Sneaky upgrade in coffee quality incurs the wrath of the law.

It’s not hard to get coffee on the cheap in Japan, with some convenience stores even offering the full coffee experience for a fraction of the usual price in other places. These affordable beverages are often sold for 100 yen (US$0.91), and buying them is as simple as bringing the provided empty cup to the cash register, paying for it, then heading over to the coffee machine to fill it up.

Yet one 62-year-old male employee from the city of Nakagawa in Kyushu thought he could stretch the limit of his 100 yen. Instead of filling up his cup with the allocated drip coffee, he shrewdly poured himself a cup of caffè latte, which usually costs a little more, at 150 yen for the frothy milky goodness that comes with it.

▼ Is skimping on 50 yen worth the arrest?

When initially approached by the store’s owner on 21 January, the man, who also happened to be a regular customer, claimed that he pressed the wrong button on the coffee machine. He changed his story once the police arrived though, admitting that it was not his first time getting a free upgrade to a smooth cup of latte intentionally.

Investigations are still ongoing to determine how much money he essentially stole from the convenience store, but some netizens joked that coffee machines should have more labels than they already have to prevent such incidents from occurring again.

▼ “7-Eleven does self-serve coffee and it’s easy to mistake the buttons.
But having so many labels would confuse people, too.”

https://twitter.com/caffeine_mobile/status/1087413119620509697

Netizens could imagine these things happening on a frequent basis:

“There’s bound to be people who do that.”
“The cashiers are too busy to be tasked with pouring coffee. But when I was working at a convenience store, I saw a ton of people going for the expensive options. Just install dispensing machines already.”
“How did he get found out?”
“Replying to the above, apparently staff were watching him during previous attempts, but this time the manager caught him red-handed while dressed in plain clothes.”

We hope the man learnt his lesson that no matter if it’s one yen or 50 yen, any form of stealing is still stealing. And if he really wanted to save money on that hot cup of coffee, his best bet would be to camp in front of a McDonald’s store during their free coffee promotion period. No free latte though.

Source: Livedoor News, NHK via My Game News Flash
Top image: Pakutaso