Free Money

Part 1: The Strategy

After talking with Bill, my boyfriend and designated cameraman for this activity, we determined we'd stop by the popular movie theater near my family's house for Fourth of July. I chose this location because it would be busy on the holiday, customers walking in would be walking in with a purpose and likely on a little bit of a time rush, and I wouldn't look weird standing in front of a movie theater. Additionally, the large parking lot would give my cameraman a convenient place to park and film my interactions without being too obvious.

The Prediction

I'm sure I can give away all five bills, after all it's free money and I'm really good with strangers. I think I come across as kind of the harmless stranger.

Where: Movie Theater Entrance

Who: Individual Adults Heading Into Theater

I gave some thought about which movie customers to approach and determined I wanted to find these people to offer money to:

• Individuals (not people in groups), since I was giving away one dollar bill at a time; for example it would be weird to give a group of three people one dollar bill
• Walking INTO the movie theater, for the requirement of "interrupting" people
• I was going to look for adults in the age range older than teenagers but younger than "elderly" folks because kids are weird and I didn't want to make any older people nervous or confused, especially if they had hearing difficulties (I was thinking of my own grandmother in this case)

What: Just Because

I planned on starting conversations by saying "hello," "happy fourth of july," or "hello, I'm Christie," and then simply asking, "Can I give you a dollar?" My immediate reaction if this happened to me is to ask why, so I'd expect this of the strangers, and I'm going to tell them just because, no reason, no strings attached. We studied reciprocity as a principle of influence in our other course and the power of reciprocity is so strong people will shun free gifts just to avoid being indebted to someone else. I remember the example from the book was the Hari Krishna giving out "free" flowers in order to get a donation in return. I wanted to see how people reacted to being a dollar just because, and also because I'm a terrible liar I couldn't rely on myself to present an alternate reason. I know we needed a genuine reason, but my most believable genuine reason would be a "no reason, just because" reason.

Part 2: The Results

Everything is in place, and my first thought, standing there with dollar bills in my pocket is... "I changed my mind, I don't want to do this activity, I feel like a creeper," and sort of wishing I was invisible.

(youtube here)

Attempt 1: Young adult male, Success!

Me: "Hello."

Him: "" (nothing)

Me: "Happy fourth of July."

Him: (smiles) "Happy fourth of July."

Me: (presents dollar) "Can I give you a dollar?"

Him: (pauses/stops walking) "Why?"

Me: "Just because. I have my own reason, but for you, there's no reason, there's no strings attached."

Him: (cautiously) "OK..." (takes bill, starts walking away) "okay!" (nodding because this is cool)

Attempt 2: Bald, beefy older guy, Fail!

Me: "Hello!"(holding dollar bill)

Him: "" (nothing)

Me: "Can I give you a dollar bill?" (holds up dollar bill)

Him: (gives me wider berth) "No thanks" (keeps walking)

Me: "What? But it's free money!"

Him: (brief pause as he walks past) "Give it to someone who really needs it."

Attempt 3: Adult female employee, Success!

Me: "Hello!"

Her: (looks up surprised) "H-hello?" (stops)

Me: "Happy fourth of July, I'd like to give you a dollar."

Her: (looks surprised/confused, then smiles and takes dollar) "Oh, what a blessing! Thank you."

Attempt 4: Lady smoking and checking phone, Fail!

Me: "Hello! Can I give you a dollar?"
Her: "NO."
Me: "It's free money."
Her: "NO." (moves on, I am dismissed)

Attempt 5: Guy who walked faster when he saw me, Fail!

Him: (starts walking determined and not making eye contact as soon as I start his way)
Me: "'Scuse me, can I please give you a dollar?"
Him: "No." (walks faster/wider)
Me: "It's free money" (calling to his back as he keeps walking)

Part 3: Reflections

Whoa! I can't believe three out of five people turned down free money! Despite the warnings, I simply hadn't believed it would be hard at all give away the money. I was totally wrong! I didn't realized I'd really have to have a compelling reason for giving away money or it wouldn't work. If I redid this exercise, I'd go back and review the article about reciprocity and figure out how to get people to accept a gift, maybe saying "I need your help for a study, can you please use this dollar bill to pay for your ticket" or some reason at all.

   

I made a few wrong assumptions about the people I'd be interacting with. I thought getting their attention would be the hardest part, and in some ways it was if they didn't slow down their walk or really give me their attention, but this would have been resolved if I had a more compelling reason for interrupting them. I also made the right assumption that everyone's first reaction is "why?"  I also didn't realize how short the interactions are, looking back at the footage I have 5 seconds or less with people - way shorter than an elevator pitch! Whatever reason I come up with next time had better fit into that time window.

My boyfriend - the cameraman - was not surprised. He reminded me that we've seen a similar exercise when watching Brain Games, one of our favorite shows. Host Jason Silva had a similarly difficult time giving away free money, even after he left the money sitting unattended on a counter.

Brain Games "Free Money"

At least it's not just me, but it feels really different when I'm the one doing the activity instead of watching the show from our living room sofa!