How to Say No

Sparkler elpemmy may not be great at turning people down, but she's got plans to improve. —SparkNotes editors

Whether it’s sharing your sweets, letting someone copy your homework, or lending your shoes to a friend, there will always be an occasion when you'd just rather say, "NO!" But saying no is a difficult thing. Lucky for you, my three simple steps can help.

Step One: Determine how disappointed your “NO” recipient will be.
If the answer is a) unreasonably so, then proceed to Step Three.
If the answer is b) s/he’ll recover eventually. Proceed to Step Two.
If the answer is c) she has the most annoying whiny voice and OMG THEY WON’T SHUT UP AAARGH then RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. Seriously. People with annoying whiny voices are far too lazy to chase after you.

Step Two: Say "No."
It’s as simple as that. Tell him you can’t for <insert reason here>. You’re down to your last three sweets, or your homework is buried beneath piles of... err... sweet wrappers? In your locker. Something like that. Alternatively, you could pay someone to be your professional excuse-come-upperer.

Step Three: Shake your head silently and walk away.
This works especially well if your phone has some kind of fake call button, so that you pretend to take an important call. Or say “Not right now,” and conveniently forget later. Any evasive method like this is effective and won’t make you seem like a tightwad. If the person attempts to guilt trip you, don’t give in! Unless you want her to look to you for errands, favors, sweets, and sneaker-lending all the time, of course.

Do you have trouble saying no? What do you do?

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