Coupon is restricting min purchase to category

[wittymom]

Maybe it's setup to do this, but it seems odd.

I want customers to recieve a specific free product if they purchase $30+. The free product is valued at $5, so I've created a coupon for a $5 discount.

I have set the Top category to "Deny" and set the two products subject to the discount to "Allow".

The problem now is that the customer MUST purchase $30 of those two products for the discount to apply. I want them to be able to spend $30 in any category for the discount to apply.

* I've also tried linking the two products to the Top category, but that didn't work either.

Is this the way it's supposed to work? If so, is there a workaround?

Thanks!

Amber