I've really gotten into Eckhart Tolle recently. One thing he says is you should never complain unless the person you're complaining to can do something about it. Since I'm in the habit of complaining a lot - to people who can't do anything about it - I thought I'd give it a try.

Weekend before last on Saturday the grapes I was buying rang up wrong. No problem. They were for my chickens anyway, and I thought maybe I'd read the sign wrong. I just told the girl I didn't want them. But after I checked out, I went and looked at the grapes, and sure enough they were on sale. I told a guy standing there they were ringing up wrong - just to let him know it needed to be fixed - and he gave me the grapes for free. Huh. This is the first I've heard of getting stuff for free for complaining.

The next day at First Watch I had a complicated problem with my order that I won't go into, but they ended up giving me my meal for free plus a coupon for another free entree (which I threw away btw - the whole situation soured me on First Watch).

Neither time did I yell or get angry. I was pretty matter-of-fact. The thing is the whole thing creeped me out. I didn't know people got free stuff by complaining. For a minute I was thinking, "Now I can't complain to anyone. If I complain to people who can't do anything about it, I'm feeding my egoic mind. If I complain to people who can do something about it, it seems, they give me free stuff - which feels a little weird to me."

I finally decided I can still complain and turn down any free stuff they give me.

ETA: The point of the story. This is why people yell to get free stuff. It works.