Proxy Sales At The Till

[Bunnylady53]

I posted about this a while ago but hardly got any response. Unfortunately I am facing a disciplinary at work as I sold a restricted item to the friend of a customer who wasn’t old enough. I did ID him at least but just didn’t think that I shouldn’t have let his friend purchase the item for him ( just to say it wasn’t alcohol). Would this get me dismissed? It was a few weeks ago now so maybe if I was going to get the sack, I would have gone already. Hopefully I will only get a verbal warning.

If your training was up to date and correct I think you have to see how it pans out internally and, in the meantime read up on the company's policy.

I thought it was well known anyone in a group going through the till had to be of the right age. I always got my two to carry their ID on them to shopping trips just in case they stopped us from buying something (as I was denied alcohol when they were about 12 and with me). I have always thought that seemed an unclear rule though as most of the time when they were teenagers and I was on a family shopping trip I went through fine. I've never been formally taught the rules in these instances though.

You sold something to someone of legal age knowing they would give it to someone underage?

I had been very busy & guess I lost concentration. Our training consisted of answering multiple choice questions on a sheet & looking through loads of leaflets for the answers. Actually, a proxy sale only relates to alcohol. But yes, I shouldn’t have let the older guy buy the product.

Read the company policy on this. And how did you get found out? Was it a test purchase?
Was it an actual law that was broken by the proxy sale or a company policy? I think that'd make a difference to any disciplinary action. If your training is present and up to date then I think you will need to ride it out and see what happens unfortunately.
Have you been stopped from selling age restricted items since then and up to your disciplinary?

No I haven’t been prevented from selling anything, which I guess is a good sign. And because it wasn’t alcohol, I am in a lot less trouble. I’m hoping that the Manager is just investigating & all that will happen is I get a warning. I have been super vigilant since & a lot less chatty on the till

I was found out because another member of staff reported me but actually what they said wasn’t accurate & I have had the chance to defend myself on that

Sorry to say this could be a worst case scenario. It all depends on the item. If it was a pegi rated game then that is covered by law.

Hi, I was an HR Manager in a supermarket for a while and have a good understanding of challenge 25 etc. Did you initially refuse the underaged person & when his friend asked to buy it for him, did you then sell it to him?

Also, important to note that a proxy is not only limited to alcohol, it is applicable to any age restricted product.

It was spray paint. And yes, I refused the guy but then sold the product to his friend who was quite a bit older

What was your thinking behind your decision?

That’s the trouble - I didn’t think. But as my supervisor said when she was telling me about the disciplinary, that’s not an excuse. She also said that in her opinion it was very unlikely that I would lose my job.

I was trying to ascertain if you made the connection of the can being used for graffiti.

We had a reverse situation as I was refused at the till at buying spray paint. I was with my son who at the time was 15/16 and he wanted the spray paint for a skateboard he had.

I put it through the till as I was the one paying. I had some items of my own.

The woman at the till would not let me have it and we had to see a manager.

Eventually I was allowed but the woman at till was not happy about it!!

It hasn’t even entered my head as we went through that I would get pulled up on it.

The manager said if I had been on my own there would have been no problem.

The younger guy said it was for his bike wheel & he only needed half a can.

Actually thank you for that because I can now mention that in my defence speech

Good. Not every teenager is a graffiti artist!

He gave a valid reason for wanting to buy it. Ok it might have been a lie.

But if you had refused to sell it, the older guy would have come back later on his own either through yours or another till, so the product would still have been sold and given to the younger one anyway.

It’s a lot of pressure when you’re on the till so I don’t think you should be penalised too harshly. Just a verbal warning/reminder if company policy in my opinion would suffice.

Hope you’ll be ok.

Thank you Fire