I’ve seen this several times in movies, and a few times in books. Two characters are making a business deal, and one character says something along the lines of “let me write down a figure and you tell me what you think.” Then the guy jots down a number on his legal pad, and slides it over to the second guy. There’s usually a reaction shot where the second guy is either stunned or completely offended, and the negotiations go on from there.
So does this happen in the real world, and if so, why? Is it a fear that someone is spying on the transaction? In the movies, at least, they discuss every other unsavory detail “This is how much we’re prepared to pay you to keep quiet about the 10 tons of toxic waste our big bloodsucking company dumped in your backyard” so keeping only the price secret doesn’t have much purpose. Is it some tradition from the days where gentlemen didn’t discuss anything as crass as money? Is there a legal reason to have the offer written, which makes me wonder if a handwritten note on plain paper is admissible in court.
I’m no lawyer, but I am supposed to be a professional negotiator…trained on videotape etc. etc. I’ve done hundreds of business negotiations with dozens of nationalities and never has anyone been so theatrical as to do something like scratching a figure down on a piece of paper to show me. A fundamental of negotiations is that the contract merely documents the agreement arrived at by the parties, so what is said in negotiations can be very critical. Having said that, I can think of a couple of reasons for doing it:
To emphasize the confidentiality of the figure, so that no-one else present or eavesdropping can overhear such an important figure. Once it again, this is pure theatrics, because, no matter how you reveal the figure to the other side in a negotiation, you cannot expect the individual negotiator to keep that information confidential from his principals.
The negotiation has a good chance of ending up in the courtroom. You don’t want any confusion about the good old “offer-acceptance” fundamental. (If there’s an offer from one side and an acceptance from the other you have a deal.) You don’t want to bat a figure out, like say “well, my guys might be willing to go as high as $X IF…” and have the other side jump up and say “you’ve got a deal!” and walk away. Next thing you know he’s testifying in court that you offered him $X and he proceeded on that basis, and you are being asked on the witness stand if you offered $X, and you are testifying “Yes, but…” “NO MORE QUESTIONS.” The jury might be left with the impression that you admit to verbally offering that amount. Better if you can say “Well, I did write a figure down on a scrap of paper that we might consider if…” to emphasize it was not a clear offer.
Neither of these possibilities or considerations is enough to make me start this kind of theatrical negotiating. If I was negotiating with another party and they did the “write a number on a scrap of paper” thing I would put my guard up and assume I’m dealing with a bullshitter. Professional negotiators tend to be very careful with their wording. If I were to say “We would be prepared to offer you fifty million dollars if {list of conditions}”, I would be quite comfortable testifying in court later that it was purely a conditional offer and was subject to certain conditions being met, including the old standby “subject to the approval of corporate officers/the board of directors”.
Anyway, enough said. In my humble opinion it is an amateur, theatrical, bullshit, insulting negotiating tactic, pure Hollywood. Something a used car salesman might use scamming a mark. Having said that, I am open to, and will respect, other opinions from my fellow Dopers, particularly the lawyers.
I have always assumed it was done so there was no misunderstanding. It happened to me 2x that i can remember right now, 1 when buying a car the dealer wrote the final price down and showed it to me, 2 when negoiciating a rate for a certain job.
What I’ve seen often enough in business is that the person making an offer on paper will run through a brief calculation meant to show how they arrived at their final number.
The writing down part is generally intended to make the offer seem more “real”. Seeing a “number” is more concrete than simply discussing it.
Re being binding or enforcable in commercial transactions a “number” written on a piece of paper by itself is no more legally binding as an “offer” than an oral offer which is to say “not very” unless other concrete proof could buttress it.
I don’t know anything about business negotiations. However, I have a guess as to why they might do it in movies and books: to keep the figure a secret from the audience/reader. I’m guessing this because I’ve seen it done in other ways. In movies, the number itself will be whispered and inaudible. In books, the narrator will recount most of the negotiation verbatim, but when it comes to this, it will read something like, “He named a figure that I thought sounded good.”
Now, this begs the question, why would they want to keep it a secret from the audience? I dunno - maybe it’s so the piece doesn’t appear outdated 20 years later. I know I find it amusing when I see an old show where someone is buying a new car for $4000.
That’s what I always thought, to keep movies from becoming dated so quickly, or possibly to give the movie a wider ranging appeal - prices can vary quite a lot just within one country, and if you are hoping your film get’s shown outside your country…you don’t want your English or French audience wondering whether $10,000 is a lot or a good deal for a car.
Thanks for the replies. I didn’t even consider that it was supposed to be a secret from the audience, which works with about half the cases. In some scenes, the character reads the paper and blurts out “One million dollars! Are you kidding?” or somesuch.
I can also imagine beatle’s scenario, where the number is actually “X amount of dollars plus 5% interest, less fees to be no greater than blah blah blah, with payments of X amount to be made each year for five years.”
For some reason, it makes me happy that it seems this doesn’t happen very often in the real world, unless there seems to be a need for extreme clarification. I worry I would get nervous if someone started passing notes to me instead of telling me how much things cost.
It’s happened to me and to others in at least one place: car dealerships. It seems to be a standard part of the negotiations as far as I can tell. I assumed two reasons,
(1) No confusion.
(2) The anchor effect. Well known statistical psychological phenomenon. You tend to respond to his number, when your offer should be based on it’s own merits. When it’s written out so concretely, I think it would strengthen this human tendency. (Another example, I was on jury duty recently in a pain & suffering case. I came up with (out of my ass) a figure of $2,500. After I had done this, during closing arguments, the attorney asked for $12,000. Every juror responded to this number, with arguments like “Let’s give him what he asked for”, or “split the difference”. You can see why it’s in the attorney’s best interests to ask for lots and lots of money with Einstein’s like this on the jury.)