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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think challenge 25 has gone too far?

207 replies

wanderingwillows · 08/09/2026 14:29

I am 34 and semi-regularly get ID’d. It happens often enough such that if I’m buying wine etc I always bring my ID with me.
I appreciate that perhaps I might look in my 20s at a stretch, I refuse to believe that anyone could think I am 17 and therefore not legal to buy booze. But the response will always be “but it’s challenge 25”

AIBU to think it’s completely ridiculous to refuse someone sale of alcohol even when it’s blatantly obvious they’re not 17 (or younger)?

OP posts:
Mindboggl · 12/09/2026 23:02

It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. I have ID, they can check it. I’m too much of an old bag for them to do it these days though!

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · 12/09/2026 23:55

MummyWillow1 · 12/09/2026 18:09

People must be serious alcoholics if they can’t go without a bit of alcohol occasionally.

Show quote history

What on earth gives you the impression that they're normally able to buy it but are only challenged on this one occasion? If supermarkets were to stop selling everything that people don't need, that would be 90% of the contents of the shop that would go.

I don't drink alcohol at all, but I can understand how many adults do enjoy it responsibly. Even then, I still have to be 'allowed' to buy 0% alcohol wine or beer by somebody at the till verifying that I'm over 18... even though the actual legal minimum age for not buying alcohol is 0 years old.

Thankfully, I've always easily looked my age plus VAT, so they instantly press the 'do not challenge' button; but if I didn't, and I didn't have ID with me, they could potentially refuse to sell me drinks with no minimum age limit for purchase whatsoever, on the grounds that they can't be certain that I'm over 18! Oh, and to clarify, I'm not an alcoholic either.

ConstantlyFuriosa · 13/09/2026 02:19

To be fair, I am an alcoholic (hic) but I need me some teaspoons, bad.

/satire

TheWytch · 13/09/2026 15:09

MummyWillow1 · 12/09/2026 18:09

People must be serious alcoholics if they can’t go without a bit of alcohol occasionally.

Show quote history

But that's it isn' it?

It's not just alcohol and cigarettes is it? It's things as basic as teaspoons! Things that have no legal age restrictions on them.

Mokel · 14/09/2026 07:04

Last year I bought some gin on Amazon as it was a very good price.

They do say that your ID will be checked on delivery and even on the delivery label mentions that IID needs to be checked

daffodilandtulip · 14/09/2026 07:11

I’m 46 and regularly get IDd. Absolutely no way I look under 25. 20yo daughter got refused vitamin tablets the other day. Apparently you have to be 14 😂

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · 14/09/2026 08:13

Mokel · 14/09/2026 07:04

Last year I bought some gin on Amazon as it was a very good price.

They do say that your ID will be checked on delivery and even on the delivery label mentions that IID needs to be checked

There's a big difference, though, between somebody using a keyboard - and possibly another person's account - to order an age-restricted product, and a middle-aged person walking in plain sight into a shop and wanting a bottle of wine.

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