Nov 12, 2009

"There's no such thing as a free lunch.:--Milton Friedman (maybe). Ever think about the ways in which we try to get a free lunch, or at least a metaphorical free lunch? I know people who have attended high-pressure sales pitches for timeshares in order to get some free stuff. Three hours in hell for a few bucks, go figure. Not to mention that about half the people I've ever known who attended one of these things, wind up buying one and most of them find out that they now own a small slice of hell. How about the millions of people who line up at the crack of God-knows-when Thanksgiving night to get a crack at a stinking bargain television or something else? Would you wait all night in the cold for the right to by some consumer electronics cheap? It's the cheapest man who spends the most--An old mechanic's saying. My friend, Some Guy Named Bob, took advantage of Applebees offer of a free meal to veterans of the US armed services yesterday. He waited an hour and a half to be seated, so I have to question the idea of a free meal in this case. I don't mean to be cynical about this honor the veterans stuff, but if the line of folks waiting to take advantage was that long, I have to think that Applebees made out on the friends and family that accompanied the veterans. Some Guy Named Bob proudly served in US Army for 17 years, including three tours in Vietnam. I admire Some Guy Named Bob for his commitment to country. It is wildly popular these days to think that all war is misguided and unjust. Tragic is a better description. But it is also tragic that despots and madmen would squash our rights in a heartbeat, too. Even in his retirement Some Guy Named Bob is committed to making positive change in life. He devotes a lot of his time and energy toward helping disadvantaged boys and girls. Some Guy Named Bob is quite a guy, even if I bitch about his million annoying habits. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky

9 comments:

Ronda Laveen said...

Nice tribute to veterans and Some Guy Named Bob. Nice mistrust of Applebee's motives.

Kurt said...

In situations where there is an opportunity to save $10 or $20 by waiting in a long line, I am quick to realize that I would gladly PAY $10 or $20 not to have to wait in a long line.

Barbara said...

I wouldn't wait in line 5 minutes to eat at Applebees even if it was a free lunch.

I'm embarrassed to say when we visited Kauai many years ago we did go to one of those time share spiels for which we got tickets to a luau. And yes, we took the bait and bought something, only to get home and realize what fools we were. So we ditched it during the first 30 days, as was allowed in the fine print. The irony is they tried to refund our money twice (not the brightest people working in that business), but that finally got sorted out. The food at the luau wasn't even very good, but it turned out to be completely free. Live and learn...

Unknown said...

We sat through a time share spiel once because the prize was really good and we were younger and broke. It was easy to say no because we could barely feed ourselves. We got our certificates for our prize, put them in bottom of the baby stroller, and walked back to the car. By the time we got back, the certificates had disappeared. We never found them.

My favorite salesman line of the day was, "If you consider camping a good enough vacation for your family then I guess there's nothing anyone can do for you."

Steve Reed said...

No timesharing here! Many people think of time as a valueless commodity, which I don't really understand. (Of course, now that I'm about to have a lot of it on my hands, maybe I'll reconsider.)

Coffee Messiah said...

I was once told, nothing is free.

and believed them...........

Bella Rum said...

I don't do lines. I become mean and nasty.

I salute Some Guy Named Bob.

Reya Mellicker said...

Some Guy Named Bob is definitely a good guy. He's a friend of yours, right? That's all I need to know.

Megan said...

TANSTAAFL is one of my mottoes.