Saturday, July 11, 2009

Do I like gourmet cupcakes from Beverly Hills? Guilty as charged

$5.75 on my share of two Sprinkles cupcakes, one Triple Chocolate (which isn't on the menu but was available because of Twitter ... mmm Twitter) that I split with Amanda and one Strawberry (because I absolutely couldn't resist).

Tuesday morning, Laura tells us a story about how she missed out on a free lemon cupcake from Sprinkles, the gourment cupcake shoppe in Beverly Hills. If she had whispered the secret word of the day, she'd have gotten a free one and that day's selection was lemon, her favorite, which she had even ordered.

So all week we'd noticed that Sprinkles was using its new Twitter accounts to alert customers to free cupcake deals and also when the Sprinklesmobile would be out and about (of course it was near our office during a time we were chained to our desks).

And so Friday I resolved that if they Tweeted again Saturday morning on my way to work, I'd pick one up (and since I was there get one for Amanda). As I left my house at 8:35 nothing. To maximize my chances of catching an alert on my Palm Pre, I drove surface streets rather than freeways to work taking the Sprinkles detour. As long as I saw the 411 on free deliciousness before I passed the store, I'd get cupcakes.

When I got to Beverly Hills, I hit refresh on my phone's browser at a traffic light and voila ... today's offer was for Triple Chocolate (chocolate cake, frosting and ganache). Wow, I love chocolate and I love free. However, I realize that I don't have any money for parking meters. Do I risk it? If I get a parking ticket this will officially be the most expensive cupcake ever.

I risk it. Cupcakes are worth the stretch. When I get inside and the associate asks me what I want I say, "One Key Lime ..." and then whisper "one triple chocolate." She smiles.

"Those are great," she whispers back. Triple chocolate aren't on the menu but today they're free according to the Tweet I glanced at.

As I'm getting rung up I am literally almost drooling surrounded by the über-cheerful Sprinklers and comforting aromas of baked sugar and chocolate.

"OK, Mike, that's one key lime, one strawberry and one Twitter. That'll be $9.75," she says.

"What? I thought the Twitter was free," I reply trying to hide at least some of my incredulity.

"Oh, they usually are, but today it was just to get the secret flavor, which is so good. It's one of my favorites."

"Oh, OK, well of course I still want them." As I leave I check my phone and of course the Tweet never mentions anything about a free cupcake today, just that you can get a secret flavor if you know how to ask.

Always read the fine print. Or in this case, just read what was actually sent. The lesson as always, I'm a dope.

1 comment:

Katie said...

I'm jealous you have Sprinkles and we don't :( I'll have to bake you some of my cupcakes when you come home. They're definitely not as good as Sprinkles, but they look pretty!