That’ll be the cold sodas. Wander over to the aisle with room-temperature 2L bottles and they’re the same price as the small bottles in the fridge. Yeah, nah, I don’t need a cold soda that much.

And if I did, I’d casually take a cup from the coffee area and fill it with ice. I’ve done it countless times (because I like cold coffee), and only once has an employee said something - telling me I had to pay for the ice. I begrudgingly paid that one time (like 25 cents or something?), but after that I figured that if an employee were to give me shit about paying for a cup of ice again, I’d just leave all my potential-purchases at the counter and walk out.

Thankfully, it hasn’t come to that. Yet. I just avoided that particular store for a while afterwards. Their competitors all sell the same things, and after this episode I straight-up asked an employee at one of the competing stores about the price of a cup of ice - just to be aware beforehand. She made a weird face and said that they never charge for just a cup of ice. Like the idea sounded almost too absurd.

So yeah. Anyway. Thanks for putting up with my ramblings.