Free Money

My plan is to go to a public vending machine at a school and wait for students who are stopping by to get their daily water, snack or coffee. I will start the conversation by asking the person what they are here to buy. My plan is to explain that I get how important it can be to have your midday snack while in between classes, and that I want to help them out by paying for them in an act of generosity.

After giving out all five-dollar bills, I was somewhat surprised by my results. Four of the five people that I approached responded as I expected; confused by my generosity, but overall still happy to receive their snack for free. One person, however, was skeptical of my intentions and rudely told me that they wanted nothing to do with whatever I was selling. The issue may have been that I was coming on too enthusiastically, or it may have been that he was not a student. Either way, this was an interesting exercise that made me think about the value of a dollar.