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Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you’re standing up for yourself or just looking for something for free.

That’s what this college student started thinking about after stopping by Quiznos for a quick meal. While paying, a sign on the register caught the student’s attention saying the meal would be free if the cashier didn’t provide a receipt.

After a few moments, the cashier gave the student the food but never handed over the receipt. But when another employee explained that customers were supposed to ask for it, the whole policy suddenly stopped making much sense.

As a broke college student, a free meal would’ve made a big difference. At the same time, getting a fast-food employee in trouble over an honest mistake didn’t sit right either.

Keep reading to see what you think the student should’ve done.

WIBTA if I claimed a free meal because the cashier didn’t give me a receipt?

This just happened about 15 minutes ago at the Quiznos directly beneath my apartment complex.

I went down, ordered my tuna melt sub meal, and was about to pay when I noticed the register had a sign that said, “Call 866-4-TOASTED if you don’t get your receipt and your meal is on us!” or something along those lines.

Beneath it, in tiny writing, it said something like, “Cashier must be notified before leaving the register.”

He waited for the receipt, but she didn’t give it to him.

So I paid, she gave me my cup for my drink, and I waited for her to give me the receipt, but she didn’t, even though it had printed out. She went and got my tater tots (part of the meal) from the oven, put them in the bag, handed me the bag, said, “Come again!” and then disappeared into the back room.

At that point, I looked in the bag to make sure she hadn’t put the receipt in there. When I didn’t find it, I asked another employee about the sign on the register.

He quickly went back to the register, handed me the receipt, and told me, “Well, you have to ask for it.”

I didn’t want to make a scene or be “that guy,” so I just said, “Oh, okay.”

When he got back home, he started thinking.

Then the cashier came back out, and he told her what was going on. She said, “I put it in the bag.”

I responded, “It wasn’t in the bag. He just handed it to me, but it’s alright.”

Then I left.

I came back up to my room and asked my roommate about the situation. He said he would be okay calling the number if he knew it didn’t affect the employees, and I agreed.

Now, he’s trying to decide if trying to get the free meal is worth it.

If it were to be taken out of their wages or some crazy **** like that, I definitely wouldn’t want to do that to them, as people in that industry are already overworked and underpaid.

But then it got me thinking. In what situation would that meal actually be free? I pointed out that I didn’t get the receipt, and I was told I had to ask for it.

So if everyone has to ask for it, then what’s the point of saying you get a free meal if you don’t receive it? If you ask for the receipt, you’ll obviously get it.

Additionally, this seems like the type of policy that only works out in the customer’s favor if they’re willing to be loud, aggressive, or pushy. So, the bottom line, I really didn’t get my receipt, and as a poor college student, a free meal would go a long way.

WIBTA?

Eek! That’s a tough call that pretty much depends on your morals.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit think about it.

This reader just doesn’t like the policy.

According to this reader, they never really pay out on these policies.

Great point.

For this person, his window of opportunity has closed for this one.

This one really comes down to what the restaurant promised.

If the sign said the meal was free without a receipt, then the student really wouldn’t have been doing anything wrong by calling the number. After all, the restaurant made the offer, so it should be prepared to honor it.

At the same time, it would’ve been nice to know whether the employee would get in trouble first.

Because as he said, a free meal isn’t worth someone losing their job over.