Ticketing

On Friday, I tried to buy tickets to a concert.

I played the game that we all know all to well. I sat online ready to purchase well before the release time. The tickets went on sale at 09:00, the time ticked over, I sat waiting for five minutes while the site dealt with the volume. I got in after five minutes, only to discover that there were zero pairs of seats available for the concert. The standing room tickets were sold out, and even the super expensive tickets that I can’t afford we’re gone.

I rolled the dice, and came up with nothing.

I wish someone would come up with a better system for this kind of thing. Currently, it’s based on random chance. There’s nothing I could have done to increase the likelihood of being let into the site when there were tickets available. This time I was unlucky, other times I’ve been lucky.

I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s not a good system.

That said, a system where one can pay more isn’t a good system either[1].

I wonder, has anyone come up with something better? Are ticketing companies trying to solve this problem? Are they incentivised to solve this problem?

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1. Arguably that already exists with the hugely expensive tickets that don’t sell as quickly.  ↩

This week's news - You're probably wrong!

In the last few weeks I've had some experiences where things worked out great for me because I was honest, up front and understanding with other people. It can sometimes be a really hard thing to do, especially when you get caught in the cognitive bias trap that just reinforces how you are right and the other person is wrong.

You're wrong

Most of the time, you're wrong. If someone is upset with you, then it's probably not because they're a moron, it's probably because you're wrong about something. That friend who won't let you borrow $5 to cover the rest of your overdue phone bill probably isn't being a Scrooge just because they feel like it. Maybe just last week someone you don't know borrowed money from them, and they're having trouble getting it back? Maybe it was you, and you don't even remember?

To you, the friend is wrong because of your situation with the phone bill. In that situation, it's easy to be blinded by the reasons the friend is wrong and not see any reason why you might be wrong.

Upfront

How do you make sure you're not blinded by cognitive bias?

Maybe you could spend all your time second guessing everything you do to make sure you aren't in the wrong.

Except that probably won't solve anything. You'll just be a quivering mess.

The thing is, it's okay to be wrong. It's also okay to think that someone else is more wrong than you and to justify your actions that way. It's okay if you just don't care if you're wrong.

In the situation I've described above, the friend could probably solve it by explaining their situation upfront. Or you could explain your situation up front and give them a chance to explain theirs.

Mostly, you just need to realise that you're probably wrong and make the most of times when you might be right.