All's fair in journos and press gifts.

Ah, ethical dilemmas.

As a journalist you get swamped with PRs who throw you free things from washing detergent to all sorts of make up to an electronic hairbrush (that can double-up as some other gadget ifyouknowwhatimean).

What do I do?

Fake a goody and refuse it and give it to someone else, or secretly and greedily hide it in your bag with the idea that if no one saw it, I wasn't greedy.

How much is too much? What is the point where you reach that moral peak where your judgement is blinded by the cosmetics that are painted over your eyelids?

Yesterday morning I went for a notebook launch and in the afternoon a branded underwear/timepiece/ shoes competition winner announcement thingamajig.

The former gave me a RM20 bookstore gift voucher, the latter an ugly RM585 watch.

Now if you base it on the type of person I am, I would usually be thrilled with stationery/book-related things. What use would I have for an expensive (and ugly because it's chunky) watch when I already have my new Fossil Motion Dial watch with animated butterflies fluttering all over the dial?

But such is men's (and women's) greed that I favour the ugly watch more than the voucher which I could use to purchase lots of pretty notebooks and pens with.

And the other day I tried and tried (but in vain) to go for a boutique opening in hopes of getting a discount or some nice freebie from the shop.

My boyfriend called me a Moocher (in jest, of course).

But it is true, isn't it? All those years of studying ethical journalism has gone down the poo-poo hole and I am now nothing but a crazy-eyed, messy-haired and chip-nailed unscrupulous writer who is always on the lookout for good assignment 'bargains'.

So here's an important ethical question that I have tossed and turned in bed over,

Should I keep the freebies for myself, or should I Give Them To You?