One Evening at Parkson, KB

I was hurrying to get out of the mall with my wife and son when a salesman offered me a free souvenir. I knew if I took it, I had to listen to him for at least five minutes or so, and I was rushing for the Maghrib prayer. Nevertheless, I took it anyway (it was a mug) and he started:

Salesman: How are you, mister. Do you have a minute?

Me: Well, I'm rushing for Maghrib prayer. Thanks for this mug. It is free, right?

S: It won't take long. I just want you to write your name here, so that we know in our record that you already take the souvenir. One only for a person.

M: Okay (I wrote my name, but stopped before writing other details). Do you need all these details?

S: Just for the record only. In the mean time, can I promote you our product?

M: I told you I'm in a hurry.

S: It will just take 5 minutes of your time.

Before I could answer, he continued.

S: I want to tell you that by taking the souvenir, you are entitled for these two tickets. Open them. They will show you what you win among these great products. Or they could be cash vouchers.

I opened them. One RM100 voucher and the other showed two products - an air purifier worth RM4+++ and an oven worth RM2+++. It also had RM100 voucher written at the corner. I gave them to him.

S: Did you just win these two products? Well, I have to call my manager because normally only one product per ticket.

He promptly called his manager and gave me his phone. The manager confirmed with me that the ticket was redeemable.

S: You are so lucky. You won these two products (pointing at the oven and the air purifier) and also RM100 cash voucher.

M: Okay then, give them to me. I really got to go now.

S: But you have to use your RM100 for another of our products. You can choose from here (showing a catalogue of electrical products worth thousands RM each).

M: Can't I use the voucher another time. I really don't have time now.

S: No, you must use the voucher now. Or you will lose these two items (by now his assistants put two big boxes in front of me). You can bring these home now, plus the one you are going to choose. But first you have to choose which of these items you want to use the voucher for.

He continued by showing some calculations on how I saved around RM6+++ to acquire the three products. He also compared the prices with other items from other known brands and bloated that his products were much better. He stressed that the payment will not be in cash, but in monthly installment, as low as RM50 per month. Unknowing to him, I also made my own calculations, and concluded that it was not worthy. So, I politely declined.

M: Well, in that case, I'll pass. Thank you anyway for all the information.

And I left him murmuring and chatting with his assistants, presumably about how stupid I am to pass the opportunity. However, I knew I made the right decision, because I sincerely believed that all the three products combined together are not worth thousands. I didn't mind because in the end, I got a mug and they got nothing.