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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that the free fruit offer in tesco shouldn't be abused

215 replies

Frazzled50yrold · 27/07/2017 00:11

Was shopping in tesco about half hour before closing last Sunday. I noticed a 30 something yr old female filling a plastic bag with the oranges/apples/bananas which are provided free for children. Initially I wondered how she would pay for them as they were all mixed together then realised she wasn't going to as she went up to her husband at the self service till and walked out with him. I'd estimate she had at least 20 pieces of fruit, it made me so cross

OP posts:
AnneGrommit · 27/07/2017 00:13

Why? Are you a shareholder?

TartanDMs · 27/07/2017 00:13

Meh, maybe she is skint and can't afford to buy food. It doesn't make it necessarily right but I can't find it in me to judge, not knowing her circumstances.

ohfourfoxache · 27/07/2017 00:14

Yanbu at all

I saw a woman in our local Tesco digging through and taking items from the food bank collection baskets once. Some people are just horrible

requestingsunshine · 27/07/2017 00:15

You'll always get someone take advantage. Just be glad you'll never be that kind person.

Gingerandgivingzerofucks · 27/07/2017 00:15

I saw an elderly couple doing the same last week. I couldn't decide if I was appalled or not, tbh. Surely Tesco has taken into account those in need, plus the pisstakers?

requestingsunshine · 27/07/2017 00:15

'Kind of' person

CorbynsBumFlannel · 27/07/2017 00:18

My kids will often have 2 or 3 pieces each while we walk around. I'd often wondered if you were only supposed to take one. Taking a bag full with you is a bit cheeky but like a pp said maybe she was skint? Not something I could get overly worked up about tbh.

EachandEveryone · 27/07/2017 00:19

Ive never seen it is it all branches?

BertieBotts · 27/07/2017 00:20

2 or 3 pieces of fruit during the length of a shopping trip? Confused

Nancy91 · 27/07/2017 00:24

I see it all the time and it annoys me because I'm standing next to them paying for bananas while they are getting them for free because they are tight and cheeky and I'm not.

DramaInPyjamas · 27/07/2017 00:24

It was half hour before closing, and there was more than 20 bits of fruit left, it would have probably been earmarked for the bins anyway

ohfourfoxache · 27/07/2017 00:24

If DS1 had 2/3 pieces of fruit on a shopping trip I'd be delighted!

He's a fussy wee bugger Envy

MissBax · 27/07/2017 00:28

I think taking a bag full is unnecessary and abusing the gesture, however I personally think it should be available to everyone and not just children.

CorbynsBumFlannel · 27/07/2017 00:43

Yes Bertie. What's confusing?

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 27/07/2017 00:43

Of course you're only supposed to take one piece! The sign in our Tesco clearly says this.

What you saw was blatant piss taking OP. If everyone (or even a few) did that there wouldn't be any left for children to have one piece each would there?

Some people have the absolute cheek of the devil.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 27/07/2017 00:45

Also fruit lasts more than 1 day. They don't just need to throw it all away if there's anything left at closing time. That doesn't happen with the regular fruit section so what makes anyone think it would happen with the free apples?

CorbynsBumFlannel · 27/07/2017 00:47

There's no sign in our Tesco other than the one that says 'Free fruit'. I checked the first time my kids asked if they could have another piece. If it's the same in the op's Tesco the woman wasn't technically doing anything wrong.

becausebecausebecause · 27/07/2017 00:48

If she didn't have her hungry children with her, she had no business taking all that fruit out of the store. There's always someone who ruins it for everyone else.

CorbynsBumFlannel · 27/07/2017 00:49

And I have noticed that the stuff they put in the basket is nearing the end of its life tbh so I doubt it would be going out again the day after.

ComputerUserNotTrained · 27/07/2017 00:51

I'm quite certain Tesco have taken this into account as part of their wider pricing strategy - just like any other offer.

Hudson10 · 27/07/2017 00:53

Don't seem to have it in our local Tesco, if we do I haven't seen it.
Grabby behaviour like that is probably why it isn't rolled out everywhere though!
Seriously, just why would you grab handfuls? Take a piece, not next to the entire lot.
What happens if everyone takes several pieces? Surely you can see that if everyone took that attitude there'd be some going without too?

DramaInPyjamas · 27/07/2017 00:54

I was saying it would be probably be going in the bins as our local Tesco love wasting perfectly OK food - just an assumption based on that.

We don't have a free-fruit scheme - (I remember my granny giving me a bunch of grapes to munch going round in the trolley)

  • thief or early free-fruit pioneer? Wink
Hudson10 · 27/07/2017 00:58

I remember my granny giving me a bunch of grapes to munch going round in the trolley

don't even get me started on that Grin how you're expected to weigh the fruit at the end when it's on your kid's belly is beyond me, and why a child can't wait until AFTER the supermarket shop without being plied with food I'll never know.....

AnneGrommit · 27/07/2017 01:15

Are people really getting worked up about someone getting more of something that's free? Or taking something from fucking tesco fgs? It's not like she mugged the bloody dali lama or something. Tesco are not nice people. And you are not personally losing anything by someone taking something that is free and doesn't belong to you anyway.

Hudson10 · 27/07/2017 01:24

Tesco are not nice people.

Got it. Big, nasty corporate chain. Mug them off. Lovely little independent boutique shop, all OK. Hmm
Taking the piss is taking the piss whatever shop you do it in.