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The last time I got a corporate Freebie was from Baskin Robbins. It was in the San Fernando Valley in California. The day was hotter than hell. I think over 100 degrees. So I go into a Baskin Robbins and order a large (triple scoop?) chocolate truffle ice cream in a waffle cone. Okay, the guy grabs the waffle cone with his bare hand. The hand has some cuts and sores. I watch in amazement as he scoops the ice cream into the waffle cone. Now, I'm not the most fussy of people but this was too much even for me. So I tell the manager nearby that I REFUSE to eat that waffle cone because of the cuts and sores on the hand. The guy with the bad hand looked as if he were about to argue with me when suddenly a voice behind me spoke out:

"This customer is absolutely right. You can never serve cones with bare hands so give him whatever he wants absolutely free."

I turned to the voice and it was a guy with a fancy suit sitting with a couple of other guys in fancy suits. As it turned out, they were big execs from the Baskin Robbins corporate headquarters. Why they were in that particular Baskin Robbins I don't know. Maybe they were checking up on operations or, like me, just wanted ice cream because of the extreme heat outside.

The store manager gave the cut hand guy a dirty look and told him to go out back and STAY there. Then he served me up what I ordered.

The feeling was like that Annie Hall scene where some guy started arguing with the Woody Allen character about Marshall McLuhan and the Allen character actually pulled Marshall McLuhan himself from the movie line to tell the other guy he was an idiot.

Okay, I got me a freebie ice cream cone but somehow I would much rather prefer a freebie Kindle.