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Someone once said, say 'sex' instead of 'cheese' and you'll find a lot more adults giving genuine smiles when they get their picture taken. I beg to disagree- slightly. There is another word that makes us grin..and the word is 'FREE'!!!


There is something about the word 'free' that we react to at a very visceral level. It is almost like an instinctive, evolutionary reflex kicks in when we see the word! 'FREE??!! I want it!' That is a standard human reaction to the word. Our juices start flowing, we start drooling, and we are suddenly hostage to the impulse that says, get it now! I have brought home 'free' adult diapers- don't need them (yet!), free dog food- i had to eat it myself, free dental check-up coupons, and free folic acid capsules- to help keep 'my' non-existent fetus healthy! 


This post is about my FREE Reebok watch. I and my better half had gone to buy me a new cell. We were vacillating between a Nokia and a Samsung. The smart salesman told me that there is a 'free' Reebok watch worth 2500 bucks with the Samsung cell phone. I was hooked! Forget the fact that I'd previously hated anything with a touchscreen. Forget the fact that I had a darn good watch. I wanted that Samsung phone and I got it!


Now begins the saga of the 'free' Reebok watch. From day one, my free watch would stop frequently. It just would not give me the time of the day! We-me and wifey- went to get the cell changed, it cost us about 70 bucks to do so (begining of the saga). About a month later the free Reebok watch needed another pacemaker transplant (another 70 bucks) and it was duly done. However, the transplant did not do anything to cure the flakiness of the watch. Because I have acidic sweat, the leather strap had come apart and we needed a new strap for the watch too. My better has a knack for picking up the most expensive stuff, or should I say that whatever she touches becomes expensive, and she picked up a Titan steel strap worth 950 bucks (total expense on the 'free' watch so far= 70+70+950= 1040 bucks). 


Now the watch looked bloody dashing and debonair but it still would not do what it was supposed to do, show the freaking 'correct' time! Finally, in desperation, we showed it to the guy from whom we had just bought a new watch. He said the mechanism used in the 'free' Reebok watch was worth around 30 bucks in wholesale price, and that was the root of all evil. A supposedly 2.5 grand worth watch had a mechanism worth 30 measly bucks!! WOW!!


The tale of woes ended with us getting a new mechanism worth 120 bucks for the watch (1040+120= 1160 bucks). Now, the watch is keeping perfect time and has become my constant companion on my evening walks. 


Pity it took 1160 bucks to make that 'free' Reebok watch worth wearing on my runs!!

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