I have never won anything in my life. Okay, not true... I've won lots of things....but I've never won a RAFFLE - until now! You may or may not have read about Scott and I going to visit Raymarine's Mobile Tour that was taking place at West Marine to scope out all things electronic for our boat. We got a lot of great information (we also nearly lit ourselves on fire when they told us what it all would COST, but that is besides the point...). As we were leaving, we filled out one of those postcard things that you then put into a big clear bin filled with other people's postcard things. It was (drum roll please!) a way to collect info with which to spam you later a raffle...
(ring ring) "This is Brittany" (this is my standard "I don't know this number" business-y greeting)
"Hi Brittany, this is Shawn from West Marine"
"Hi Shawn." (I'm perplexed)
"Hi, well, I'm calling to tell you that you have won the raffle you entered back when you were here for the Raymarine mobile tour."
(A wave of excitement washes over me - I WON SOMETHING!??! REALLY!?! REALLY!?!...until I realize I have NO idea what we won. Like, not a clue.)
"Wow! That's great!!...(awkward pause)....um...(tenderly) can you remind me what we won again?"
"You won a $400 Raymarine autopilot remote!"
He then goes on about how I can come pick it up at anytime and how that'll give us the perfect opportunity to talk about all the other thousands of dollars worth of equipment he's hoping we'll buy from him. I don't have the heart (or the time) to tell him that we are probably not going with anything Raymarine on our boat - let alone an autopilot - so we will have no use for a remote for one.
Was the raffle rigged to give us that extra "nudge" to buy our entire electronics suite from Raymarine? Perhaps. But I don't care. Just like Ralphie's dad from the cult classic "A Christmas Story" (which -random factoid- happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time) - winning, no matter what, just feels good! It's that simple. Even if it is a tacky leg lamp that is likely to offend the entire neighborhood or a ploy to get us to spend thousands and thousands of additional dollars.
Also like Ralphie's dad, we will proudly accept our winnings...We might, however, (cough) put it up on eBay (cough) for the cash instead of displaying it in our window for all to see.
Sigh, if only winning the lottery was so easy.
Love,
Brittany & Scott
Love your writing style and sense of humor! We know a guy who "won" a free haul-out at the boatyard we're in. He's now spent over $12,000 getting work done that the boatyard said he "needed".
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