Define: free gift

I got a very belated Christmas gift of a laptop bag a week back. Since we paid by credit card, we got a scratch card from Citibank that revealed a fabulous prize - a pen set!

Anything free is great, so we hopped off to the redemption booth to claim our prize. Two ladies were already waiting at the booth for their pen sets as well. Unfortunately, the booth was out of pen sets, they only had a delivery of the school supplies set - a goodie bag of crayons, pencils and art materials.

The ladies started complaining on how inconvenient the whole process is - you go to the redemption booth, which is a floor above the scratch card booth. Then, upon getting there, you don't get the prize you were promised. What if the pen set is more expensive than the school supplies set? When will the pen set be available? This is an outrageous program you have! Buti pang di na kayo nagpa-promo!

After apologizing profusely to the two customers who left greatly dissatisfied with their new Crayolas, the redemption booth lady finally turned to assist me and immediately launched into pleading explanations because she can only provide me the school supplies set.

It's a fast-paced life we live in. Our generation is used to having everything we want quickly. With the freedom of the internet and quick-changing technology, we can easily search for alternatives if companies don't give us what we want. That means companies always have to be on their toes and be ready with stuff to lure us in. Hence, the free gift.

And I am all for the free gift.

Eventually though, we get into the habit of thinking we deserve so many things in life, up to the point when we refuse to reciprocate opportunities with hard work and diligence. When we start thinking that others owe us something, simply because we exist. We get into the attitude of ingratitude.

There are so many things in life that are much worse than being given a school supplies set instead of a pen set. We have to choose our battles, and reserve our energies to fight for the things that will matter in the greater scheme of life. Sometimes the inconvenience of a situation gets the better of us, and we start to complain for the sake of complaining. But really, what is wrong with a school supplies set?

Especially if you've just been out shopping for school supplies with your kid, who looks to be at the age when crayolas are the best thing on the planet.