social creativity

Creativity can be a useful tool in navigating different social situations. I was on a mission to change some of residence life's policies and talked to two different staff members about it. Residence Life has a policy in which all students, except the freshman, are allowed to move rooms anytime during the semester and can even move the same day they talk to residence life about switching rooms. An individual with a double room does not have the right to tell Residence Life that they do not want a specific person to have the other half of their room. My goal was to have Residence Life change the policy to say that they will make a judgement call on not having someone move into the room if they deem the situation extreme enough to warrant this. The first one was direct with me and explicitly stated that the policy was not going to change because it was effective in 99% of cases and has only had a small handful of people ever come in and immediately complain that they cannot live with the specific person who has moved in with them. Being told directly that nothing was going to change did not sit well with me and I kept trying to argue my case further to the point that I was repeating myself and she eventually told me that she was not going to continue having that argument with me and basically kicked me out of her office. Next, I made an appointment with the person a step higher on the ladder in Residence Life to talk about the same issue. When I talked to him he let me completely get out my entire argument and said that I made some good points and that although it was too late to change anything for this semester it would be considered for the policies for next year. Furthermore, he complimented me on taking the initiative to help other students even though I am a senior and that the issue would no longer affect me. I believe that the strategy of the second higher up staff member to be a lot more creative. He made me feel listened to by hearing out everything I had to say before his input. Next, he seemed to realise that I was looking for my suggestion for change to at least be under consideration before I would leave the meeting. I think he was trying to tell me what I wanted to hear without go so far as to make a promise he could not keep. He very strategically toed that line with me. In the end I did not end up staying with him very long or really arguing with him. This was creative in that it was useful for him to reach his goal of getting me out without so much of a fuss by having me feel heard and respected.