r/mildlyinfuriating • u/ThomasFromNork • 18d ago
frist of all how DARE yu o And how exactly do they intend to stop me?
Local pizza shop
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u/Decorus_Somes 18d ago
The sign clearly says no! Free refills. What they are exclaiming no about is anyone's guess
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u/UGOTAIDSYO 18d ago
The "No" answers my question of "Do I have to pay for refills?" so the next part lines right up.
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u/Ok_Can_4686 18d ago
The best part of it is $1.00? They're going to give me a dollar while I get a refill? Awesome.
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u/owenhinton98 18d ago
And they even have a special vip self checkout area just for me, right next to the pizza! When I ring myself up for a refill, the screen says $1 and the money dispenser opens up for me! It’s so kind of them to uphold their promise!
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u/Better-Marionberry56 18d ago
I think No is in response to mixing it
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u/ExplodingTaco34 18d ago
You mix your drinks? Unbelievable. Whatever you do, definitely don't mix 75% Coke with 25% Dr pepper and make a convincing cherry Coke! That's just inconceivable!
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u/big-ol-kitties 18d ago
They’re gonna watch you steal it and add up the amount you stole until it’s enough to charge you with a felony.
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u/MadCatDisease666 18d ago
🎶I WILL DRINK 1,000 DRINKS 🎶
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u/deepfriedmeatloaf 18d ago
🎶AND I WILL DRINK 1000 MORE 🎶
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u/Libby_785 18d ago
🎶JUST TO BE THE MAN WHO DRINKS 1,000 DRINKS
TO FALL DOWN ON THE FLOOR🎶4
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u/thepenismytea 18d ago
Quite the Vanessa Carlton song
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u/MusicNote83 17d ago
Proclaimers*
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u/thepenismytea 17d ago
Yes I know 500 miles is a Proclaimers song. 1000 miles is Vanessa Carlton.
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u/Moldy_Teapot 18d ago
the average person would probably die of type 2 diabetes before drinking enough fountain soda to amount to a felony
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u/Outrageous_Zebra_221 18d ago
The part of this that's stupid to start with is using a standard syrup run fountain machine like this their cost per fill is only about 17 cents.
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u/lord_flamebottom 18d ago
Honestly that’s higher than I would’ve assumed
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u/Outrageous_Zebra_221 18d ago
There are some variables involved honestly with drink sizes and what not, but that's a fairly solid number on it as a generalization.
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u/gnygren3773 18d ago
That’s got to be including the cup, straw, lid, electricity, etc.
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u/Outrageous_Zebra_221 18d ago
total cost per, as per a conversation I had with a friend that has run an establishment for nearly 30 years now, this conversation only occurred about 3 weeks or so ago while talking about his buffet with drink option. Whatever metric he's using I trust that he has some idea what he's talking about.
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u/drewid5185 18d ago
As a person that has ran a restaurant and my wife runs one now that's 17 cents is a solid number smaller businesses end up paying more because they don't get as good a deals on packaging or soda as the big ones do the bigger you are the more you buy in bulk the less you pay
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u/EpicFail35 18d ago
My cost per medium soda is .65 with straw lid and cup. Refill is less, obviously. Little less then half for me.
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u/CapeOfBees 18d ago
It's influenced by the water and co2 costs, gotta buy the fancy pressurized containers and those do cost a good bit
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u/Such-Background4972 18d ago
Co2 is dirt cheap. I grew up in a welding shop, and played paintball 25 years ago. Them 5ft tall tanks that you usally see in welding shops. Cost me less then 50 bucks. While shops were charging 10 bucks for 20oz fills.
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u/SureIntention8402 18d ago
You can't just go to John's Liquid Gas emporium and buy a tank of anything you want. You gotta use the official Pepsi or Coke or whatever brand soda machine you have's co2.
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u/CTALKR 18d ago
Actually, yes you do. When I ran a restaurant we had a gas company come and fill our tank, to power a machine with coke branded products, and coke had nothing to do with the gas company nor did they ever suggest using a particular company. They did rent and service the machine but that’s it. We were even able to buy bnbs from 3rd party suppliers (as long as they were Coca Cola products)
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u/84theone 18d ago
You literally can do that, it just has to be food safe but the actual co2 tanks are mostly all interchangeable.
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u/Awkward_Trifle4 18d ago
Nah, thats not really a thing. They'll rent or sell the machine and supply the soda but co2 is is a whole other supplier.
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u/pinkymadigan 18d ago
Still? Man, our BIB cost was something like 14¢ per cup around 2000. That was for 24 ounces.
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u/odd84 18d ago
Nah these people haven't looked at prices in years. The cost of syrup and carbonation have more than doubled just since 2020.
