On her birthday, Melanie decided to collect all the free  birthday gifts/food offered to her in emails everyday.

She had a plan:

iHop was the first stop:

That’s a lot of free food. She tipped the servers at each place the amount the bill would have been.

Granddaughter Saige was happy!

Einstein Bros Bagels is next:

Nice people at Einsteins: Melanie received an offer to pay for her food by a complete stranger when he heard it was her birthday. Then the server wished her happy birthday in Russian. A great stop!

Off to DQ for a smoothie for me:

Gigi’s  is next for a free cupcake:

Noodles and Company is around the corner:

Across the road to Smash Burgers:

The server wasn’t as friendly at Arby’s: the manager would not give the free 12 oz shake without the printed coupon, even with the offer of seeing i.d. to show it was the right day. So we moved on with a lesser opinion of that establishment.

Off to Caribou for coffee:

Panera for a free dessert: the server was on autopilot.

Bruegger’s Bagels is next: The server was alive: chatty, smiled, and wished Melanie a happy birthday.

Green Mill Inn for free pizzas: the best servers of all: friendly, accommodating, and flexible.

Desert at Cold Stone Creamery:

And, our final stop for the day:

The most interesting part of the day was not the free food, but how the servers interacted and who liked being part of the day and who simply didn’t care at all.