Entering a supermarket this afternoon, I was appalled to see a group of housewives shamelessly ruining the Mandarin oranges on sale. The essential CNY fruits had been pre-packed into boxes for convenience, and there they were, opening the cartons, selecting the better ones and chucking less favorable ones. And it seemed that almost every box had been opened with an uneven number of oranges in each container. I shook my head and decided to buy my oranges elsewhere.

The queues weren’t as long as I expected. A lady approached me as I was waiting to pay, and informed me in a most joyful manner that I was entitled to receive eight bowls for buying eight cans of abalone. I was stumped momentarily, “Huh? What do I do with eight bowls? I don’t need so many bowls!” I politely declined and immediately heard gasps all around. Ah, it must have meant, “Got free gift why don’t want?! Stupid ah?!”.

As I approached the counter, the cashier displayed a look of panic and called for her colleague. Apparently I could receive a bag for every two cans purchased- which meant I could walk away with four bags. Uh huh. Well, I don’t need those bags too.

Come on, I just want my abalone. Hurry already.

As she packed my stuff and glanced at the figures, she further announced that she was going to give me four $25 vouchers based on the total amount spent.

What?! More freebies?! I was slightly horrified.

“But I only have three vouchers here. You wait a while ok?”

Right. I didn’t turn that down. Hahaha.

P/S: A gift is defined as ‘a thing given willingly to someone without payment’. Hence the word ‘free’ is redundant. Say ‘gift’, not ‘free gift’.

在北京的一个星期，我走了三遍故宫。加上之前的两次，我想我差不多可以当导游了。回来后的几天内，看完三十多集的「步步惊心」，难怪那几天一直梦见「太和殿」、「养心殿」、「乾清宫」⋯⋯

喜欢「步步惊心」的「丁爷党」党员，举手！