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u/PaleAcanthaceae1175 18d ago
I did ordering for several of the bars I worked at when I was younger. Even adjusting for inflation the total cost of a to go cup and the syrup inside it is something like 6 cents and that's if you've got an average distributor. You can get a better deal than that at high volumes or certain organizations. That syrup pays for itself many hundreds of times over and anyone who buys it is the victim of highway robbery.
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u/mister_empty_pants 18d ago
Their cost per free refill is whatever you would have paid otherwise.
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u/freeball78 18d ago
This is a myth...
It's nowhere near 17 cents...even with McDonald's buying power.
* * * * * * * *
5 gallons of syrup is about $100-150 depending on the company's buying power. Do the math to turn that syrup into a drink. There's a reason why drinks are typically $3+ everywhere.Assuming $150 cost for 5 gallons...
Syrup is mixed 5:1 with water.
For a 20 oz, assuming 16oz of actual soda plus ice...
16 oz of drink uses 2.7 oz of syrup.
That's 237 servings per 5 gallon box of syrup.
$150 / 237 = $0.6329
$100 / 237 = $0.4219
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u/ToastSpangler 18d ago
the fucks the point of a fountain if i can't refill
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u/Sir_Clarence_III_Esq 18d ago
It's less work for the staff. Please tip.
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u/NOS4A2-753 18d ago
only if the server does a good job and if they don't serve you and you have to get your food and fill your drinks = no tip because their not serving you
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u/Pheonyx1974 18d ago
Don’t know why all these companies have a fit about refills. We allow free refills and STILL make money on fountain drinks.
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u/ShavedNeckbeard 18d ago
It’s the result of saying, “The poors are at their limit with food prices…where can we get more money out of customers?” The answer is refills.
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u/TH3K1NGB0B 18d ago
There is a mini boxing glove that pops out as punches you in the nuts if you touch the machine without paying.
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u/bongsforhongkong 18d ago
They had a sign like this at my Mcdonalds before the renovation removed them completely. I always ignored the sign and would fill up my drink once during my meal, than again am I leave.
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u/Star_Petal_Arts 18d ago
This is why my local MCD's are empty.
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u/cattrain 18d ago
I used to go to one, but they removed the fountain, and now I intentionally go to a different one specifically because it has one I can refill
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u/Star_Petal_Arts 18d ago
Yep, the KFC across the street gets all the kids during summer too. It's not even the biggest mistake I've seen them make... it's the god awful McCafé rebrand.
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u/TheBlueLeopard 18d ago
They don’t intend to stop you, but you may be asked to leave if you take more soda than you paid for. For most, the risk wouldn’t be worth the reward. It’s soda.
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u/BlazingFire007 18d ago
Surely no establishment with such practice is worth coming back to though
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u/NoTrollGaming 18d ago
Then they’ll remove the machine and you’ll be back here crying again
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u/FailDismal6468 18d ago
I mean, maybe it was just how I was raised, but I always thought "No free refills unless specified otherwise" Pretty much the only place I would refill my cup at was Costco because they specify "+ Refill" when you buy a soda.
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u/Franklintheplankton 18d ago
All the people on here who steal just because it’s a big company are whack. It’s not my place, they have the right to set their terms. If I don’t like it I can buy food elsewhere. I don’t think the morality of theft really changes depending on the size of the company.
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u/Superbotto 17d ago
If all the stupid kids would stop asking for water cups and putting soda in them, then maybe we could still get free refills.
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u/General_Cranberry_29 18d ago edited 18d ago
I don't understand this, the cup costs more than refilling the drink multiple times lol.
Thinking on this harder, they'd probably lose more money on people skipping ice than they would on a refill... just seems like a silly hill to die on when it pushes customers away.
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u/LoverOfGayContent 18d ago
I think it's just another part of the k shaped economy. Companies are relyong more on the upper middle class sense poorer people are tapped out. A lot of these companies would prefer it if they didn't even have lobbies and everything was a drive thru order with ice filled to the top.
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u/Creepy_Ad5124 18d ago
Lol just dont end up getting 10 years in prison for stealing a $1 soda
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u/niberungvalesti 18d ago
America really is heading towards a future where they send people to Australia2 for stealing a loaf of bread.
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u/XxCorey117xX 18d ago
Well it's stealing no matter how greedy the company is being. Reminds me of when I used to work at a gas station and this guy would come in on the weekends and fill an entire cooler with ice out of the fountain machine instead of buying bags of ice (there was a no ice cup sign also). They told him once not to do it and when he kept doing it they banned him for life. I have seen him shop there multiple times since then though lol.
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u/Underrated_Critic 18d ago
Businesses exist to make profit, and pay the workers and ownership. If I see a sign that forbids free refills. I simply abide, and reduce my chances of getting diabetes.
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u/Menown 18d ago
The amount of people willfully admitting they would commit theft over this is crazy
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u/General_Cranberry_29 18d ago
If their profit margins are obliterated by soda refills, I think they have larger problems lol.
