To think challenge 25 has gone too far?

I’m 43 and still get regularly told I look like a teenager so no surprise I get regularly asked for Id.

I once bought a grass snipper from B&Q - essentially a long pair of scissors with a very narrow-opening jaw and two flimsy thin metal blades - and the self-service till demanded that I wait until an assistant came over to press the 'definitely over 25' button.

In the same transaction, before the grass snipper had instantly triggered the alert, I had already scanned a rip saw - an angry-looking tool with massive, vicious sharp teeth, which you plunge into stubborn bush branches or whatever to tear them open and away for serious pruning and clearing. It doesn't take much imagination to think how this could be abused by violent sorts, and could extremely easily kill a person. That was fine, though - no age-check needed on that one!

It’s worse in the US. My dad got IDed in a Walmart when he was in his late 60s 😂

Did you actually bother to go back to the shop with your passport - just for a can of drink?!

I do wonder how many sales these shops are pointlessly turning down, and also annoying customers in the process.

They tried to do that to my mum when I was 21. ‘Sorry love I’m not selling it to you with her’. Soon looked glum when I showed her my ID showing of legal age. As though she’d be buying the expensive NZ SB for her underage kid.

I get IDd every single time now. I just accept it tbh. I’m almost 32… alcohol, cigarettes, lighters, knives, GLUE, nail packs with glue in them, paracetamol. All of it ‘can I see some ID please’.

I don’t drink or smoke any more tbf so it’s not a huge issue but the paracetamol one pisses me off. I don’t have a driving licence right now so have to take an old residency card for a foreign country and point to the DOB. Absolute faff for a 48p pack of painkillers.

I got ID'd at Tesco once when I was 28 when buying a Red Bull 😂 Had to go home and get my passport. I was laughing about it though, always a compliment for a woman

I am 35. Very, very occasionally get ID'd. I just show them my ID and leave feeling very flattered.

Which Think 25 covers perfectly - but has no relevance to their bizarre independent decision to refuse a sale of alcohol to somebody who has proven to them that they are aged 18-24 and fully legally entitled to buy it.

I wonder how the shop would react if customers claimed to be concerned about child labour, and so refused ro be served by any adult under 25, as they were deemed 'too risky'? Or indeed any staff member with a foreign-sounding accent, in case they had been illegally trafficked to work there?

I am very nearly 51,and get ID’d its not about whether you look young it’s about checking.staff could be in trouble otherwise

I know someone who drove their car into a petrol station and got refused petrol without ID.

I once got ID’d when with my DC. I said I have 3 DC (who were about 5,6,7) how do you think I managed to have all of them before I turned 18? She was like “they could be someone else’s” so I said I wasn’t in the habit of taking someone else’s kids to the shop in order to purchase wine and she was welcome to see my stretch marks. She let me have the wine.

Also once got refused when with my younger brother who was about 16 at the time incase I was purchasing it for him. I had my ID that time but she still wouldn’t let me buy it.

I know someone stopped from buying wine because their (underage) teenage daughter was with her. She was helping her do the 'family shop ' but were denied it because 'she may have been purchasing it for her.
She complained to the store who agreed with the assistant so she asked how they could get round this in future, no response so she now shops elsewhere and has never had an issue.

The policy isn't about being blatantly obviously not 17 or younger though is out, it's about looking 25 🙄

The getting asked for ID and being refused if you have an older child with you and they don’t have ID and you look well over 50 is real. I used to send DD out of Tesco before I went through the till with my weekly shop as they wouldn’t sell me wine if she was with me, the default inference is that the Villa Maria bottle of Sauvignon Blanc was for the 15 year old.

Meh - just take your ID.

I work in a shop and them's the rules. They do send secret shoppers out to check if we are doing under 25 checks properly.

That's true. Our local paper recently carried a case where an 85 year old man was asked for ID when buying a bottle of wine. He didn't have a driving licence so sale refused.

I understand about the buffer when dealing with younger people who could possibly be underage, but there is no upper age limit on sale of alcohol and common sense needs to be applied.

Except…what if the person is so obviously over 40, say? Then the explanation doesn’t hold up.

Just coming on to comment the same!!!

I wish someone would ask me for id to buy alcohol. 😊🤣

If you don’t like the semi-random approach, the other option is that everyone shows Id, every time, regardless of age. It’s a simple step that protects the retail worker.

When I worked tills, if I was unsure I'd look at their shopping. 10 x Bacardi breezers = ID. broccoli and toilet roll = no ID.

Oldest guy I id'd was 41. He was buying cider and had bleached his hair to an odd shade of yellow - I think I just couldn't comprehend that an adult would do that to their hair.

Occasionally got folk waving their car keys as if that were proof of age. The only thing it proves is that you're carrying a set of keys.