I just trolled someone who was walking behind me into going into a random bike shop by opening the door for them. â¦
— Adam (@Parkzer) March 14, 2012
Yes, there is a typo in the second tweet – the “then” should say “they.” For those of you who don’t quite understand what I’m talking about, I’ll do a little bit of elaborating. I live in Madison, WI, USA, which is a highly-populated city — the second highest-populated in my state. In most cities of this density, there are usually lots of buildings and stores packed very close together, and there isn’t much open space like fields or parking lots. A lot of the stores near where I live have doors that lead directly out to the sidewalk, rather than a parking lot. Earlier today, I got off the bus at my local McDonalds to get some food, then started walking back to my apartment. About a quarter of my way back home, I noticed that there was someone walking directly and closely behind me. I kept walking another quarter of the way back home, and I saw that this person was still closely behind me, but wasn’t making a pass. I wasn’t sure if this person was doing this on purpose, or if I was being paranoid, but I decided to have a little fun with the situation. I was closely approaching a bike shop, so I gradually slowed my walking speed (and so did the person behind me). A few feet away from the door, I slightly adjusted my walking position so the front of my body was fully exposed and my arms weren’t covering my chest. When I was at the door, I reached for it with my left hand and opened it, pulled my right arm back behind me, shrunk my body down very slightly, and made direct eye contact with the person behind me. I smiled, tilted my head towards the door, said “go ahead,” tilted my head back upright, and made a slight nod. The person behind me looked slightly taken aback and said “thanks,” then walked into the store. After they were completely inside the store, I let go of the door and continued on my way. About five seconds later, I heard someone behind me saying “wait, what?!” in a bewildered voice. I didn’t look behind me, but one would assume that it was the man who I just trolled. In response to the people who have been asking me how I pulled this off, and saying that they would never fall for it, it all relates to the power of using subtle cues associated with persuasion, and the context of the situation. I’m not going to go into much detail because this is a very potent skill that is difficult to acquire and master, and I want to keep it that way, but I will say that the general underpinnings of why this worked is because the person behind me was overwhelmed by so many stimuli that I sent him concurrently and consecutively that he complied with my wishes without intending to do so. I will admit that I did get somewhat lucky for this to work, because some people are inherently resistant to such stimuli due to their nature and personality. For those who said that they were going to try it themselves, good luck, but don’t make a fool out of yourselves.⦠They thanked me and walked in, and I kept on walking down the street. Five seconds later, then came back out and said “wait what?!”
— Adam (@Parkzer) March 14, 2012