When at Costco, it’s always better to admit you don’t like a food item you sampled than put some of the product in your cart without the intention of buying it, just to be polite.

Even if you feel like the employee is pressuring you into buying the product, it’s responsible to leave it be rather than ditching it somewhere else in the store later on.

Per Reddit user popo351, Costco employees giving out samples keep an inventory of how many products leave their sample station and compare that to the number of products sold.

If these numbers don't match up, other Costco employees are tasked with finding the missing products, checking their sell-by date, and putting them back where they belong.

When frozen or refrigerated items, in particular, are moved, they are immediately thrown away, as workers never know how long the item was out of refrigeration and if it’s spoilt.