To find those Waitrose green token things really annoying?

[madonnawhore]

I get what they're trying to do and it's not that I don't think it's admirable but ffs it's so inconvenient when you've got bags of shopping in one hand and they're giving you receipt and change in the other as well as a fiddly green token thingy which you have to make sure you keep separate from the change you're trying to put in your purse and the receipt your're trying to put in the other bit of your purse...etc.

Then, you can't just walk out of the store otherwise you feel guilty so you waste more time looking at the options and deciding which one to go for.

I know it's not that big of a deal but I buy my lunch in the local Waitrose most days and every fucking time I have to go through this bloody faff with the green token. It's really starting to get on my nerves.

Or maybe I just have PMT??

They only ever give me the tokens when I have the DCs with me. And then they give them a handful so putting them in random slots keeps them occupied for a while, which is handy.

I think you know uabu, but want to know if others occasionally find them a pita, for which uanbu.

Ithink they are a good idea and allow local input to deserving charites fairly - but allowing them all a piece of the pot.

What does annoy me is people who take them and then throw them on the ground outside and around, or in planters,just generally littering them! Decline them at the counter if you aren't going to use them. They are not given at gunpoint and it is disgusting to throw them on the ground.

Love them, as does Ds. Agree about the hierarchy of charities though and usually go to the one with the fewest tokens.

wheelsonthefeckingbus what can I say? You are right.

I will shut up now and go and buy some chocolate. (from Waitrose )

ours has three similar charities each month

so three animal charities (dogs, cats and all), or sports groups (Swimming, rugby, gym), or children's groups (drama, youth theatre, youth club)

and from experience, if they ask nicely, my 4 dc can get a token each! when it's one of our groups they do very well out of us - Waitrose is on the school run so we can pop in and buy four of the little gingerbread men and get 4 tokens every day for 40p!

I always give to the one with the least as well... call me robin hood.

What annoys me is that the charities are always in the very small town where Waitrose is, but much of the clientele are from neighbouring villages which do not qualify for anything (I asked the manager!). Why should Waitrose town Brownies be eligible for a handout, but not the group a mile down the road?

LetLoveRule - the charities down the road should apply then. Our Waitrose often has charities from local villages. Waitrose doesn't go out and find charities, there are forms there for the charities to fill in.

I love it. They always give each of my DSs a token, and I make up a brief synopsis of each charity (because the blurb is always long and dull). They then choose themselves where to put their tokens.

Our local Waitrose has projects from all over the surrounding area - they just need to be "local" and put their names down.

Interestingly, the animal charities always seem to do the best, followed by the children's ones (preschools etc); the ones with only a scattering of tokens are any involving teenagers/ex-delinquents etc.

Stuff the animals, the humans get my token!

I think the tokens are great, and the charity I work for (nominated by a supporter - LetLoveRule supporters have to fill in a v small form) got nearly £500 recently.
If you don't want the token then politely decline it at the till, problem solved.

Our local Co-Op has also started doing this. DS loves the tokens and will always ask for one but is very indiscriminate where it goes. He can reach the Co-Op ones where Waitrose are way too high

Only thing I disagreed about the Co-Op one is that they say its for local charitys but this (the first month) have Help for Heroes, which I dont consider a 'local' charity. We are in a service town so now their box is almost full up

I think it is a great idea-you can refuse them. I generally give them to a child to post.

YANBU. I feel exactly the same when they hand them to me too. The other problem, esp, when I'm rushing home from work, is that I then have to read the blurb to decide which charity. I do it though because it would be mean not to but it is one more thing to do and decision to make at the end of a very busy working day. It's only really really annoying on the day they change the charities though.

I like the little tokens, and they give them out no matter how much you spend in our local waitrose.

They do the simelar charities thing as well, which bugs me slightly, because there are either three charities that are very worthy causes or three that don't seem very important in comparison to others. Like the local childrens hospice will be up against the local intensive care unit and the air ambulance, then you get three drama clubs or toddler groups. I know that might sound a bit mean of me, but we are in a fairly affluent area and I can't believe the local drama group really needs it's charity status in the same way that the hospice does.

I do prefer the new uniforms they have this week though

at ours they have them in a pot on the checkout, so you take one if you want it, they don't hand it to you.

maybe suggest this to them (pointing out difficulties with wallet/change/bags?)

It does drive me mad when people spend 10 minutes umm-ing and ahh-ing in front of the boxes and causing a right old queue.

You're not choosing which life to save, just pick a f**ng box

letloverule, I don't find that the case at all in our Waitrose, they are from all around the area.

YABU, these green tokens are nice and v g for the dcs. I think it is VU that the animal charities in our local Waitrose are always the most full, prefer to give my tokens to human causes but expect to get a roasting for saying that. However, can no longer afford to shop in Waitrose so need no longer be annoyed about people caring more for dogs than the disabled.....

YANBU - I hate em too. So does my 4 year old ds.

It's easy. If you hate them find a passing child and give them to said child. Everyone's a winner.

As long as it's not giveitago's ds

i thought they were tokens to get out of the car park when i got one

Get a life.

I BLOODY HATE THEM

I work at Waitrose and we're told to give one token to every customer. Most people are happy to take them, especially the kids, but you do get the odd few that decline and say "oh I don't want one of those" as though I'm handing them a piece of dog poo or something