To have made DD give back the vending machine freebie?

[BlowDryRat]

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?

When a vending machine ate my money, one of the staff unlocked it, gave me my drink and told me to take another one for free! You’ve been daft OP.

When my DH thinks I’m “sucking the joy” out of something he calls me a Dementor. Sorry OP but you’re a Dementor too

Good call on buying her another pack though!

What a stick in the mud you are.

Well you did the right thing...and set a good example to your DD so I wouldn’t worry about what anyone thinks :)

That was a gift from the Vending Machine Goddess.

She’ll be proper pissed off with you.

Watch your back, that’s all I’m saying 🤐

@BlowDryRat

Walkers Cheese & Onion

Well I was going to say you’re a big meanie, but you’ve clearly done her a big favour as C&O are rank. I’d be calling 101 if you’d made her Give back salt and vinegar.

Vending machine lottery, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Your conscience is clear. Your daughter got a snack. Please try not to worry.

YANBU. You are teaching your child integrity and honesty; you absolutely did the right thing.

However, the staff don’t actually have access to the vending machines so they wouldn’t have even able to just put it back.

Well done you, have a pat on the back for being so virtuous. Hope it looks great up there looking down on us mere mortals who would just take both

Yes! They are very confused about me

Brilliant! Shero! I think I'd chicken out and feel obliged to explain after a while, but not saying anything is much funnier, hats off to you!

(If anyone here don't know about Man Friday & swimming look it up, they're feminist legends!)

@steff13

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.

Yes! I feel you.

I once was half way home and realised I had a lip balm in my hand I hadn't paid for. I went all the way back into town to pay for it. But, even I, believe freebies from vending machines are god/karma/nature way of giving back to me and brightening my day

100% would have kept them both. As a teenager, I once got 8 (EIGHT!!!) packets of Galaxy Minstrels fall out the vending machine. Ahhh memories.

I agree with Redcrayons that the real crime here is exposing your daughter to the horrors of Cheese & Onion in the first place. Clearly they are so awful the machine itself it trying to get rid of them as fast as it can.

Well at least your heart was in the right place and your DD will think of her mum as being upright and honest. My DDs know that second packet of crisps would come under the Mummy Tax and be confiscated for the sake of their health

2-4-1 is a bonus with a vending machine !!, it's the stuff dreams are made of !! No way would I have given the free one back

(to be immediately eaten by me, obviously)

@Kettledodger

Well done you, have a pat on the back for being so virtuous. Hope it looks great up there looking down on us mere mortals who would just take both

As I said, I'd definitely take both in other circumstances!

I can recommend The Politicization of Mumsnet for ManFriday reading!

Bloody hell what a misery! Of course she should have kept them. Imagine how chuffed she would have been. Staff don't fill the machines so they would just have kept them.

NRTFT - you are clearly very honest, & trying to teach your daughter well

I used to work for a company which had products sold by vending machines (ie drinks/snacks) - a small margin of 'freebies chucked out by the machine' is calculated in the pricing for vending. So, if at some future point you get another freebie: enjoy guilt free

@ForgedInFire

Well at least your heart was in the right place and your DD will think of her mum as being upright and honest. My DDs know that second packet of crisps would come under the Mummy Tax and be confiscated for the sake of their health

Thankyou. The Mummy Tax already applies to Easter eggs here. It's a sacrifice I make for the sake of their health.

You know children are allowed to see there are nuances within this world of rights and wrongs, not much is just black or white there are many many shades of grey

It's very admirable of you - but I wouldn't have given them back. I agree, the staff probably ate them!

I would have kept them both. I'd have to get many free packets to catch up on the times I put money in and never got my crisps/sweets.

This reminds me of an ethics scenario I was once asked:

If you were walking past a cash point that was spewing out loads of cash, maybe £1000, and it was guaranteed you wouldn't be caught. Would you
a) take the money and run
Or
b) collect the money and give it to the police

I've always struggled with this question. But weirdly a free packet of cheese and onion crisps wouldn't register on my scale of moral dilemmas.

Shoulda kept em both, op.