I hate living in Bucharest. Just when you are pushed to the brink of nervous breakdown by the combination of traffic chaos, filth and people’s rudeness, just when you are ready to catch the bus to Spain and join the ranks of the ‘capsunari’ (strawberry-pickers), well, just at that very moment, you come across yet another instance of the kind of absurd, senseless, yet hilarious and pitoresque event that makes you stay for more.

Take yesterday for instance. I go to check out a new gym, in desperate need of exercise too cool off the steam of living in this Armageddon-like city. I look at the price list, and see:

1 session – 27 RON
4 sessions – 90 RON
8 sessions – 190 RON

Hmmm… I scratch my head. Something doesn’t quite add up.

I ask the reception lady: ‘You realize that the price of 8 sessions is more than double that of 4.’

Blank stare.

I pursue: ‘my friend and I were going to buy 8 sessions each, but now that we see the prices, we are going to buy 2 packages of 4 sessions each. It’s cheaper this way. Get it?’

Another blank stare.

‘I strongly suggest you should change the price list so that it makes more sense.’

Smile.

After the work out, I look back at the price list. The price for 4 sessions has been changed, in pencil, from 90 RON to 95 RON.

Again, I can’t help myself: ‘If you would allow, I would make another suggestion. You want people to buy a bigger package, so that they pay more and you get a bigger revenue. A good way to this is by discounting the prices for bigger packages. For instance, you could make the price for 8 sessions slightly less than the double that for four. This way customers feel they are saving by buying more, and you get more business. Everybody’s happy.’

And this is how consulting was born.