Book smart or street smart?

The car rental representative jumped to the driver’s side and started the SUV and the engine sprang to life. It sounded like a sleek sports car but looked like a mini tank. He reminded us that we could have the bigger car for no extra money, or we could have the smaller SUV two cars down.

The salesman had to run quickly back inside his office. We looked at the larger SUV, a Nissan Armada, and then back at the smaller one, a Ford Escape, and commented that it was nice of the salesman to give us a choice. Of course, we went with the bigger SUV.

We had decided to rent the SUV on a whim. We were headed to the beach for a week and figured we’d splurge on a car rental too, saving the wear and tear on our car. We figured we could use the bigger room to boot.

Oh, wait a minute! 

We were an hour into our trip, and it hit me, the rental company has probably had problems renting the bigger cars. They more than likely have a huge surplus of the larger SUVs. With gas prices in the Northeast, near the $5 mark, most car rental patrons in need of a car have probably been requesting smaller SUVs to save on gas money. Of course, the car salesman would offer us the larger size, better for them.

My wife and I laughed at our situation. We thought the guy was doing us a favor. Something tells me he wasn’t. 

I’m a smart person, but I still wish I was more street smart. If I was, I would have figured out a way to get an extra day or two out of the rental. I would have used the car salesman’s slick approach to get something more for us. 

Make it worth my while

For example, I would have stormed back into the rental car office and said, with the gas prices the way they’ve been, I’m doing you a favor. It’s a free rental, $100 off my next two rentals, or I’m out of here!

So, what did I do? I returned the car back at the end of the rental without a peep. I locked the car, put the keys in the overnight box, and went on my way. 

My Question

How do you become more street wise? I don’t think it’s a city or country thing. I’ve known people from both who had and didn’t have those skills. I don’t think it’s an intellect either. I think a big part of it is how you look at the world. Do you look to people to do the right thing? Or do you expect that people to always put themselves first? I don’t know, what do you think. So my question: Do you consider yourself street smart?