When we were about eight years old or so, my Dad took us to � I believe it was Big Five in the San Gabriel Valley area near our home in L.A., and bought three sets of fishing equipment, plus lots and lots of extra line, hooks, sinkers, bobbers, ures, a tackle box, a knife, fish cleaning tool, etc. etc. Then as we walked to the cash register he told the salesman,


�Now, we are Not! going to pay for these little things!�


The poor sales guy took a double take, and thought about how much he was giving away, and started to balk, �Well, you�ve got a lot of things here" � I mean we had probably picked up fifty bucks (a lot in 1972) of extras, but I think in the end he did give us most of that stuff for free. I�m not even sure How he did it, in that it was a chain and I didn�t know there was any leeway in national chains like that. Looking back, he might have been the store manager, not just a salesman, but still.


Anyone I�ve told that story to has imitated my Dad in his booming deep accent, �we are NOT going to pay for these leetle things!� whenever possible, and even mildly appropriate.