Earlier today, during my spare time, I was going through social media, watching skits and movie clips as usual to stay sane. I then stumbled on this Spongebob clip. It was from an episode I watched a long time ago, and watching the clip brought back a lot of memories. But now, watching it again also made me consider a few things.
I’m sure we all know who Spongebob Squarepants is, that friendly neighbor that lives in a pineapple under the sea. The kind of employee that every boss would like to have because he can happily work for free!
The clip was from an episode where all the business owners in Bikini Bottoms gathered in an annual meeting. And for some reason, they were talking about how stingy they were as businessmen. Any fan of Spongebob will very well know that Mr. Crabs is just about the most selfish and horrible boss an employee can be unfortunate enough to have.
I can’t remember everything about the episode, but from the clip I saw, they were going to tell their stories of being stingy and then the most stingy individual will be given an award. Many of them told their stories of how they milked money from their customers at little cost.
Mr. Crabs' story was that he offered his crabby patties for free. And if you know Mr. Crabs, he is allergic to the word “free”. It can even give him a heart attack. Anyway, he offered them for free and as you would expect, the restaurant was filled up in no time. He made sure they were all a good distance from the exit, then he put up a sign that for every step the customers took, they would pay $10.
The crabby patties were free, but they had to pay through their nose to walk out of the restaurant. More money for him! You should have seen how everyone was trying to count their steps, no one was interested in the crabby patties anymore, they just wanted to get the hell out.
This is just a beautiful depiction of the fact that if something is too good to be true, it most likely is. Most businesses offer something for free, and the customers would not know that somehow they would pay for it and most likely pay more.
Humans are generally wired to love things that we don’t earn. Things we don’t pay for or work for, that is why we jump at promos and discounts. As long as it seems we are spending less than we should, we would go for it.
Now, what am I trying to say here?
I am definitely not saying that free things are bad. There are free things that are good, although many of them come with a price. For you to get something, you have to do something. Like when a big company offers an all-expense paid trip to its customers, but for you to qualify you have to keep buying their products until you get the lucky number. But then, if you are suddenly approached by someone telling you they will take you abroad to have fun for free, you don’t have to do anything except carry yourself. You will most likely suspect them because you are sure there will be an ulterior motive.
There are people who are genuinely selfless, they help others when they can and they request nothing at all in return. And there are those whose help comes with terms and conditions. For me to do this, you have to do this. And unfortunately, the latter is more rampant than the former.
So, my dear friends, when something comes to you for free, try and see if there is an endgame and if there is an ultimate price to pay. That will let you know if you are willing to accept that free stuff. Just because it is free doesn’t mean you won’t pay for it. And when the time comes, you might not like the price.
So, let’s be more careful in our dealings with freebies, we need to save ourselves heartbreaks.
And on a side note, Mr. Crabs won the award. But a rope was fixed to the award and immediately it was in his hands, it was snatched back. I guess birds of the same feather do flock together.
