As you go around the coffee bars and restaurants, do you sometimes see bowls filled with business cards and wonder what is their purpose? A lot of people may mistake their presence as some sort of a raffle that the restaurant is offering. Some people might even assume they can reach in and pick the card that holds their future mate’s number. Others, the more superstitious people out there, assume that if they reach in, they can find the company name of their future employer on the card. Strange, but you can not really tell other people what to do or think, or can you?
But that bowl is there for a reason, and it is not to match you up with a date, or for you to take as a sign from a higher power. In fact, the bowl is there because of a promotion. Yes, that is right, a promotion. You see, the people who dine in these restaurants drop their business cards in to the bowl, usually as they are about to leave the restaurant with their colleagues, and they see the bowl being displayed prominently on the cashier’s counter. If you look carefully around, you might even see winners of previous promotions.
Their business cards are usually displayed by the entrance of the restaurant along with the winners’ prizes. A winner of one of these promotions usually gets a free meal, like lunch or dinner for himself and a group of his friends. But there is a limit to how many business cards selected for a certain month; for regular months they might pick just 3 people to win, and limit the groups who can dine for free to 3 or 5 people. Months with special holidays, however, may get entirely different and more special deals.
That group of 3 to 5 people may increase to accommodate up to 10 people, with a better selection of meals on offer. They might even get gift certificates after their free meals. A lot of people who work and have cards enjoy participating in these promotions. After all, it does not really demand much. All you need to do to win is to drop off your card and you can dine for free with your colleagues; you may even want to invite your boss.
Alternatively, some people, who do not have these cards, may like to rifle through the ones in the bowl to check out the designs and the quality, hoping to receive inspiration for the time when they have their own cards made. So next time you see a bowl full of business cards, reach in and look at them, but please do not take any of them. You can get inspired and have your own card tailored after your favorite, but never bring one home. You might just be depriving someone of their chance to win a free meal for himself and a group of his chosen friends. That would be really unfair to the person.
