86. The Walk Away Law
You never know the final price and terms until you get up and walk away.
You may negotiate back and forth, haggling over the various details of the deal for a long time, but you never really know the best deal you can get until you make it clear that you are prepared to walk out of the negotiation completely.
When I was living in Mexico, I would often barter and buy things in the markets and bazaars. I found that you could go back and forth for a long time but that you never really knew how far down in price the seller would go until you shrugged your shoulders, thanked him for his or her time, and walked away. Once I had to walk an entire city block, without turning and looking back, before the owner of the store broke ...
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