I noticed awhile back that when I am not in a good mood (unfortunately, it happens) and ask people for something, I get it a lot faster than when I am in a good mood.  Similarly, people do not say no to me when I am in a bad mood, whereas when I am in a good mood, people seem to have a lot more excuses to avoid doing anything.

Intriguing, is it not?

The more intriguing question is why? I have the impression that this phenomenon is related to a couple of things, including:

• Sympathy: when one who is usually in a good mood is not doing so well, others might want to contribute to that person’s well-being by giving them the gift of going above and beyond.

• A warped definition of power: typically, people in power are portrayed as in a perpetual foul mood. When someone is in a bad mood, one can’t help but associate, be it subconsciously, one’s colleague to a person in a position of power, to whom we never say no to.

• Fear of confrontation: if we say no to a person in a foul mood, there is an increased chance that we will be confronted with a not-very-happy retort.

Whatever the reason may be, this phenomena does not have its place in modern-day society. It is sad that some people are often said no to, until, not receiving the support from our colleagues that we are supposed to get, our mood turns sour. Only then do we get some portion of the help we were meant to get in the first place – but at what cost?