When did we start ignoring the people running booths on the mall?

I’ll admit that when I was a freshman, I would ignore them all the time. I even made it my mission to avoid the mall at all costs so I wouldn’t have to face confrontation when they tried to talk to me. Now that I think about it, I probably missed out on a few things.

One: those people are actually really nice. Most of them aren’t even there to advertise and force you to talk to them, like I once thought. They’re normal students like you and me just trying to fulfill a commitment. Sometimes just saying hello is enough to brighten their time in the booth.

Two: if you’re really lucky, you can get some pretty cool stuff out of it. Saying hi to someone’s booth with free stuff lying around is such a bonus, you get some free stuff and they get rid of their stuff faster. I mean, have you seen what kind of stuff they hand out nowadays? It’s insane.

Recently, I’ve been visiting more and more booths and one of the coolest booths I’ve visited is one advertising The Cadence student housing. I asked them if they could help me with an art project and they were more than willing to help. Then they gave me free stuff including a 12-pack of gum, headphones, a credit card holder for phones, and a phone stand. The perks are not only rad free stuff, but also very useful.

Before you decide to avoid the hype on the mall, you might want to reconsider. Sometimes saying hello pays off in positive (and free) ways.

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