My daughter just bargained for a new iPhone, which she told me runs $200. She has $120. For $40 she'd read any book, under 500 pages, of my choosing--except Shakespeare--and she would figure a way to earn the remaining balance. For $60 she would a read a Shakespeare play.
In the course of her negotiating she blurted that she'd read all of Proust's In Search of Lost Time in exchange for the entire $200. She thought I'd balk. Instead I said it was a delightful deal, should she care to shake on it. But first I informed her--I thought it only fair--that the first 50 pages (of some 3,000+) are of Marcel's memories of getting to sleep one night as a boy.
This compelled some serious reconsideration on her part.
She's reading Richard III.
Which she'll love! and I'm out 60 bucks.
I would have never succeeded as a union negotiator. I really stink at this.