no such thing as a free lunch?

Monday, August 09, 2004, at 11:57AM

By Eric Richardson

Yesterday I got offered free food twice. I accepted once.

The first time was mid-afternoon, when I stopped at 7-Eleven for a Dr. Pepper. The ice dispenser on the fountain drink machine wasn't working, so they had a little bucket with a scoop in it. It was empty. I told the guy this, and hung out holding the scoop while he complained about how he had just filled it 10 minutes ago and went through the whole process of opening the machine up to get at the ice inside. Once he was finally finished I filled up my drink and took it up to the counter. He had a little crate of sandwiches behind the counter, and he asked me if I wanted one -- "no charge". I appreciated the offer, but I had just eaten lunch. So I thanked him, paid, and left.

Later, around 10 or so last night, Miggles and I decided to stop by the IHOP just off Wilshire/Vermont on the way to Ralphs. He ordered an omlette and pancakes, I ordered a waffle and hash browns. We waited. After 10 minutes or so they brought Miggles his food and me my hash browns. The waffle machine was acting up, they said, and they were still trying to get it to work. A couple minutes later the manager came over and told me that his waffle machine wasn't working and asked was there something else I might want. I got blueberry pancakes. The manager told our waitress not to charge me for them. I was happy.