free lunch eh? think again!

Yesterday my colleague and I were chatting and he said, 'You know what? HDFC sent me a Rs. 500 gift voucher for being a good customer to their bank!' He didn't sound too happy. So I was like, 'Isn't that good then? You have some free money to buy something.' He said, 'You do not understand. My wife will go with me. Do you think she will buy something just worth Rs. 500? She'll be buying something worth Rs. 2000 and I'll have to adjust that with this voucher.' I was in splits. Great maths. Before the voucher came, his outflow was nil as no shopping was planned. Now with the voucher in, his minimum outflow (after adjusting the voucher) would be more than a thousand for sure! So free lunch, as a wise man had said!