| Monday, January 18, 2010 |
| The Art of Getting Things for Free |
My kids get a lot of free stuff. Ziggy and I took them to lunch at an old high school hangout of his on Saturday and the guy brought them half a pound of meat and cheese in addition to the sandwiches we had purchased for them.
It's normal for me to daily turn down cookie requests, and perhaps the reason juvenile diabetes, cups of whipped cream on their behalf.
I get it. They're cute. They like to talk to the people at Starbucks or the grocery store and Goose is pretty good at shaking down those who she thinks will give her even the crust of their sandwiches (gross, but it's happened...).
Ziggy can talk his way into anything. He doggedly pursues a price he wants and free stuff added onto that is icing on the cake for him. There's a reason that his work makes him collect fees and payments in addition to doing his regular job. He's also imposing, and like Shaq, he will back anyone down. The last time he called, he talked the cable people into a cheaper bill and adding on two extra premium channels plus a $50 gift card (and that was the third time he had talked them into a lower payment).
Them there's me. I'm not cute and I don't hold my ground enough to ever be imposing, but I can play dumb. The fine art of pleasantness, asking questions and playing dumb landed me with an $800 auto service bill (though his original estimate was $1500), my next service free, a free meal at a local Mexican food place and a free car wash.
And while I felt a tinge of guilt as the service manager gave a stern reprimanding to the employee who helped me out, I felt pretty elated as I walked past them, keys in hand to my sweet ride. |
posted by Lori @ 3:15 AM  |
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| About Me |
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Name: Lori
Home: Sacramento-ish, California, United States
About Me: I want to make things better.
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