First, it may have been made up.
But if it wasn't, I can well imagine that some people would decline the swap because they just didn't feel like getting involved in some potentially long and possibly annoying game; a proffered free cuppa or chocolate bar can be accepted or declined on its own potential merits (I'd have declined the coffee, for instance) but when the swap is presented, the "WTF?" flag gets raised.
Door-to-door salesmen have long used the "Here's a free $THING as a gift" presentation as a door-opener, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has become slightly wary of "free" stuff as a result. When an attached string becomes apparent, lots of people are going to become uncooperative at best, and some will become openly hostile. |
