Why rich people haggle so fiercely with poor hawkers
Have you ever found yourself in the market with a "rich" person who seems to want to haggle more than necessary?
We've all been there!
I am reasonably confident that you've witnessed someone you know to be worth millions ruthlessly negotiating to buy a banana in slow-moving traffic and thought to yourself, "Ah! If I were ever this rich, I wouldn't spend these precious three minutes haggling with this poor hawker to save a meagre 200 Naira."
For most of my life, I never understood this ruthless haggling. I would see it everywhere with my relatives, friends and total strangers — especially those who were established businessmen and women. In fact, I didn't understand why it seemed like the better off someone is, the more intensely they seem to haggle with "helpless sellers".
I pondered this in my mind for a long time, and then it finally hit me. HABITS!
This ruthless haggling is not the product of cruelty or lack of empathy for people of lesser means but an extension of a habit required for success. In their quest for success, these people have grown to have a knack for negotiation.
Yes, what you see at the traffic light is a struggle for 200 naira, but it runs a lot deeper than that — it is the manifestation of a mindset to get the best possible deal. All the time. And it's not about the item or the amount involved. This habit has been so profoundly formed that it manifests everywhere — whether in the boardroom, the farmers' market or a PTA meeting. The high these people get from getting a better deal than everyone else is so strong that they don't know how to turn it off anymore!
So the energy you see for that two hundred naira advantage is probably the spillover of energy used to negotiate for an extra $2 million in a $500 million deal. Better still, think of it this way: their wealth and the edge they would have in negotiating for a 2 million dollar advantage is the compound interest of years and years of dealing for a 200 naira advantage.
So these days, when I see these ruthless rich hagglers, I don't think of them as cruel. Instead of thinking, "Ah! If I were ever this rich, I wouldn't spend time haggling with this poor hawker to save a meagre 200 Naira."
Instead, I think, "Ah! Perhaps if I negotiate so ruthlessly all the time, one day I will be rich too?" and I think you should too!