[HN Gopher] McDonald's Theory on How Best to Rescue Conversations
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McDonald's Theory on How Best to Rescue Conversations
Author : omalya890
Score : 69 points
Date : 2021-01-13 20:37 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (karthrajan.medium.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (karthrajan.medium.com)
| cbanek wrote:
| For me, back when I used to have coworkers that I would see and
| eat with, we would have the default be tacobell, which was the
| closest lunchtime option, but terrible. It forced us to travel
| the town to other options, although I've also eaten too much taco
| bell!
| curiousllama wrote:
| Suggesting McDonalds is only half the insight - and contextual,
| anyway. Instead, give an arbitrary binary choice. "Would you like
| tacos or sushi?" will often elicit (1) a choice or (2) a third
| option ("I kind of want a burger"), which is now the default.
|
| A binary choice gets you to a default.
| Aerroon wrote:
| If you can't decide between two options then take out a coin.
| Heads you get a burger, tails you get tacos. Flip the coin. If
| you feel even a tinge of regret or disappointment over the
| result, then go with the other option. Being faced with a
| specific concrete option can make it easier to rank it compared
| to alternatives.
|
| I learned of this idea from a TED talk many years ago.
| scanny wrote:
| This was beautifully written
| bruceb wrote:
| "found the odds of Seinfeld were better than sports or weather as
| a hurdle breaker. The combination of a personal like for a cult
| classic..."
|
| This dinged the credibility. Not sure how mainstream show
| Seinfeld can be thought of as a cult classic. Unless this is
| thrown in there to spark conversation here on how he is wrong.
| snakeboy wrote:
| To be fair, it's obvious the author is a non-native speaker.
| It's totally reasonable to miss the subtlety that a "cult
| classic" usually implies that it's not mainstream. Google
| doesn't even make that obvious in it first result: "something,
| typically a film or book, that is popular or fashionable among
| a particular group or section of society."
|
| I don't really see how that hurts his credibility, since it's
| clear what happened and what the author meant. If your
| interpretation was that the author was trying to highlight his
| niche 90s sitcom tastes, then I think you were the one
| committing the communication error here.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| While mainstream at the time, it's been ~25 years. Stingy IP
| holders share some of the blame, although I hear the show is
| coming to Netflix soon.
| hulahoof wrote:
| All seasons are on Amazon prime! I love to put on Seinfeld as
| a background show
| jaden wrote:
| It's been on Hulu for a few years, just FYI.
| arghwhat wrote:
| Medium requiring an account to read. Ugh.
| dredmorbius wrote:
| https://pastebin.com/3zKwSc9W
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I don't see that in iOS Safari with Wipr.
| AnimalMuppet wrote:
| Not to me. (I'm running Firefox on Windows.)
| djrogers wrote:
| If I suggest McDonalds to my family, the wife and 3 kids will all
| say yes. Heck, if I suggest Popeye's, 3 of the 4 will still say
| McDonalds...
| tomjakubowski wrote:
| That's terrible, I'm so sorry. McDonalds over Popeyes? It hurts
| when family succumbs to such wild and crazy beliefs.
| m463 wrote:
| popeyes should give free toys to the kids inside their meal
| as a kickback.
| jolux wrote:
| That's criminal, I like McDonald's but Popeye's is brilliant.
| Scarce in New England though.
| Alupis wrote:
| It's not quite the same, but Bojangle's are all over the east
| coast: https://www.bojangles.com/
| coderintherye wrote:
| If you like this line of thinking, I would suggest reading "Games
| People Play" [1] (also can find the original research paper if
| you look around for it).
|
| Basic premise is how we fall into transactional games in social
| settings (talking about weather, sports, etc) and acknowledging
| that can help break out of that into more interesting
| conversation.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/Games-People-Play-Psychology-
| Relation...
| filoleg wrote:
| Just bought the book based off your recommendation, thanks a
| lot for that.
|
| I was curious to read something along the lines of thinking the
| OP was musing on, but couldn't phrase it in a way that would
| help me find it. And neither did i suspect that it was an
| actual thing people wrote about, as opposed to just me having
| some random thoughts and wishing someone wrote about those.
| Reading the description of that book makes me believe that you
| absolutely nailed it with that recommendation.
| joshuamcginnis wrote:
| I've been shocked by the old plastic slides at McDonalds so many
| times as a kid that I salivate whenever I hear the word.
| m463 wrote:
| I wonder if this is more effective if you slide before eating
| or after eating?
| automatoney wrote:
| This post is decently interesting and fun although I can't really
| understand where it's going? I see the connections between the
| ideas the author is making but overall the post feels rather
| meandering.
|
| Aside: I hate to be a grammarian but the paragraph with four em
| dashes across two sentences really did my head in. Generally I
| expect them to set off parentheticals and I had no clue if I was
| supposed to place the parentheses across the sentences.
| Mulpze15 wrote:
| >I can't really understand where it's going?
|
| Same here. That's why I find it interesting. Some half baked
| ideas that feel accurate and useful. No big theory about life.
| Perfect blog post.
| rustyminnow wrote:
| It meanders and I love it.
|
| The author mentions that he tends to take initiative even when
| ideas are only half baked, and you can see it in his post. It
| feels rough and loose, like the ideas haven't been polished to
| perfection yet. There is no grand claim here.
|
| I appreciate that all of the answers aren't served up on a
| silver platter and we're left to do with these theories what we
| will. It's raw and refreshing and I find it very engaging.
| sokoloff wrote:
| With many of my friend groups, suggesting McDonalds results in us
| eating at McDonalds.
| keithwhor wrote:
| That's because your friends are awesome.
| MeinBlutIstBlau wrote:
| People who turn their noses up at McDonald's were spoiled as
| kids
| stretchcat wrote:
| Funny, as a kid I felt the opposite. Getting to eat
| McDonalds, or fastfood at all, was a rare treat because it
| was expensive. On road trips, my parents packed cold soggy
| sandwiches for me and my brothers. These days though, I
| associate McDonalds with 'no other option' and don't care for
| the food at all (probably because I never developed much of a
| taste for it in the first place?)
| mod wrote:
| Especially right now. It's 2 for $5, including Big Macs.
| asdf333 wrote:
| i think there needs to be the threat that it might potentially
| end up being the option to spark the conversation.
|
| i sincerely would like to eat mcdonald's but since it's not
| considered a serious option, they just laugh and the stalemate
| continues
| pacamara619 wrote:
| Great read but I've learned nothing. The only think I took away
| from this is that I want to go to the maccas but it's closed so
| thanks for making me hungry I guess.
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