Waitrose age ID check is bugging me

[Mothership4two]

I was is a smallish busy Waitrose (not my usual shop) with DS (25) and I bought 6 bottles of (not cheap) wine, a box of chocolates and a handful of day to day food items. At the till I put the items on the belt and bagged them while DS stood waiting by the end. The cashier didn't put the wine through and asked my son for ID. I was a bit confused and told her that this was MY shopping (I'm in my 50s and sadly do not need ID). She ignored me and asked for his ID again. When I repeated it was my shopping she said it was company policy - other than that she was pretty uncommunicative. So DS went out to the car to fetch his ID and there was a bit of grumbling from the couple waiting behind who then went off to find another till. DS came back and she put it through without a word.

I wasn't grumpy with her, I was just neutral, paid and left. It was irritating but we weren't particularly outraged and had a laugh about it in the car. DS said he hasn't been asked for ID in years (he looks his age) and that no "youngster" would be spending £70+ on wine for a party. We thought it was odd though.

I know there are much bigger things going on in the World to worry about, but it has bugged me since then. I know the cashier isn't a mindreader but it was pretty obvious it was my shopping and very obvious that DS is an adult. And also what happens if you go around with your 16 year old child or younger and happen to buy alcohol, would Waitrose then refuse to let you buy it? I'm sure that happens in supermarkets up and down the country all the time - buying alcohol when parents are shopping with their children. I understand that supermarkets have to have a policy for not selling alcohol to childen via others but it was patently obvious that was not happening. The whole thing doesn't make sense.

AIBU and has anyone else been put in a similar postion?

I think the ask everyone for ID thing was about protecting workers from abuse from clients rather than worrying about whether 80yr olds had ID. If everyone always has to provide ID then there is no argument to be had and no one can complain about individual workers being stupid for not realizing you’re not 24 but 31 etc. The fines for selling to minors were absolutely huge too. Same rules in bars, pubs and nightclubs. No ID and you didn’t get in.

Luckily we are not that officious in the UK, yet anyway. Whilst noble in its aims to prevent abuse of staff, someone who is prepared to be that vile to staff is unlikely to reason that the store asks everyone anyway, so perhaps I won't be abusive.

Personally, I don't believe that underage drinking is a big enough problem to warrant that kind of imposition on people going about their lawful business.

Challenge 25 and managing proxy sales with a common sense, risk based approach and properly applied without over-officiousness is the current, and best way forward in my opinion.

If someone tried to refuse me alcohol because I was pregnant, I'd be making a complaint to the manager. Nobody gets to police my choices.

And that applies to cigarettes too, however stupid I might think the person is for buying them. In any event, they might be buying them for someone else.

Also the law doesn't say you can't buy an age restricted item when you are in the company of a teenager. It's the poorly trained staff (and staff lacking in common sense) who are assuming that.

It's the poorly trained staff (and staff lacking in common sense) who are assuming that.

And the over-scrupulous company policies which can and do get used as a weapon against staff that don’t follow them to the letter.

I was IDd by a cashier with some form of SEN in the local Waitrose buying wine. Handed my driving licence over. Cashier sat silently staring at it for probably around 3 or 4 minutes. At first I thought he was just being very thorough, then it started to get weird, and then I realised he couldn’t read it/had no idea what he was looking at. I could have been 17 for all he’d have known. I’d started craning my neck looking for another member of staff to wave over when he finally handed it back and wordlessly continued with the transaction. I wonder where the law stands with that!

Yes, although I don't think they do always follow them to the letter, I think they often take them way too far.