corner having only heard part of the conversation and said, "I'll do it for $1.50." I'm not sure where he came up with that number, but I let him know that I'd just told J that I'd pay her $5. He agreed he would do it for $5, too. However, T had plans to go to a birthday party with B and Daddy-o, so he wasn't available to help me that day.
At the session, J was incredibly helpful. She carried the tote without complaining. She got out the correct props when requested. She moved out of the frame when I asked her to. She even backtracked and found a lost pet rock that was inducing many tears on the part of one little girl who had been separated from her nearest and dearest friend (whose acquaintance she had first made less than an hour before). J had an unusually cheery disposition through it all. As we were getting ready to leave, J asked me if she had earned her money. She certainly had. Then she requested her pay on the spot. Smart worker not to take an IOU from an untrustworthy employer. I don't carry cash on me and haven't for years, so I told her she'd have to wait until we got home to Daddy-o.
T and B are now requesting turns being my assistants. I'm much less hopeful about how useful either of them will be as an assistant, but they'll each get a turn eventually, and maybe they'll even turn out to be as stellar as J was.
At breakfast, I told J that if she was willing to work as my assistant, I would pay her, but she would have to work to earn her money. She wanted to know what she would have to do. I told her she would have to carry the bag of distractions and hand me things when I needed them. She briefly thought about it and said, "Ok. I'll do it. One dollar." I laughed and said that I had been willing to pay her $5. She quickly replied, "Ok. I'll take that." Meanwhile, T came around the corner having only heard part of the conversation and said, "I'll do it for $1.50." I'm not sure where he came up with that number, but I let him know that I'd just told J that I'd pay her $5. He agreed he would do it for $5, too. However, T had plans to go to a birthday party with B and Daddy-o, so he wasn't available to help me that day.
At the session, J was incredibly helpful. She carried the tote without complaining. She got out the correct props when requested. She moved out of the frame when I asked her to. She even backtracked and found a lost pet rock that was inducing many tears on the part of one little girl who had been separated from her nearest and dearest friend (whose acquaintance she had first made less than an hour before). J had an unusually cheery disposition through it all. As we were getting ready to leave, J asked me if she had earned her money. She certainly had. Then she requested her pay on the spot. Smart worker not to take an IOU from an untrustworthy employer. I don't carry cash on me and haven't for years, so I told her she'd have to wait until we got home to Daddy-o.
T and B are now requesting turns being my assistants. I'm much less hopeful about how useful either of them will be as an assistant, but they'll each get a turn eventually, and maybe they'll even turn out to be as stellar as J was.
Labels: in Austin, kid sayings
# posted by Elizabeth @ 7:10 PM 
