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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

5p at Florist for a bag. AIBU?

98 replies

macarmahouse · 30/03/2019 17:31

I bought my mother a planter of flowers for £50 and paid with all the cash I had. I asked for something to cover it as my mum was in my car as I’d ferried her to an appointment. She said it’s too big for paper but I can give you a bag?

I said ooh great thanks! She said, 5 pence please? Oh I don’t have anymore change, ruffling through my handbag for some. She stood there holding the bag. So I said oh sorry I don’t have the 5p. Then she put the bag away and handed me the flowers.

I was a little bit taken aback but I do see it from her point of view. BTW I used to work in retail and we gave backs out willy nilly. I guess it is better for the environment.

AIBU to expect her to have said oh don’t worry, here you go, have the bag for nothing. £50 isn’t an insignificant amount to spend.

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 30/03/2019 18:15

You should have known that you needed your own bag with you then!

IceRebel · 30/03/2019 18:15

we were first in the UK to bring in this law

So why the surprise at being asked to pay, surely you should be used to it by now? Confused

Bringbackthestripes · 30/03/2019 18:16

Sorry Scots, but I live in Wales, and we were first in the UK to bring in this law

Then why the surprise about having to pay?

Original poster
macarmahouse · 30/03/2019 18:17

People forget! Surely you’ve been caught off guards?

Where I usually go to the Florist (in London) they have paper things to cover flowers with.

OP posts:
LittleCandle · 30/03/2019 18:18

In that case, you should know to bring a bag with you. You were just being cheeky. Good on the florist for refusing to just give you one.

IceRebel · 30/03/2019 18:19

Where I usually go to the Florist (in London) they have paper things to cover flowers with.

But she had paper, it was just that the planter was too big.

Also very confused about someone living in wales who regularly uses a florist in London but that's another thread

SnowyAlpsandPeaks · 30/03/2019 18:20

I’m joining the Scots- except I’m Welsh. We are used to paying now, so always carry several in the car! So for that reason- you are being unreasonable.

FrancisCrawford · 30/03/2019 18:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LittleCandle · 30/03/2019 18:21

In Scotland (not sure about Wales) we have to charge for paper carrier bags as well. In England, the employer can choose what to do with the money raised by the bag charge, but in Scotland it has to go to charity by law.

Yes, I do get people coming into my shop without a bag, but nobody really expects to see a clothes shop in a hospital and they cheerfully cough up the 5p. Although it boils my blood when they insist on giving me 5p so they only have a 'full amount' on their card

CurtainsOpen · 30/03/2019 18:21

Couldn't pay for additional item, didn't receive additional item. YABU.

SnowyAlpsandPeaks · 30/03/2019 18:21

Sorry read your last post- so you live in Wales, you should be used to it! It’s engrained in us all now.

Sirzy · 30/03/2019 18:23

And if I forget I suck it up and either buy one or if possible just don’t bother.

I’m sure given you parked at a florists the day before mother’s day it wouldn’t take a genius to guess what you would be buying anyway so if your mum had managed a peep before you got to the boot it wouldn’t be the end of the world

Original poster
macarmahouse · 30/03/2019 18:24

I’m Welsh but work in London during the week.... come on Ladies

Anyhow, glad everyone else is so much better than me and never forgets!

OP posts:
FrancisCrawford · 30/03/2019 18:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TrendyNorthLondonTeen · 30/03/2019 18:26

"after spending £50, I’d have assumed the bag was free too OP "

...why?

Tomtontom · 30/03/2019 18:26

It's not about people being better than you, it's about your unreasonable reaction.

FrancisCrawford · 30/03/2019 18:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
macarmahouse · 30/03/2019 18:27

What unreasonable reaction? I didn’t argue or make comment, just thanked her and left.

OP posts:
MissMooMoo · 30/03/2019 18:27

Scotland introduced the charge in 2014 and England in 2015,hardly decades apart!
I think she should have just given you the bag personally but at the end of the day its up to her

dementedpixie · 30/03/2019 18:27

If I forget I buy a new one or carry in my arms/ put in my handbag

dementedpixie · 30/03/2019 18:28

Which is why I've got about a million of them in my house and car!

LittleCandle · 30/03/2019 18:29

You just said you live in Wales, OP. Which is it - London or Wales. And since you are Welsh and they introduced the charge before everyone else, you should still be used to carrying a bag without thinking about it. You were being unreasonable. Why should the florist have risked a fine just for you? You spent £50? So what? The law is the law and the florist was wisely sticking to it. The more you say, the more of a cheeky fucker I think you were.

Oh, and don't worry if you don't go back to that shop. Frankly, the florist couldn't care less if you did or not. That kind of silly threat (I think it was a PP said it) just makes retail workers laugh.

SrSteveOskowski · 30/03/2019 18:29

I'm in Ireland. It's 22c for a bag here. It's pretty much impossible to buy one. A lot of shops don't even have them because everybody just brings their own.

It's been that way here since 2002.

Dramatical · 30/03/2019 18:29

I don't understand the surely you should know thing?

OP did know, she just didn't have any note change.

JemSynergy · 30/03/2019 18:29

I would have asked for a refund and gone elsewhere for the flowers. Oddly, I actually have more bags now that I have to buy them than I did before?