Free stuff

1. TheSam and I went out for dinner a few weeks ago. We were eating local, so not a chain place. It's a cool brewhouse with a HUGE food menu as well as brews. The manager was doing a walk around and checking on tables. We had great food and great service. The manager was just chatting, what were doing the rest of the evening, did we like the city, had we eaten there before, just general chatting. We talked about all the great eateries and how often we went out for food, that we were "new foodies" but we loved his place and would be back. He wanted to know if we were ordering dessert and we said no and we talked about how they are famous (and they are, locally) for their peanutbutter pie. We talked about how good it sounds and all of a sudden, he just offers us a free piece to share. Seriously. He leaves and comes back 5 minutes later with a "piece" of pie- a slice that was probably a quarter of the whole pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TheSam and I shared it and it was the best peanut butter pie I've ever had in my entire life. And it was free, just because. I thought that was the coolest thing ever! And so nice. We thanked the guy profusely. How generous!

2. About two weeks ago TheSam and I were eating out- again- this time at a BBQ place. This is a chain place- there are 22 joints. These are are here in the Midwest and I could drive to all of them, if I wanted, all about a 2 hour radius from here. Not entirely local but started out small and local and at least stayed centralized. We go here at least one time a month and we love it. We see some of the same people each time we go so we're becoming "regulars."

We talked to the manager, when he stopped at our table, again having had great food and service, and was just doing the chatting thing. He asked if we were going to have fresh peach cobbler and I said no because I was on a diet and we all laughed. TheSam said he wasn't on a diet but he wasn't because he was full and we all laughed. About 5 minutes later the manager comes back and hands TheSam a go sack with a piece of still warm cobbler in it (with homemade whipped cream, on the side). He said it was on the house and for later and he winked at me and said if I decided to cheat on my diet, I should make him share. They had some guy bonding moment and left. That was so nice, again we were so surprised and pleased, and thankful. And impressed.

3. A couple nights ago TheSam and I popped into McAlister's Deli for a cookie and iced tea. We sat in a booth just chilling out. We knew they closed in about 20 minutes and there were still other customers so we sat. The manager stopped at the table to see if we wanted tea refills and we said sure. I told him I had unsweetened tea since I was sweet enough and we all laughed. He brought our cups back- full_ and then returned about 2 minutes later with a GALLON of the unsweetened tea for ME!!!! Just for no reason. He said he was closing soon and would toss it, they had just made is not even an hour ago so it was fresh. I thanked him so much and again, just overwhelmed with these kindnesses. And guess what? Not 3 minutes later he comes back with another gallon of sweet tea for TheSam since "he needed sweetening up" and we laughed. Yes, he gave us not one but 2 gallons of free tea!!!!! Isn't that amazing? And awesome? And kind!?!

I like it when something good happens out of the blue. It's so rare these days, but so appreciated!

Mags