Financial Tales is a fascinating blog because it harnesses the power of storytelling to convey information that is usually purveyed as “tips” or “advice”. After reading just a few of these tales, I felt as though I learned more about finance than in the hours I spent digging through the millions of finance blogs out there.
I was particularly mesmerized by the “Taco Tale“, as I have a rather embarrassing history of incurring these overdraft fees. However, upon reading the article, I was reminded of two instances in which I realized for myself the power inherent in telling stories.
In one instance, I had, true to form, incurred about $250 in overdraft fees. While usually, these overdraft fees are my fault, this one time there was a misunderstanding about when a check would be deposited, and so I was spending money that I thought I had but didn’t. Regardless of the reason, the fact still stood that I was $250 in the hole with no way out until payday, which was over a week away. In a panic, I told my boss I’d be late to work, and I decided to go to the bank and straighten things out.
As I approached the bank, I had a sudden flash of inspiration. My usual strategy in removing overdraft fees was confronting bank tellers with the injustice of the system, etc., etc. It goes without saying that this tactic never works. Nobody wants to help out an angry person, least of all a self-righteous angry person. So I thought I’d approach the situation with a story.
The details of the story now are irrelevant to the story I want to impart. But basically I went in, shook hands with the teller, framed my current situation as a story–with a plot, characters, and all the usual trappings that a story entails–and voila! The lady graciously removed every single one of my fees.
Empowered by the magic of storytelling, I used a similar approach in removing a parking ticket I got the week before. I did the same exact thing. I calmly and humbly explained my situation to the parking official. And my $200 parking fee was reduced to $15.
Both of these situations demonstrated to me in tangible terms the value of telling stories. While storytelling can be useful in entertaining guests or, as is done here on Financial Tales, teaching important life lessons, spinning a tale is a very effective way of solving problems. It works because people love stories, and they respond to them. So next time you have any sort of problem, think about it in terms of a story. And then find the right person who needs to listen to that story, and go out there and tell it.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who writes on the topics of online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 @gmail.com.
