By Joseph Hammann, Staff Writer
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and with it, many couples are thinking about how to spend it. Going out to eat, giving flowers and chocolates, reading poetry, kissing — the whole shebang. There’s nothing quite like a day to spend with your lover and celebrating your affection for one another! Hearts and kisses, Xs and Os all around!
Do you know what national holiday comes after Valentine’s Day? National Singles Awareness Day! A day for all of the single people in the country to celebrate how there is no problem with being single. We can still enjoy our mid-February holiday in any way we like. Happiness doesn’t come with finding a love of your life. It comes with things that actually bring you joy. If being single brings you happiness, that’s fine.
I personally fall into the singles category. “Single as a Pringle,” as they say. I have been single all my life, and no, inviting a girl to my house on a playdate does not count. Do I think being single is much of a problem? No, not for me. And the thing is, I also say this as someone who isn’t aromantic either.
Many companies such as Amazon, Kohl’s, Sephora, Walmart and so many more in the retail business discount their products for the holiday most associated with love and relationships, but that doesn’t mean the single people can’t buy the products, too. If the product catches the fancy of you, whether you’re single or in a relationship, it’s there for you to purchase.
However, there is one reward that I always took advantage of every Valentine’s Day that, as a single person, was “the thing” for every year. It was a prime example of taking advantage of my single status in order to get rewards from my purchases.
Back when I was in high school, I don’t exactly remember who told me, but somebody told me that at Potbelly Sandwich Works, if you joined the rewards program and you came in during Valentine’s Day as a single person, you can get a free cookie with a discount code. When information about this got to my mother, she told me the mouthwatering truth that the Potbelly cookies are as big as your face. The way the reward at Potbelly works is that you make your order, usually on the website or the app and as long as your purchase features a cookie, you can use the discount code to get dollars off the cookie purchase. So, it felt like from their point of view, they were trying to say “Hey, you may not have a lover, but you DO have a free dessert, and that dessert is made with love from us!”
My first time using this reward was on Valentine’s Day 2020, back when things in 2020 were still, well, normal, to put it loosely. This was also the thing that got me to join the rewards program, additionally as a way to make sure I never forgot my free cookie any other year. Every single year since Potbelly’s launch, I would figuratively mark my calendar, not for any romantic activities with a lover or anything like that, but to make sure I would not throw away my opportunity for that free cookie to get in my hands and then afterwards, my stomach!
As I reflect, it’s kinda funny thinking about how a concept as silly as “Free Cookie for single people on Valentine’s Day” was enough to get me to join a restaurant’s rewards program, but I can say something for certain. As a single person, such a perk was hands down one of the best Valentine’s Day gifts I have ever received!
Unfortunately, as time would move on, Potbelly would eventually drop this perk, which is very unfortunate to all of the single people like myself who took advantage of this perk every Valentine’s Day they could. However, this doesn’t mean that rewards members at Potbelly can’t get free cookies or desserts anymore, since they still have a free cookie or milkshake perk for whenever it is the birth month of the member.
However, reflecting on it I can say with gratitude that when it was around, it was something I can say that I miss very dearly. If it weren’t for that one perk and me being single at just the right time to know about it, I would have never thrived to become a regular perks member at Potbelly back at home in Maryland and at the Rookwood location.
I speak this on behalf of various single people in this world who love Potbelly, thank you for the perk! Thank you for the Valentine’s Day perk that helped single people not feel left out and still gave them an opportunity to get free products from your delicious restaurant. That’s the best Valentine’s Day gift I could ever ask for!