Working in retail, I encounter people who lie to get freebies all the time. “I left my coupon at home.” “The item wasn’t put in my bag.” “I didn’t know the sale ended, can’t you make an exception for me?” and so on. I tell myself that they are short on money, perhaps barely getting by so need to resort to such deception to save a buck or two.
But when I read about Russell Westbrook, a professional NBA player who makes $26 million a year lying in a restaurant to get his wife a free dessert, I am thoroughly disgusted. He not only did it, but he even posted it on his Instagram like he was proud of it, obviously not thinking that he might face some backlash.
As the author of this article from The Bitchy Waiter noted, Russell made $252 in the time it took for the waiter to grab the free dessert. After this came out I hope he had the sense to reimburse the restaurant. And if I see him in my store trying to use expired coupons, I’m going to kick his entitled butt out the door.
I don’t know much about basketball or the people who play it professionally. One thing I do know is that they get paid a lot of money to play with balls and that makes them incredibly fortunate because I have been playing with balls since my sophomore year in college and all I ever got was dinner and a movie. One such professional player of the balls is named Russell Westbrook who plays for Oklahoma City Thunder, which sounds more like a wooden roller coaster at Six Flags than a basketball team. His salary this year is $26.5 million. Breaking it down, that means he earns $72,602.74 a day or $3025.12 an hour. He has plenty of money.
A few days ago, his wife Nina posted a Snapchat story of the two of them enjoying dessert at a restaurant. Nice, right? Well, hold up because I’m fixin’ to get all riled up. Russell “Moneybags Ball Player” Westbrook doesn’t want to pay for the dessert and lies, saying it’s his wife’s birthday.
“This is what happens when you come to the restaurant, you’re trying to get a free dessert. You lie, tell ’em it’s your wife’s birthday. Haha, woo! Happy birthday, sugar! You got free dessert babe!”
What the hell? In the five minutes it took the server to go to the kitchen and pick up the plate of cake, Russell made $252.09 and he doesn’t want to pay for a freaking dessert? His wife just looks thrilled about the fact that her husband is trying to save $7.99 and she also looks like she is questioning why he is broadcasting that he’s so freaking cheap.
Russell, look. Maybe you left the server a big tip and you thought that would justify lying about the birthday to get free dessert. It doesn’t make it right. Do you know many times customers make up bullshit in a feeble attempt to get something for free? It happens every day and most of the time, we know it’s a lie and we can’t do anything about it. But for you to so freely blast out to the world that you are comfortable lying to people to get things you don’t deserve is really surprising. I hope you grow a pair of balls (and I’m not talking about the kind that you throw into a basket) and admit that what you did was wrong. It’s immature, selfish, dishonest and, in your case, unnecessary. You can easily afford to pay for your own damn dessert so please stop lying just so you can save a few dollars.