Forgot this one - I got laid off from a job once about 6 months after they issued me a new laptop. I hadn’t gotten around to returning the old one yet. The asset guy asked me to send back the new one, and said I’d be doing him a favor if I kept the old one. It’s still my regular home machine.
The upgrade. A group of us government folks were transiting to the Philippines through Hawaii. Some needed visas so 3 days off. Time to fly and the stateside credit card links were dead (other stuff too - 1985ish). Waited and waited, still no contact. I asked if I could write a personal check? “Sure”.
Then it was so late in boarding, BOOM, I was upgraded to first class from steerage.
I once attempted to purchase a $3 drink from a vending machine. Not having any $1 bills on me I used 12 quarters that I had floating around the bottom of my messenger bag. After plugging in my change the machine told me the drink was sold out. Not wanting a different choice I pushed the coin return button to get my $3 back. However, instead of spitting out 12 quarters the machine spat out 12 Sacagawea dollar coins. $9 profit! Whoot!
I ended up with a free loveseat thanks to Amazon.
We had ordered the first one, which was an Amazon Warehouse item with damaged packaging, and a couple of days later got an email saying that order was cancelled. My card had never been charged.
I ordered again, this time a new one but the same loveseat. It showed up and a couple of days later the first one also arrived.
I chatted with their customer service and was told to just keep them both. I asked twice to be sure i understood. Guess the return shipping cost wasn’t worth it to them.
It ended up being a big blessing since we really needed two anyway to fit our space but could only afford to buy one at a time.
We regularly donate to the Red Cross and one year, they sent us a six-inch LED flashlight with a powerful beam and built-in screwdrivers of various sorts, with a clip for attaching to a belt.
Very nice, though I sort of wished they saved all their dough for good works.*
*it’s possible that a guilt factor among recipients might lead to larger future donations.
When I went to the WorldCon in Glasgow last year the convention center was also hosting a Van Gogh exhibit - not a simple collection of his art but a retrospective with an audio presentation of his influences. I went over to check it out and they were giving discounted admissions to WorldCon members, so I decided to check it out. The only way to purchase tickets was through a TicketMaster app, which required me to enter a verification code. Unfortunately, for some reason my phone, despite the fact that I had installed a local SIM card, would not take text messages (this caused me lots of other problems during the trip). I mentioned this to one of the door guards, and he told me to come with him. I figured he was going to take me to a counter where I could pay directly. but as soon as he went through the entrance he told me to just go ahead in.
The show was great; I was able to get a bunch of pictures on my phone, and then had a chat with someone in the gift shop.
A couple years ago i ordered some bedlinens through woot!. They were very nice, super high thread count egyptian cotton. I ordered white but they sent me light blue. Then they caught the mistake and e-mailed to apologize. I called and said it’s fine, i like the blue, no worries. They said the white was already on the way.
A week later i received the white ones. A few days after, another set of blue. I called to ask where to send the second set of blue back to - they said keep it. A few days later, another set of white arrived.
At that point i was set for life and honestly afraid to call again, so i just let it be. A month or more later i got an email that they were back in stock, and one more set of white sheets arrived. I began to wonder if they’d make good attic insulation? But after that it mercifully ceased.
I had a similar experience in the early 90’s with rugby shirts from the Sears catalog. I wound up with four full sets of every color they stocked - but never did get any in the size i had ordered (extra tall). I still have one of them, the rest i wore out, one set at a time.
My daughter and I decided to go hang around outside the ballpark during a Nationals-Cardinals playoff game. A scalper offered to sell us tickets, but I was suspicious they may not be good. He suggested my daughter go through the turnstile first to prove they were. The cops saw it and asked how much I paid; I replied that no money exchanged hands. The guy gave me a sly thumbs up for keeping him out of trouble. Jayson Werth hit a walk off home run to win it.
Better than the Super Video customer that had a rental for a few days + 100 years.
A few years ago I was flying La Crosse, WI – Minneapolis – Sacramento on Delta, which I had booked as an award ticket. Except the plane on the first leg had a mechanical problem which resulted in the flight being substantially delayed*, so the airline arranged to have a bus take us to MSP (it’s only an ~3 hour drive). Unfortunately that still meant I missed my connecting flight, so at MSP I went to the ticket counter for assistance. Good news, there was another flight to my destination that evening, but the only seat left was in First Class. The women at the ticket counter was unsure whether she could put me in First Class since I was flying on an award ticket, but she made it happen! So I got a free upgrade to First on a ticket that I effectively paid $0 (not including taxes and fees) for. That more than made up for the problems with my first flight.
*IIRC they never officially canceled it. It probably flew to MSP many hours later with like two passengers.