This is my second time picking up my free bagels this way (probably third or fourth time getting this promotion, but I hardly got to use it the first and second time since my Panera is far away) after successfully doing it twice last year getting 4 – 6 bagels per trip. Well, when I went to pick up my week’s worth of bagels today, my order wasn’t on the ToGo shelf and there was a manager hovering around. I knew I was in for a lecture when he asked me if I couldn’t find my order and what my name was, and then he questioned if I was the person who had ordered several free bagels in separate orders. I replied “yes”, and he said, “I want to talk to you about that…” then proceeded to chide me in front of customers and employees about how the intent of the ‘one free bagel each day’ promotion isn’t to have people order a bagel each day for free then pick them up in bulk at the end of the week. He asked that I “respect the intent of the promotion”, so I countered by telling him his employees told me they thought my method was a great idea, which confirmed to me that it was definitely allowed. When he reiterated that he thought I was abusing the promotion, I replied that the fine print for the promotion never stated I couldn’t order the bagels in advance and that it’s not my job as a customer to interpret a promotion; I followed the rules and Panera’s online ordering system allowed me to order the bagels ahead of time for pick-up at a later date. He shrugged his shoulders and stood there silently, so I asked him where my bagels were and he begrudgingly agreed to give them to me. He had them behind the counter near the food preparation area because I suspect he was planning to unpackage them in hopes that I would be embarrassed and leave without them, or admit I was wrong and give in. I’m very annoyed with Panera right now considering I routinely spend $20 – $40 when eating there with my friends and family (it’s probably why I got this promotion in the first place), and I bring the bagels home to share with my family. Furthermore, I’ve seen various Paneras throw away all these $0.10 frozen bagels that didn’t sell at the end of the day, every day. I’m shocked the manager had the audacity to berate me during the busiest hour of the day at the restaurant and in front of so many customers and employees. I’m going to make sure I order my free bagel every day for the rest of the month now and continue to pick them up in bulk. If he had an issue with my method, he should’ve onlineplained to Panera headquarters that he doesn’t think the promotion is successful rather than attacking a customer of more than a decade who rarely partakes in promotions. Everyone doing this: be prepared to stand your ground in case the store manager tries to guilt you into giving up your deserved free bagels!