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8 Nov

What’s with all the Discounts and Free Stuff ?

Posted November 8, 2010 by timabraun in Body and Soul, dreams, Faith, goals, Lifestyle, Mind, My Life, Personal development, Random Thoughts, relationships, Story time.

Old and new Diet Coke cans.

Image via Wikipedia

It’s funny how the Universe works,  a few months back I made up my mind to eliminate as much negative input from my life as possible.  I stopped listening to talk radio, network and cable news, stopped reading the newspaper unless there was an uplifting, positive story and I decided to look for the good in everything I did everyday, no matter what.   In addition, to losing the 40 extra pounds I had piled on over the past few years, great opportunities starting coming my way and most importantly I saw possibilities where before I just saw obstacles.  Overall my life is starting to feel like it did for the first 47 years before I created all the challenge and crisis of the past few years but there is something much different this time around and I think it is because I have taken such massive action and have truly been able to let go of my ego and try to fill everything I do with love.

So beyond all the cool opportunities and overall just better well being I am feeling these days, something very strange but wonderful has started happening.  All of sudden no matter where I go, I am getting unexpected discounts and even stuff handed to me for free.   I am not sure what is behind this, at first I thought people figured I was old and they were just being nice and giving me a senior discount, but with all the weight I have lost nobody thinks I look old enough to qualify for a Senior Citizen discount,  I know AARP has lowered their age requirement to 50 but most everyone else doesn’t offer a senior discount unless your 65 and even at that I think you have to ask for it.  No, in my case I have just been totally shocked by this sudden and interesting development in my life.

Let’s begin with the discount at Taco Bell.  With my incredibly busy schedule, I end up eating on the run a lot and because I am trying to get in as good a shape as I was in College, I am trying to eat healthy and lose weight.   So one of the things I have done is followed the Drive-Thru diet at Taco Bell (really they have a low fat, low calorie menu that is delicious), you can get the drive-thru diet when you eat inside as well.  One of my favorite things to do is trying to put a smile on the face of just about everybody I come in contact with, especially those working in jobs that aren’t traditionally fun.  So I first noticed the unexpected discounts at Taco Bell, every time I would go into this one Taco Bell I always made it a point to joke with the person taking my order about the drive-thru diet and always found a way to compliment the person at the same time.  The manager at this Taco Bell always would come up to the register and smile and tell me to have a great day.  So after doing this a few times, all of sudden I noticed that when ever I came into the restaurant, the manager would come to the front and open another register and tell me he could take care of me at his register.  I noticed that the food I had been paying $3.94 for suddenly dropped to $2.50, first I looked at the menu to see if there was a price change but there wasn’t then I looked at the receipt and their it was “SR Discount”, which I assumed meant Senior Discount.  Whatever it means, I am enjoying saving money and the incredible service being offered me.

So it gets even better, the other day when I was working at the Mall of America, I was standing in a long line at a Pretzel stand just to get a diet coke.  The line was very long and the Father and Son who were working at the Pretzel stand were a bit overwhelmed with the line and the attitude of the people in line.  They were handling it as best they could but I saw an opportunity to help out  so I started talking to everyone in line around me that had become impatient with the wait, I told them that the reason the line was so long was that this was the greatest pretzel stand on the planet and if they wanted to give up their place in line there were hundreds of people I could call on my cell phone that would be willing to wait all day for a chance to get one of these pretzels.  I said some other stuff as well, but the bottom line is that this line of angry and impatient customers started laughing and enjoying the line  and now seemed like they could wait forever, it was fun and it made the whole experience of waiting in line an adventure.  When it was my turn to order my Diet Coke,  the Father who most likely also owned the stand took my order, when he came back with the Diet Coke, I tried to hand him the money I had ready and he said “I should be paying you, the Coke’s on me, would you like a free pretzel to go with your Diet Coke ?”.  I walked away  amazed at what had just happened,  I don’t know if I have developed a new technique to get free stuff and discounts or not but what I do know is that the discounts and free stuff just keep piling up and whether it’s because I am smiling and happy or trying to help people change their attitude, I am not sure. 

The next time you find yourself in a line or at a restaurant with unhappy employees or customers, make it a game and see if you can get people smiling and laughing, you may not save any money or get something free right away, but even if you don’t get a discount what you will get is the satisfaction of knowing you played a small part in turning somebody’s day around.   Ultimately, the universe will repay you many times over, so spread some good cheer today and sit back and when wait for the return on your investment.   I really like the new Ford Explorer that is coming out this fall, so I think I am going to hand around the Ford dealership and see what I can do to change the attitudes of everyone working there, not sure if I can get a Free or discounted Explorer, but I know I am going to have fun trying !

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