Sorry, this article is presently not available in your selected language.

The Refill Thief

Posted:
Originally Posted on YouTube: 2023 October 30

When I worked at McDonald's in the mid-2000-oughts, there was a lady who frequently dropped her kid off who would fill up his dirty, old, used cup then walk out without paying, because “refills are free.”  Well, no, they're free during your visit but not after you've left the store.  You don't get free refills the next day, week, month, or year after your last purchase of a drink.

Anyway, nobody had ever been able to catch these people because it usually happened when we were too busy to jump out on the floor, but one slow day the kid came in on my shift.  I simply walked up to him and said, “Hey, you need to pay for that.”  Then I walked away, leaving him to his own conscience.  A minute later the kid's mother came in raging and said, “One of the managers tapped my son on the shoulder and made him dump out his drink!”  Funny how a calm, verbal statement of policy suddenly turned into “physical assault” and coerced behavior.  Luckily the head manager was there and had my back.  She told the enraged lady that refills were a quarter.  From then on the kid paid the quarter to refill his dirty cup.  He was still cheating the system, but at least he wasn't outright stealing anymore.