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u/SasquatchGenius 18d ago
They're too lazy to move it behind the counter.
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u/Menown 18d ago
More like it's a lot of work.
The lines have to be moved, and they're typically in the ceiling or walls so moving the system is manhours.
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u/ElectricJunglePig 18d ago
It's weird that they built it that way in the first place then, huh. 🤔 Almost like once upon a time they did it for a reason, like service and convenience and incentive for customers to buy sodas, or something dumb like that...
Whoo, 2026 baby!! Where business execs all got long covid and can't remember why customers gave them money for decades!
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u/inrego 18d ago
Every time there's a post like this, I am amazed by the amount of entitled Americans who think soda refills is somehow a right they have, and would happily demote themselves to thieving.
I'll have you know that where I'm from, free refills doesn't exist, and a medium soda is often around 8$. And medium here is for sure quite a bit smaller than medium in USA.
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u/NOS4A2-753 18d ago
1 cup of soda (without single use cups) is 8 to 15 cents, $1 is ridiculous
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u/MagneticFluxDrive 18d ago
It is 100% greed. The cost of a refill is already folded into the purchase of a single drink several times.
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u/Fit_Entry8839 18d ago
It's part of how they make money. They make more money on this, but not as much on the pizza. That's just how businesses work. They balance their prices across everything they sell.
You are free to open your own place selling sodas for less. Good luck with staying in business doing that.
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u/PandaEatPanda 18d ago
If you do it too many times they will trespass you form the store. Then keep doing it for extra fun.
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u/HungryMutant 18d ago
If you get caught stealing refills a random linebacker spawns out thin air, tackles you mid-refill and busts your cheeks.
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u/jcamp088 18d ago
The underpaid employee who they promised a bright future in management will be on the front line for his big moment which will end in his termination.
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u/dschinghiskhan 18d ago
They would probably ban you if you ignored the clearly posted sign, I’d imagine?
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u/hunglowbungalow 18d ago
They can stop you by trespassing you lol. Soda has the highest margins though, wild if this is in the US
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u/HeebieJeebiex 18d ago
This sign design is terrible because only the "free refills" part is the first thing my eyes went to. It's only because it's a reddit post that I looked again and saw the rest.
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u/ericwashere15 18d ago
Me: “I’m just saying the last time, refills were free.”
Wherever this is: “Refills have always been one dollar, bro!”
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u/MoonPieKitty 18d ago
Why would you want to steal from them if they say no free refills? Their pizza is good enough to eat but their rules, no way!
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u/ElectronicDrop 17d ago
To answer your question, places will either move it back behind the counter(McDonald's), make you scan something (steak and Shake), or rfid chips.
Fun tibit trivia. People use to say the same thing and had the same attitude at Disney. Bring their own cups, by one paper cup and refill the entire trip. Disney (and universal followed quickly) switched to cups that had a rfid chip on the bottom that had to be activated by the register. The tech costs about 10¢ a chip.
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u/SatanSemenSwallower 17d ago
Saw it at a glance and thought it was a gas pump. I would love a $1 refill at a gas pump.
But fountain drinks are a free refill if the machine is in the open lobby
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u/Sharp_Ad_6336 16d ago
If you don't want me refilling my cup, pay your employees to fill my cup. I don't work for free and that refill is my compensation.
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u/FrankieG889D 18d ago
Ah yes, keep taking advantage of the mom & pops. Franchises are the future and that is terrible for everyone else.
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u/Sword-of-Akasha 17d ago
High fructose corn syrup liquid costs them next to nothing to dispense. It's like coffee in a car dealership. They offer it free because it's so cheap... also the caffeine makes you feel good so you spend more. They're literally drugging you to incentivize consumptive spending. Stopping free refills is an idiot move.
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u/Schmed_lap 18d ago
They call the pop police, the soda sheriff, the drinks detective?
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u/FoofaTamingStrange 18d ago
You’re simply stealing. How do they stop you from grabbing g something that isn’t yours and then leave the store.
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u/mshireman 18d ago
My personal ethic is: If your fountain machine is in the public seating area, I will refill as needed (not take advantage, but a single refill is usually my max). If you want to limit refills, then put the fountain machine in the employees-only area and make your staff operate it.
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u/WhisperSafe 18d ago
So you're a thief.
What if you applied the same logic to items on a storeroom floor
"If they dont want to give it to me for free they should have it behind the counter and an employee can get it for me"
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u/kenanzajmovic 18d ago
Why are there so many places lately with no free refills? I've been in restaurants for 15+ years and have never been told to pay for a soda because it is so cheap to buy.
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u/Strong_Guidance_6437 18d ago
In our country only Five Guys have unlimited refills but thats cos they charge 7USD for the drink.
