The Ascendence Group

I wish I could take credit for what you are about to read, but I can’t. It comes from Robert Cialdini’s brilliant book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

If you are ever failing a class and need to break the bad news to Mom and Dad, send them this letter (if you’re a guy, you’re going to have to modify it just a bit):

Dear Mother and Dad:

Well, then, I am getting along pretty well now.  The skull fracture and the concussion I got when I jumped out the window of my dormitory when it caught fire shortly after my arrival here is pretty well healed now.  I only spent two weeks in the hospital and now I can see almost normally and only get those sick headaches once a day.  Fortunately, the fire in the dormitory, and my jump, was witnessed by an attendant at the gas station near the dorm, and he was the one who called the Fire Department and the ambulance.  He also visited me in the hospital and since I had nowhere to live because of the burntout dormitory, he was kind enough to invite me to share his apartment with him.  It’s really a basement room, but it’s kind of cute.  He is a very fine boy and we have fallen deeply in love and are planning to get married.  We haven’t got the exact date yet, but it will be before my pregnancy begins to show. …