March 8, 2009 12:03am by Steve | 
The Consumerist just posted a story about how silly most people are in that they never bother to read contracts presented to them. Rather, they pretend like they are considering it for about 2 seconds and then they sign away.
You know what I say to that? DUH! You simply cannot function in the world if you don’t agree to average everyday contracts on a regular basis. It’s an unfortunate fact of life in our society.
No contract presented to you is ever in your favor. That’s the risk you take by engaging in living your life. What are you going to do… NOT install that software that you need? NOT rent that scooter for a ride along Waikiki? NOT get trained as an adult leader for your son’s Boy Scout pack? All of the contracts that go along with these activities will contain clauses that downright suck and are completely unfair. But you can either accept that or sit in your cave.
Don’t get me wrong though, if you are presented with a non-everyday contract, like when you are about to purchase a franchise… read that sucker and don’t sign until you are comfortable with everything in it!
Also, you should know that this is a two way street. You don’t have to accept a contract in whole. Feel free to cross out the sentences that you don’t like, write “not approved” next to them or whatever… and THEN sign. By the same token, the person requesting your signature will often completely overlook the fact that you’ve modified the everyday contract in your favor. Heck, you could probably even write “THIS CONTRACT IS NOT BINDING AND NOT APPROVED BY THE UNDERSIGNED” directly above where you sign your name.
Apply this technique liberally!
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I read all of the contracts I sign, and in many cases I negotiate them.
However, for things I don’t explicitly sign, like EULA I often breeze through them. They are often 90% the same boiler plate, so as long as you read it once you’re good.