In general, I dislike getting gift cards, because they’re rarely for anywhere I’d want to use them. However, I managed to get nine of them, altogether within the past three months.
One was from a neighbor for doing him a couple of favors, good for $50 at a restaurant he co-owns. We used it; the staff accepted it, along with the cash we added for the overage, including tax and tip. We’ve been there a few times before, and like the place, so why not use it? But, it takes 45 minutes to drive there, so w/o either that incentive, or the incentive of seeing a band we like play there on a Friday night in the pub room, we wouldn’t have gone all the way up there.
The rest are from local businesses wanting to attract my business, but expire within a few months. Most are from restaurants. Two are within two miles. Another four are within six miles.
The remaining two are not my thing. I don’t care whether you give me a full day “spa treatment” for free; I’m not taking you up on it. There’s nothing ache and pain-wise at this stage of my life that I can’t handle at home with a few ibuprobin, a jacuzzi, and a good stretching of my muscles to work out the knots in my shoulders, with which I need no help. Anything facial that people go to spas for is not in my program. A steamy shower should fix your facial issues, unless it’s acne.
We’ve decided upon two local restaurants at which to use these gift cards. One has a good pub. The other has a fantastic brunch, judging by the reviews on Trip Advisor, which I consider more reliable than those on Yelp.
Two other restaurant gift cards have potential. The incentive to go there isn’t high, though.
The one I know we’re going to use is from place 1.5 miles down the road that has a fantastic fixed price brunch menu. Everything on it is something that we’d want to eat, and the reviews are really good.
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