Quote: (04-25-2017 11:43 AM)Merenguero Wrote:
I know tons of people who spend their whole lives trying to get things for free or at discounts. Every single one of them is a complete loser. I do see how you could have that mindset and be successful, but I don't know one person in that category.
This is true. I knew this one journalist (the mom of one of my friends) who, after getting fired from her newspaper, would still constantly go to wine tastings and other events and say, "I'm a reporter, so I'm allowed to get in for free." Then if the service at the place was too slow, she would stand up and yell across the room, "TODAY WOULD BE NICE!" I guess people tolerated her because they didn't want bad press, but they usually had an expression of, "What is wrong with this woman?" She lived in a really cramped apartment, full of junk she had gotten for free. She almost lost custody of her kid because she had hoarded so much stuff that he barely had any place to sleep.
I knew a dude in college who used to aggressively complain to various establishments about their service and try to get a refund or a replacement. His theory was, when the product is good, that's when you most want to complain about its quality, because they'll give you more of it as compensation. E.g., if you buy some soda and complain it's not fresh, they'll give you a coupon for a free six-pack of the same soda. So according to that theory, you want to target the businesses that have a passion for putting the best products in the marketplace, and whose managers have the most generous hearts and care the most about customer service, and are most inclined to give a complaining customer the benefit of the doubt, because it's easier to scam them.
He did end up getting his comeuppance when finally he pushed the envelope too far and a restaurant complained to his university and got him charged with harassment. )That by itself wouldn't have been enough to get him in trouble, but a girl on campus had also accused him of behaving in a creepy way toward her.) He had to drop out to evade disciplinary sanctions. Plus at one point, in all this wheeling and dealing he was doing, he got ripped off for $1,000 on eBay, but I think he just chalked that up to the game.
There was also a chick I used to date who at the end of pretty much every restaurant meal we went to, would ask to see a manager and then make some petty complaint about the meal in order to get a "110% guarantee" deal where they knocked 10% off the bill and then gave her a gift certificate for a free entree at the next meal. I don't even think they minded that much, because it kept us coming back.
Later, she tried that stunt at a fancier restaurant and the manager said, "Well, you complain about the food, but you ate everything." Pretty much every waiter at that restaurant couldn't stand her; we would be in the middle of a meal and she would ask, "Where's our waiter?" and the manager would say, "I'm going to be your waiter for the rest of this meal" because the waiter who had been serving us refused to deal with her anymore.
Later, she invited my mom to that same restaurant and at the end told her, "Well, you make more money, so I think you should pay." I was a broke college student at the time, so regrettably, I wasn't able to cover it either. I hadn't realized she was going to play that little gambit.
That chick constantly made an ass out of herself anywhere she went, and was an embarrassment to anyone who hung out with her, but damn was she good in bed on those occasions when she was willing to put out. I still eventually dumped her anyway, though.