A script for when someone tells you "You're too expensive."

Since I paid for college by myself, I worked at the retail store "Express" during holiday breaks to make money for textbooks.

One day, an Indian man came into the store, inquiring about a women's long sleeve shirt. He asked my manager if she could "offer a better price." I was young enough to stand there slack jawed. I'm Indian too, but was born and raised in America. At 19 years old, I only knew to pay the listed price in a store.

She politely said, no.
"The price is the price."

He just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Much later, as I got out into the world, I learned that prices are negotiable in other countries. He was just acting with the tools he had available to him.

When I got into television as talent, I had an agent who did the negotiating for me.

It wasn't until I started my own business, that I truly had to master the art of negotiation---- for myself.

It wasn't the same Indian man, but some version of that person would land up on a sales call and I had no language with which to bat back. THIS is the moment I started collecting scripts and tucking them into my back pocket.

Now I'm sharing them with you.