When I purchased my new mattress, they threw in a free 19″ flat screen TV.  Now, I didn’t really need a new TV,  but it was included for free so I said “Why not”.

When my sales person took me to the TV section of the store, I was introduced to the TV man who was going to get me my free TV.  He announced that he had over 350 of these TVs in the warehouse but didn’t know if he had any in the store.  He would have to check.  Fine.

He went to a shelf behind him and pulled down a ring binder.  After flipping through several pages, he pulled out his calculator and started punching in numbers.

It was at this point that I stared to suspect the ole “bait and switch” routine.  I figured that at any moment he was going the announce that my free TV was not in stock but for an additional $$$ I could upgrade to a better TV which he just happened to have in stock.

Sure enough, after running the numbers and going out to check his stock, he came back with a TV.  But, as predicted, it would cost me extra.

The TV that he had in the store was $50 more than the one that I was supposed to get for free.  But, in an effort to show “good will”, he offered to split the difference.  For $25 dollars, the TV would be mine.

I thanked the man and told him that I would wait for the free TV to arrive at the store.

I don’t like being played.  The man had a nice act but no Oscar.