How We Decide

Let me say that I'm no expert here, but I know enough to know that we're all different, and those differences have much more to do with our personalities than it has to do with our culture.

Billy's reader recently turned up this graphic. It was part of a post that tried to glorify the Chinese decision-making process and undermine that of the Americans.

I take issue with the labels, of course. But even more, I take issue with the idea that one of these ways is preferable to the other.

For example, what process do you think I used here?

Today, I went to the Farmer's Market. I had some coupons for $20 of free produce. Now, I'm used to a Farmer's Market that is just a bunch of tents of individuals. You pay cash to each individual person. I've never heard of coupons being used at these.

So, I supposed (hesitantly) that it must be an actual store, and perhaps I could use my credit card if I spent more than $20.

On my way, I almost turned around because I wondered if there would be anything left since the market was closing in 30 minutes. I thought things would be picked over, so I turned on a side street to head back home. But as I turned around, I thought that this farmers market might take their leftovers to another affiliated market in town that was open 7 days a week. So, maybe there'd be plenty of food left. And I would need produce this week, so maybe all the produce would be pretty fresh, since it's local, and it would be worth my time. I continued on my original course.

I arrived to find that it was a very normal Farmer's Market. This was completely outside my paradigm. I didn't understand how this would work. How do I use coupons when I pay individuals? Will they take my debit card? How likely are they to have a way to process that in their tents? Would they even take my check? What if I spent $5, could I get change back from my $4.00 increment coupons? What if multiple people were selling the same thing? Now, I'd have to travel back and forth from tent to tent comparing and evaluating.

But I didn't have a stroller. I expected a shopping cart, and now I weighed whether it would be too inconvenient to carry my daughter while balancing my re-usable shopping bags, my wallet, and my coupons. Or I could just make her walk, which would immensely hinder my progress as 18-months-olds are well known as "slow moving vehicles."

So, was this all worth it? After all, I'd already spent the gas that I was so concerned about wasting. Still, I just didn't know. What if I couldn't use my coupons? What if I spent the time to find what I wanted, filled my bags, juggled my daughter, and then found out my stuff wasn't accepted. I saw no tent that seemed "in charge" to check with ahead of time. I was concerned that the vendors would be annoyed to answer my questions when there were plenty of "paying" customers they were already helping.

So, I headed home without getting out of my car.

You can see that this decision-making process is not "A" to "B" (i.e. I must not be a very good American).

And can you also see that this "Chinese" decision-making process is not necessarily better than the "American" one? It can actually be pretty painful.

See, investigating all the options around a decision takes a long freakin' time. It brings up concerns that then have to be squelched. It often actually makes one scared to make the wrong decision. (Or even a less than perfect decision.)

So, I headed home, empty-handed, deciding that I just wasn't ready for this.

I came home feeling pretty lame, but better prepared for the next time I venture there. (And in the meantime, I'm going to call a contact number I found online and ask!)

Billy makes decisions more like an "American" (which is funny, cause his eyes are way more slanty than mine!).

If he had come along with me, he would have said, "We're here. We're gonna check it out. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But it might, and you can't win if you don't compete at all."

He decides solidly, without a lot of mental gymnastics, and he knows that it's okay for his decisions to be less than perfect.

While there are times to be cautious, 90% of the time, if the decision is in Billy's court, I feel pretty darn proud to be American.

How do you tend to make daily decisions? What about monumental ones?

Farmer's Market photo courtesy: empracht