Girly said: I do think the teenagers were rude if they were obviously only there for the free samples, but that's going to be a problem for the shop to deal with, not the other customers.
How would anyone know this? How were the teenagers’ actions any different from that of the OP’s?
TootsNYC said: o, they know that perhaps you won't buy something this time. They're taking a longterm view--if they create a positive link between you and them, then you might buy yogurt in the future just because you have a warm, fuzzy feeling toward them (you know, you think you *might* like yogurt, but may not or maybe you shouldn't, and then you, "oh, heck, I'll get some, I like the yogurt place and their yogurt is good.")
Or you'll wander in sometime sort of to kill time or just because you're walking past and there's a positive association with them (if you hadn't sampled at some point, you might just keep going, or kill your extra minutes somewhere else), and then you buy.
It's pretty cheap advertising.
(and remember, Etiquette doesn't care what your INTENT was; that's Character. The only thing Etiquette really cares about is what it looks like.)
I think this should apply to the teenagers as well then. Personally, I think both the teenagers and the OP were wrong, but regardless, I don’t understand the double standard.