[Avodah] How much for the mayo?

[Gil Winokur]

Your neighbor initially asked you for a couple of spoons of mayo, 
presumably not expecting you to charge her for them.  You chose instead 
to hand her a whole jar, placing her in the position of receiving 
something of value, when she had requested an amount whose value would 
have been too small an amount to trifle with.  From a social 
perspective, she now felt obligated to ask if you wanted reimbursement, 
which she would not have done had you simply honored her request.  IMHO, 
an appropriate response would have been "don't worry about it, I got it 
for free."  Alternatively, you could have explained the 2-for-1 special, 
which is no different than buying a 2-pack, and given her the option of 
buying the jar for $2 or taking the spoons.

BTW, how do you know whether you gave her the jar you paid for, or the 
jar you got for free?

Gil Winokur
gilwinokur at usa.net