Free Stuff Has The Right Price

This last week, I went to the big hardware store to get a bolt for a simple repair job and they had this big pallet of stuff.  I asked the guys working on it "hey, what we got here - stuff to be marked down?" (My heart beat went up a bit.)

"No," he replied, "mostly, this here is trash."  I took in the stack of bent and opened boxes, stuff without boxes and assundried...stuff...

"Oh?" says I, with a gleam in my eye.  "Can I help carry some of these out to the 'trash' for you?" (Yes, I even made 'air quotes' as I said it so the guy knew I was intending to take these to my car and not the dumpster out back.)

The guy looked at me then at the pile of stuff and believe it or not, he actually gave me one of the things. It's the nifty carry case you see at the top of this page. The label indicates that it originally went with some fantastic gadget by Porter Cable, but the case was empty. To the average person, it is nothing special.  But to me, it's like gold. I can carry tools, or rolls of duck tape or nuts and bolts in it. It's slightly smaller than a tool box but larger than a camera case. Can you just imagine the possibilities? And the guy gave it to me Free.  Free.  Gratis.  And at NO Charge. 

In other areas, the amount you spend on something seems to make you somewhat renowned.. The more you spend, the more people look favorably upon you.  This is true of anything from cars, to phones to Christmas lights.  The more you spend the better.  However here in the south, we tend to look more favorably on spending LESS.  Getting something Free puts me at the top of the list.  The only way I could have done better is if the guy had paid me to carry it out!  Nowhere can you expect someone to appreciate that more than in the South.

The South in General.  At My Place in particular.