How Asking For Free Pizza Helped Me Negotiate More Money At Work
A few years ago, I started asking for free pizza whenever I purchased a couple of slices from a pizza shop. It all started at my local pizza shop near my NYC apartment. Actually, it started because I was extra hungry one night and I wanted additional slices. But I soon realized how asking for free pizza allowed me to embolden myself, and has since become my negotiation practice tool.
Asking for free pizza may seem silly, but give it a shot. You will be surprised at how uncomfortable you feel. After all, you did nothing to earn the pizza, and it’s crazy to ask for free food at an establishment. It’s really difficult to ask for free pizza with confidence, without backing down. It may seem easy, but pause for a moment and imagine yourself doing it. You’re likely to blush, giggle, turn red, mumble, or maybe never muster up the courage to ask for the free slice. You may feel that you are asking for something you don’t deserve, which makes you uncomfortable.
If you think about negotiating a salary for a job, do you feel uncomfortable? Maybe later in one’s career it’s easier to negotiate with confidence, but surely someone with no prior work experience can’t negotiate for more money, right? Wrong. Women especially need to negotiate, any chance we get. Linda Babcock, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, tells her students,
by not negotiating from the beginning, they miss out on $1 million over the course of their careers.
Negotiation can be intimidating, but you need to think to yourself that men are asking for more money much more than women are. It’s time that we collectively asked for what we’re worth.
If negotiating can earn you so much additional money, shouldn’t you practice your negotiation skills? If you are an athlete, dancer, musician, or actor, you understand that importance of practice. We practice in a low stakes scenario so that we can perform our best during a high pressure one. During practice, you get to hone the skills that work for you and make mistakes without fear. Then, you get to apply your new skills to a game or performance. This is where asking for free pizza comes into play.
The pizza shop is your negotiation practice zone. Negotiating can make you feel unconfident, uneasy, even fraudulent. But you need to ask for that extra slice. The ‘extra slice’ can be different things for different people. For me, it’s a salary raise, but it can be a flexible schedule, an employer paying for continued education, extra vacation days, and more.
When you ask for free pizza, one of two things will happen. You’ll either get the pizza, or you won’t. Getting the free pizza will boost your confidence, because it shows you how important asking is. I get free pizza all the time, and I did nothing to deserve it--simply asking gets me what I want. That gives me confidence for when I negotiate at work, because I know I’m negotiating for something I deserve. If the person you order from doesn’t give you free pizza, ask again! Ask if they’re sure you can’t have just one slice. “What about the veggie pizza? There are always leftover slices.” If they still say no, ask for garlic knots instead. Garlic knots are a smaller ask, so they may be more likely to give you the garlic knots after you’ve made the ask for pizza (a larger ask). Go for it, this is negotiation practice!
If the answer is still no, you’ve learned something important. You are no worse off than you were before. You will still get to keep the pizza slices you paid for. The person taking your order may give you a funny look, but that’s the worst of it. You won’t be banned from the shop or turned into a viral meme. Your world will not shatter if you hear ‘no.’ Getting rejected shows you that the downside isn’t actually so bad. Translated to a work situation, if your ask is rejected, you won’t be fired and your offer won’t be rescinded--things will simply remain the same. I have made asks at work that were turned down, but I wouldn’t have had the confidence to ask in the first place if I didn’t practice hearing ‘no.’
Asking for free pizza forces you to become friends with the uncomfortable feeling you get when you ask for more. By having the courage to ask for pizza, you will build up your confidence to ask for something when the stakes are higher. The Pizza Principle has helped me successfully negotiate my salary on four occasions. It has taught me that if I am told no, I am no worse off than I was before. Given the number of women who currently aren’t negotiating, this tool is especially necessary. I want women to ask for what they want, unapologetically. Whether you are negotiating a salary for an entry level job or a C-level job, don’t be afraid to negotiate. Don’t be afraid to ask for more. You can get that extra slice.