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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you take a bottle of champagne from a drinks gathering?

157 replies

highlighters1 · 28/11/2018 19:34

Free drinks hosted by an organisation I am member of. This is a very very very wealthy organisation, worth in excess of £500 million.

There were 50 people and 100 bottles of champagne.

As I was leaving I saw a crate of champagne and so nabbed a bottle. AIBU?

OP posts:
ApolloandDaphne · 28/11/2018 21:47

Yeah it's fine. I would have done the same It is a bottle of champagne there for this occasion. OP could have drank it at the event but was driving. No one is losing out because she took a bottle.

Miscible · 28/11/2018 21:50

No one is losing out because she took a bottle.

How do you know? They may well be supplied on a sale or return basis. This is obviously theft.

tenbob · 28/11/2018 21:52

I think some posters need to swot up on the definition of theft before accusing OP of stealing

If the champagne was left there to be consumed by the invited guests, it was to be consumed by the invited guests

You can't permanently deprive the organisation by taking some to drink if they fully intended for you to drink it

Honeypickle · 28/11/2018 21:54

What if people senior to you in the organization had seen you? The organizers or the president of it? Don’t you think they’d think poorly of you? I think for the sake of one bottle of champagne, you risked your reputation within this organization. Hope it was worth it.

WarCat · 28/11/2018 21:55

Meh, probably would have if I'd been drunk. Slap the cuffs on!

mineofuselessinformation · 28/11/2018 22:00

Ok, so you're going to excuse yourself, OP.
Personally, I wouldn't have done it without asking first.
It wasn't their issue that you weren't drinking while you were there - but you are justifying yourself anyway.
Basically you stole alcohol from other people who might have been able to 'have a drink'.
I don't think that's the right way to go about things.

  • and I find champagne very drinkable.
Penny1976 · 28/11/2018 22:02

Fair play to you but I think I would have been too worried about being spotted to have swiped one without asking.

Miscible · 28/11/2018 22:02

You can't permanently deprive the organisation by taking some to drink if they fully intended for you to drink it

Take that to its logical conclusion and it would have been fine for OP to take all the bottles in the crate. Do you think that would have been OK?

JuniperBeer · 28/11/2018 22:03

Out of interest... what champagne was it?!

MakeAHouseAHome · 28/11/2018 22:04

YABU. They provided drinks while you were there. Not to steal after.

We go to a hotel chain where full bottles of spirit are provided in the room. I don't consider them mine to take when we leave...

maddiemookins16mum · 28/11/2018 22:06

I wouldn’t, poor manners.

MakeAHouseAHome · 28/11/2018 22:08

Tbh if I saw a colleague doing that I would think you were sad, classless and desperate too.

Etino · 28/11/2018 22:08

@trojanpony
Can you defend your use of pikey please? Not goadily, I have a theory it has a very specific geographical usage. It’s often on the tip of my tongue but I don’t use it as it causes offence.

LagunaBubbles · 28/11/2018 22:10

We go to a hotel chain where full bottles of spirit are provided in the room. I don't consider them mine to take when we leave

If the hotel are providing them free i. e. not chargeable then of course they are yours to take. They can hardly leave a half used bottle for the next guest?! Confused

LoveManyTrustfew · 28/11/2018 22:10

Chavtastic

MrsEricBana · 28/11/2018 22:12

No and I think you know it's not great or you wouldn't be asking.

PyongyangKipperbang · 28/11/2018 22:16

Hell yes, and I wouldnt have posted on MN to get roasted about it either.

Sowhatifidosnore · 28/11/2018 22:17

Out of interest, how much money do you make, to be part of this organisation that caters for 2 bottle of champagne per attendee? I’d say no not out of order as they providing it and your fees or sponsorship apparently cover that, but do you need to nick it? Is this the haves getting even more for free?

Leobynature · 28/11/2018 22:19

OMG! What is the big deal. Who is the victim here? I doubt the organisation would have noticed/minded. there are more important things to be bothered about.

But this is Mumsnet a crazy parallel universe where everyone abides by ever fucking rule giving them both permission and platform to harshly judge others.

Just enjoy the bubbly.

Greensleeves · 28/11/2018 22:21

Hopefully OP is happily glugging her fizz and pissing herself laughing at all the po-faced bosom-hoikers on here!

MrMeSeeks · 28/11/2018 22:24

All those holier than thou people on this thread. Well done for being so bloody brilliant. And honest
Not holier, i just don’t steal

FitzChivalryFarseer · 28/11/2018 22:31

Well done for being so bloody brilliant. And honest

Not sure that helping yourself to something that isn't yours to take is either brilliant or honest.

CheekyRedhead · 28/11/2018 22:37

Wow no that's theft. I'm sure any unused bottles would have been refunded by the venue. If someone did that where I work is are then in a very poor light. Dishonest

The4thSandersonSister · 28/11/2018 22:38

Look on the information you posted they were for the consumption of guests. You were a guest who was driving so could not indulge onsite so you were just taking what to might have drunk otherwise at home. Had you grabbed a pal and taken a crate then OK you would be guilty of being greedy.

The bit about your chum the Hon. is a weak attempt at a justification of your choice that you really didn't need to make. Your choice to enjoy the gift provided on your own terms was fine.

Fifthtimelucky · 28/11/2018 22:40

If the event had been at a private house, no-one would be defending this. If I invited a group of friends round for a drink, and at the end of the evening there were some bottles that hadn't been opened, I wouldn't expect my guests to walk off with them. I'd want to keep any leftovers for another time.

I am not wealthy and I do not cater for 2 bottles of champagne per head, but the principle is the same. A wrong does not become right because the organisation is wealthy. Or because other people were acting in the same way.