Free Cake?

I try not to tell work stories on this blog (and let me tell you, now that I deal with the public I have way more funny stories than I ever did in engineering, so sometimes it's hard to restrain myself). That being said, this one was just too funny (and does not involve any of our clients or staff).

We have a restroom which requires a key, and this nice Indian man come in once in a while to use the bathroom. I always said hi to him, and one day I asked him if I worked in the building. No, he told me, he works for the city doing park maintenance/landscaping outside. (We're right next to a beautiful walking/biking trail). I mentioned that I love to eat the blackberries that grow wild around here, and from that day forward he would often bring me some berries when he came in to use our restroom.

Yesterday, he comes in with a cake box from QFC (grocery store). I was worried... free berries are one thing, but it's getting kind of weird if he bought me a cake, right? Well, turns out, it's a different kind of weird. He said "I found this." Wha?? I look in the box and see a half-eaten cake. This is on Monday morning, which means it's been sitting outside since at least Sunday afternoon. "Thank you..." I say, "but are you sure you don't want it?" He says he doesn't want it, and that he hopes we all enjoy it. Ummmmmmm. I don't have the heart to tell this man that I am a loooong way off from being desperate enough to eat a half-eaten, day-old cake that was found outside in a park. So today he comes in and says "How was the cake?"

"It was delicious," I said, "everyone loved it!" White lies, white lies.