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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have made DD give back the vending machine freebie?

278 replies

BlowDryRat · 04/05/2021 19:02

DH thinks I am.

I allowed DD to buy some crisps from the vending machine at the swimming pool after her lesson. I paid for one packet. It dispensed two. I made her give the second one back to a nearby member of staff.

The leisure centre staff look after the vending machines and could restock it, so it would have felt dishonest to walk off with both packs. I wouldn't be bothered if it wasn't obvious who to give it to.

Was I right or a right mean mother?

OP posts:
ChubbyMsSunshine · 04/05/2021 19:35

You don't give the freebies back - they're a gift from the vending gods!!

YWVU

steff13 · 04/05/2021 19:35

I consider myself a pretty honest person - if I accidentally walk out of the store with something without paying, I always go back; if Amazon sends me two of something I only paid for one of, I always call; etc. But I think vending machine freebies are just karma for all the times I put my money in and the stuff gets stuck on the way down. I don't usually keep it myself, because I don't need two Snickers or whatever, but I will give it to a passerby.

PeskyRooks · 04/05/2021 19:38

Poor dd you really rained on her parade pointlessly because nobody gave a shit

YellowandGreenToBeSeen · 04/05/2021 19:39

Fuck me. A packet of crisps? You handed them in? Seriously??

I try to never feel sorry for peoples kids on here as who knows what goes in other houses and this site is but a snapshot but, again, fuck me...

hauntedvagina · 04/05/2021 19:39

So the universe rewarded your daughter with a vending machine freebie and you mad her return it?? Do you also make her hand lucky pennies in to the police station?

If she'd stuck her hand up there and stolen one then yes, that should have been handed in but she didn't, she won the vending machine lottery and she should have been allowed to keep her loot!

Original poster
BlowDryRat · 04/05/2021 19:40

Ok, IWBU and need to:

  • buy DD another packet of crisps (and then make her give them to her brother Wink)
  • hide from the staff even more than usual
  • make some sort of sacrifice to the gods of the vending machine to restore order to the cosmos.

All good?

OP posts:
ballsdeep · 04/05/2021 19:43

Op! That's the best part of using a vending machine!!!!! You were tight.

Original poster
BlowDryRat · 04/05/2021 19:46

Don't worry about my DD, I can assure you she is allowed plentiful amounts of food and fun and isn't force-fed olives or hand-knitted lentils or required to read from Debrett's guide.

OP posts:
lolacola77 · 04/05/2021 19:47

You sound a pain in the arse tbh. It was a little perk that you sucked the joy out of.

Confusedandshaken · 04/05/2021 19:48

If I'm undercharged in a shop I tell the cashier. I once returned an insurance payout when an item I had claimed for was found and returned to me so overall I think I'm pretty honest but even I wouldn't do that. That was a gift from the universe. It's an excellent example for your D.C. though, well done.

Thefaceofboe · 04/05/2021 19:49

😂😂😂 surely not

Roboticcarrot · 04/05/2021 19:49

It usually evens out, I've lost money plenty of times to vending machines and haven't asked for it back, so when 2 drop it's a gift.

Timper · 04/05/2021 19:50

100% would have kept it. Zero guilt thinking of the times the vending machine has kept my money and not given me my item.

Thelittleweasel · 04/05/2021 19:51

@BlowDryRat

You have taught DD a lesson in honesty - congratulations!

Though I suspect the staff will have been amazed and eaten the crisps!

MagicMatilda · 04/05/2021 19:51

When I was in sixth form I worked in a leisure centre, If someone handed something back, I would have said keep it as a treat! we took crisps and drinks all the time, perk of the job.

GeorgiaGirl52 · 04/05/2021 19:52

Good for you!! You set an example of honesty for your DD.
I was at a local fair when I was 8 years old. I found a dollar bill on the sidewalk. Hundreds of people milling around, no way to know who dropped it. My father directed me to a police officer standing on the corner and told me to turn it in. I have never forgotten that in over 50 years. My respect for my father's character grew enormously and I always trusted what he said because of his actions.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 04/05/2021 19:53

I’d have kept it, but doesn’t mean you’re wrong as such!

DobbyTheHouseElk · 04/05/2021 19:55

So much going on here...

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 04/05/2021 19:56

@womaninatightspot

There have been times where I've been shafted by vending machines I.e. put your money in and nothing comes out so when I get two of something (rarely) I'd think of it as karmic balance :)
True, AND why does it rankle so much when this happens? If I lost £1 down a drain I'd just shrug it off, but get shafted by a vending machine and I'll still be awake brooding at 3am (only half joking).
mrsbitaly · 04/05/2021 19:56

How many times have you had money stuck in a vending machine or you have seen it twirl around only for it to not be dispensed. I would have took it and ran laughing into the air that I beat the machine 🤣

Sparklesocks · 04/05/2021 19:57

I think vending machines cosmically balance out - sometimes you get freebies, but sometimes it eats your money or your item gets stuck - so I don’t feel guilty taking the extra freebie when it happens because I probably lost a quid some time before, or my Mars bar got stuck on the way down back in 2015 Grin

RickiTarr · 04/05/2021 19:57

@BlowDryRat

Blush oh dear. The staff there already think I'm a nutter for various reasons.
We need to hear about all of the reasons OP. Smile
sunsetsand · 04/05/2021 19:58

Poor kid.

This is what is known as a Brucie Bonus and the staff 100% ate it

mamaduckbone · 04/05/2021 19:58

Another vote here for vending machine karma I'm afraid.

Original poster
BlowDryRat · 04/05/2021 19:59

I gave them @RickiTarr!

OP posts: