To get my FREE Waitrose Coffee BEFORE I pay for my shopping & BEFORE I leave the shop?

[RighteousSista]

Often of a morning i like to fill up my refillable Waitrose cup with the free coffee which I drink when wandering around the shop and picking up shopping that qualifies said free drink.
It has recently been raised by the veh naice security guard that I need to prove i have paid for it before getting it. I always thought that so long as I had paid for my shopping (ergo accounting for free coffee which would also be in the receipt) & I had not left premises without paying nor intentionally depriving them. first world problem i know! but AIBU?

I never understand the angst people display over a fucking free coffee. It’s pathetic. And yes, YABU totally for floating around the store drinking your free coffee. It’s Waitrose, not the Sahara desert.

This is embarrassing.. OP, seriously, what did you do while shopping, before this coffee promotion? Does it genuinely bother you if you’re only able to have your coffee once you’ve, you know, actually paid for your shopping?!

I've never seen this enforced but then again, I've always paid for my shopping before I try to get my coffee. I don't know which shops give out the paper cups now, all the stores near me require you to bring your own reusable cup.

Well it's not on, does the nice security guard not know what a special little snowflake you are and that the nasty rules don't apply to you? Do you have any concept of how pathetic this is?

The one time I got my coffee before I'd finished shopping it tipped over and I left a trail of latte all the way from the pasta aisle to the checkouts

I think it should be fine morally, but I wouldn’t be brave enough to do it.

The way you've capitalised the words in your title absolutely scream "nightmare customer"

If someone accidentally knocked into you it would he hot coffee and slip hazards everywhere. YABU. Just be pleased that you are getting a free coffee in the first place!

I pay for my shopping, then get the drink if I want one, and I put the cup in the trolley.

Where they do miss out is I used to buy a meal in the cafe but have stopped this now I don't get a drink there.

The Uk obsession about not being able to be out of the house for more than 30 minutes without needing a drink.

No-one needs coffee on a trip to the supermarket. The sooner Waitrose stop it the better. I used to shop there, probably spent £12,000 a year as it is next to my house but I stopped due to:
Free Coffee
Pippa Middleton
The refit which meant that at a 5 foot 8 woman I couldn't reach the upper shelves. They needed the space to put in seats for those drinking the bloody coffee!

Register for scan as you shop, scan the bar code for the coffee on the way in, it gets added to your bill but then is deducted at the checkout. Waitrose coffee is lovely but I couldn't walk around the store with it.

"Veh naice"

But you're actually having 2 free coffees if you're filling it before and after 🤔

May have misread that but still, get a grip

I scan the code, collect coffee & drink as I shop. If they wanted me to collect it after I shop, why site the coffee machine inside the entrance, not by the exit? Managed not to spill any yet or been apprehended by security.

YABU
They're the rules and it has to be the same for everyone.
Otherwise people would start wandering around the store chugging free coffee, then leave without buying anything

If I do that I scan the barcode at the coffee machine with my self scan so I’ve registered it before I drink it but not before I’ve paid for it.

Security guard sounds a bit officious to me.

You have to buy something first or you are just stealing it.

In ours you have to scan your card before the machine will release the coffee, so I assume you can’t get one until you’ve paid.

Thanks for the reminder op, free coffee tomorrow :)

ememem your store still has disposable cups?! Since last autumn we have to bring in our reusable cups.

Go in through the door. Buy a lettuce. Get your coffee. Walk around the shop, shopping with your coffee. Go to the tills. Buy the rest of your items. Finish the coffee. Leave.

@DrinkFeckArseGirls I’m pretty sure they do yes. Although we don’t regularly shop there. Maybe they’re just running down the supplies.

Initially when Waitrose came here (jersey) they had problems with one of the three stores (the one closest to the main town here) because almost everyone works in main town and loads of people were going in and getting free coffee before work. I think that was before the minimum spend time though.

@EveshamMum do you actually live in Evesham? (I do!! 🤭)

I still don’t get why anyone needs a drink to walk around a shop. It’s bad enough when kids do it.