Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life

by Stuart Diamond

I was about to get angry at the Amex customer service rep, since I was a longtime Amex customer. Then I stopped myself and thought about her day. “I’ll bet people scream at you all day long,” I said to her on the phone. “They do,” she said. “I’ll bet a lot of people threaten to cancel their card when they don’t get their miles,” I said. “Absolutely,” she said. “What do you do in such a case?” I said. “Well,” she said, “I just transfer them to the card cancellation department. I don’t have to take that garbage.” “Do you ever restore people’s miles when they have been late paying their bill?” I asked. “Sure,” she said. “When?” I asked. She said, “When they apologize, when they thank me, when they promise never to do it again, and when they are nice to me.” I said, “You know, I really apologize for being late on my account. I’d really thank you if you could restore the miles for me. I promise never to do it again. And I think you are a really nice person.” She laughed and said, “The miles are already back in your account.”