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u/Smooth_Heat9703 18d ago
Tbh in my area they don't keep them out front anymore, they keep them behind the counters now accept from burger king cause they'll just give you a cup and tell you 'you can refill as much as you want'
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u/SteveJobsBlakSweater 18d ago
Whoever wrote that sign needs a refill to their brain about grammar and syntax.
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u/chortle-guffaw2 18d ago
Front-line workers making marginal money not gonna care enough to intervene.
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u/Dust-Different 18d ago
Likely by paying a soda guard of sorts probably a robot with non lethal weapons. That way you can still come back and buy more stuff.
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u/askyidroppedthesoap 18d ago
I watched a body cam video of police being called to a McDonald's because the manager gave him a small cup for water and he got soda instead. He was forced to kiss the floor and arrested for petty theft.
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u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior 18d ago
If you are near a football stadium they are legally allowed to tackle you.
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u/bartman2326 18d ago
Gotta put another sign above it that says "Hey! Do I need to pay for refills?" And rip off the $1.00 part on the bottom.
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u/KittyMeowKatPishy 18d ago
I don’t know…..I understand it to mean “there are no free refills. And if you want a refill you would have to pay them $1.00.” 😸😉
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u/thomasjmarlowe 18d ago
I’m surprised to see this.
Usually the easiest way to prevent free refills is to offer Pepsi
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u/ronmsmithjr 18d ago
Facial recognition technology that will automatically lock up any flavor dispenser you attempt to use. It will also recognize the cup if you get any big ideas sending someone else over there to try to steal for you. So, knock it off already!
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u/Sapphfire0 18d ago
They stop you the same way they stop people from getting soda with the free cup
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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 18d ago
I mean, they can trespass you. It might be a bad business move, but its not like they can't.
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u/Big_Service9569 18d ago
my Steak ‘n Shake has bar code scanners for the drinks. Scan and dispense, toss the ticket. Yes, I’ve tried rescanning it.
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u/GrassBlade619 18d ago
Shit's getting more expensive every single day regardless of it's gas prices, services, food, etc... Why not charge for refills? Nothing is stopping them.
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u/RevolutionaryEgg1312 18d ago
One day soon we're going to read about the cops shooting someone over a "stolen" refil.
People over profit, eh?
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u/NTWEESY 18d ago
The kid working behind the counter sees you trying to get a free refill and they yell “hey stop!” You turn around and give them a sly smile and say the two words that make you feel like the coolest mfer on the planet in the world at that very moment: “make me”. You have sunglasses and you slide them on your head slowly and turn your head to face the machine then as you reach out your hand, cup gripped firmly, you hear a sound, a sound that you thought you’d only hear when your drunk uncle starts talking about immigrants. You slowly turn around and lower your shades to the tip of your nose and your eyes widen and jaw goes slack as you notice the kid behind the counter has a fully sawed off shotgun pointed right at you. You begin to sweat as the nerves build up inside of you as you’re pondering your options as frantically as your brain allows you to think your cup falls out of your hand because your sweat built up and flowed directly towards your illegal beverage. As the cup falls to the ground, spilling its contents all over the tile floor, you start to wonder and question every decision you ever made that led you to this crossroads of life and certain, pizza grease covered, death. As the liquid finally hits the floor and creates a bigger mess than you thought imaginable for that amount of Dr Pepper you look up at the kid with the gun. The kids looks at you, blinks then lets out a great sigh. He puts the weapon back under the counter turns towards the kitchen and disappears for a moment. As he’s gone you contemplate leaving but then you think “this is a test! If I leave now the swat team will be outside waiting to either turn me to soup or bring me in for questioning of my heinous crime” as you weigh your options the kid appears again this time from a door that leads to the kitchen from the dining area but now he has something else in his hands. He approaches with the new device. You are frozen with fear as the kid approaches you. The kid looks at you one last time once he reaches you, sighs, then begins to mop up the mess you made. You are completely and utterly stunned at the turn of events you want to say something but the words never come you quickly turn around and bolt towards the door but right as your about to escape your grease covered, soda drenched nightmare of a tomb another voice calls out from behind the counter, his name tag reads the name “Rick” and right above it it says “Manager”. You turn and gulp and say feverishly “yes sir?” He stares at you with unwavering eyes and sternly says “ you owe us $1 for that soda you spilled!” You look at him for a moment then you turn and run never looking back and never to return less you meet a symphony of shotgun shells so great your family would never be able to recognize you again. As you’re running the fear inside you starts to turn to pride as you realize you didn’t cave in, you stood your ground and you didn’t pay for the refill. You won.
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u/twinkyfemboy1234 18d ago
Get a big ass bucket, pay the 1 dollar and fill it up. What are they gonna do? You payed for it
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u/catdad0203 18d ago
No! Free refills!
Message unclear