If you Don’t Ask, the Answer Will Always be No!

"If you don’t ask, the answer will always be No!"

This advice has worked in my favour on numerous occasions, including this week.

There I was, hopping on the train, making an hour’s journey into Central London, just to spend the day working in a cathedral-turned-café (my favourite place to work).

Upon arrival, I sat down and began emptying my bag—my laptop, my notepad, and a pen… Only to realise I forgot to pack one very crucial thing: my laptop charger…

What good is a laptop without its charger?

I was frustrated. With only an hour of battery life remaining on the laptop, my day at the cathedral-turned-café was about to be cut short. Very short.

Then panic sets in. Meetings now need to be rescheduled, and I'll need to spend another hour getting home early, mindful that I've essentially wasted an entire morning.

After a minute, I asked myself, ‘What if this café had a spare charger for me to use?" There was perhaps only a 0.01% chance that someone here would have the exact same charger I needed in a place like this.

Then those words played back in my mind once again: "If you don’t ask, the answer will always be No!"

I took up that advice.

I spotted the barista only a few feet away from where I was sitting. While trying to hide my embarrassment, I asked him for the exact charger I needed.

He gave me a raised eyebrow and made his way towards a storage cupboard. I got a good glimpse of everything in there. And there I saw it—the only charger sitting on the shelves. It was the exact charger I needed.

With a small grin on his face, the barrister handed me the charger for me to borrow. In return for this small gesture, I offered to buy him a coffee of his choice.

My day continued as initially planned. No rescheduled meetings. No early trip back home. Panic over.

All thanks to those small, simple words of advice.

"If you don’t ask, the answer will always be No!"