I read an Atlantic article today titled, The Case for Wearing AirPods All the Time.”
The case, according to author Marina Koren, is that it keeps women safe — or at least a bit safer – from various sidewalk catcallers, escalator harassers, and assorted bus and subway pervs.
And you know what? I agree with Marina. And this is coming from one such sidewalk harasser.
As I’ve written before, I have previously had and continue to have the habit of occasionally stopping a girl on the street to tell her she looks nice.
Most of the time, the girl will say thank you and then continue on her way.
Sometimes, we get into a short conversation.
On occasion, it goes much further.
The thing is, it’s never stopped me if a girl has her headphones in. But I know other guys, who would like to do the same thing I do, for whom it’s a deal breaker. “She must be on the phone,” they say. “If only she’d take her headphones out, I’d go and talk to her.”
So yes, I definitely agree with Marina Koren. I encourage more girls to wear headphones all the time to discourage all those other guys.
The incredible thing, however, is that the girls who seem most unapproachable are actually “airpodding” it in.
Sure, they have those things in their ears to present a barrier to guys they don’t want to talk to. But once that barrier is overcome, many of those girls turn out to be very ready to stop and chat — and yes, even to a stranger on the street.
At least, that’s been my experience.
And I don’t think I’m completely crazy or so far down Harasser Lane that I’ve lost touch with reality.
In fact, I think this approach of “airpodding it in” is a common feature of human nature.
I remember listening to an interview with sales trainer Stan Billue who discovered that leads who seem most guarded, off-putting, and hostile to a sales pitch were that way because they were actually the best and easiest opportunities — if you could only get past their spiky exterior.
Maybe that’s something to keep in mind the next time you’re evaluating an opportunity, whether personal or financial. And maybe consider that the more repulsed you are by the difficulty of a situation, the better the situation might actually be.
You might even find that closing such opportunities is very simple. You might just have to say something like:
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