The Vortex: The Final Post

This post I’ll be talking about how my manipulation attempts went, new developments within the vortex, and a closing interview with the residents.

How did my manipulations go?

I decided not to even try to be sneaky about my intentions of changing our beverage consumption in the house because a. I am not good at being subtle and b. my roommates know how to find this blog. Instead, I blatantly sold them on why my preferences were better. I tried to demonstrate value with the Value Selling technique by Julie Thomas (2006).

Example convo:
Rachel: I want a fun drink to make doing homework better.
Me: Yum. What kind of drink do you want?
Rachel: I want something fizzy and tasty and low carb/calorie that has caffeine in it but we only have La Croix.
Me: Zevia is the tastiest 0 calorie pop and the Dr. Zevia flavor has caffeine in it. I’m going to Meijer tomorrow to buy some do you want me to get a 6-pack for you too?
Rachel: YES I WOULD LOVE THAT. I will venmo you.

I heard her problems, offered a solution, explained how that solution provided value, and closed; this was my simplified version of Value Selling. And it worked! But only on Rachel, unfortunately, and my other roommates are still La Croix chicks.

Me when I drink La Croix vs me when I drink Zevia

As for cider, my attempts to convert these beer lovers were wholly unsuccessful. I tried to advocate its superiority from many different positions: fewer calories, lower carbs, better taste, a more seasonal choice. Alas, no success. I believe this happened because cider does not provide the same value as their beer choices do. When choosing to drink beer, my roommates choose craft beer if they want experiential value (Gupta, 2014). They enjoy the emotional connection to a nice beer that emphasizes their self-concept of being a chill girl with good taste (Angell, 2017a). When they are focusing on economic value, they buy a 40 of Steel Reserve from Sgt. Pepper’s for a couple of dollars (even though it tastes pretty bad, according to this review and probably anyone with tastebuds). The goal in this purchase is to get drunk off beer for the lowest price. The value of beer is unmatched by cider in these realms.

Our fridge shelf with FOUR DIFFERENT bottles of craft beer. It feels like a slap in the face. But it is right next to Zevia, which softens the blow a bit.

As for the Strawberry Lemonade Svedka, as soon as the last bottle was consumed, it disappeared and has not returned. However, the new go-to seems to be plain Svedka which I still argue is a subpar choice. For a change in habits to be successful, one must believe in the change (Angell, 2017b). So far, my roommates believe that Strawberry Lemonade Svedka is gross, but do not believe that Three Olives is worth the extra $3. A future project to work on, I suppose.

So, how is everything else going?

We are severely succumbing to seasonal influence (Angell, 2017c). We are celebrating Friendsgiving next week and planning to buy a Christmas tree afterwards. Let’s see how many passive aggressive comments are made about the dirty kitchen and how many times we can set off the fire alarm in the process.

The Vortex was professionally cleaned! I believe the reemergence of fruit flies in our house last week acted as a situational influence and breaking point for Mado to finally reach out to a cleaning service (Angell, 2017c). Don’t worry, it is still falling apart.

We also finally had a group outing, uniting members of the basement with members of the attic. This also lead to our first collective house hangover in our freshly cleaned home.
  

It has been a wild ride, and now is the time for a closing interview with the residents.

I asked each member, “Can you describe your Vortex experience so far in 15 words or less?” Their responses are below;

Claire E: I love being home, but it’s really damp and I need help moving cars

Mado: A ? [sic] live in a sauna of toilet water

Claire B: A complete clusterfuck of stupidity, dirty dishes, ridiculousness, and dysfunction for better or for worse.

Roxy: Weird place with funky chicks and a never-ending pile of dirty dishes

Nicole: a group of girls just trying to figure out how to be fake homeowners

Rachel: Lurking in the attic, never walking barefoot, secretly throwing away everything, low voltage microwave

Taylor: The Vortex life so far has been comical, dirty, reckless, unpredictable, and nothing short of amazing (16 words)

That’s all folks,

Xoxo The Vortex

References

Angell, A. (2017, September 20). Chapter 6: Personalities, Lifestyle, and Self Concept. Lecture presented in Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Angell, A. (2017, October 25). Power of Habit. Lecture presented in Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Angell, A. (2017, November 13). Chapter 11 Consumers in Situations. Lecture presented in Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Gupta, S. (2014). Marketing Reading: Creating Customer Value. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Retrieved October 3, 2017.

Thomas, J. (2006). ValueSelling . Retrieved November 15, 2017.

Gif via https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/wiltedbewitchedeasteuropeanshepherd

Snapchat via Mado Glew 

All other photo and video my own content