Why was DD ID'ed when buying pens and pencils?

[redskyAtNigh]

Student DD went to the supermarket earlier today and bought a packet of pens and a packet of pencils. They were flagged as needing Age Id for her to buy them.

She is bemused. Apparently so was the man in the shop. Is there an actual reason that pencils and pens are age restricted, or had the supermarket just got their system set up incorrectly?

Were they marker pens that could be sniffed or just normal ballpoint pens?

Some pens the ink has alcohol in.

Normal ballpoint pens, so I don't think sniffable/alcohol based

Probably an error.
It happens.
(former shop worker here)

Probably just a glitch in the system. When I worked in retail once iirc grapes were showing up as needing ID to buy them. Much amusement from us staff wondering if we had alcoholic grapes into store.

Many years ago I got ID'd in WH Smith when buying a science fiction magazine. When I asked why the cashier told me (in a slightly disapproving tone) that they had to ID for pornographic material.

I spluttered a bit in surprise and pointed out it was a sci-fi mag, to which she replied "Then why is it called SEX?"

At which point I looked at it more closely and realised that Seven of Nine from Star Treks head was obscuring the bottom of the F in "SFX"

She did let me buy it in the end but I can kind've get her point on that one. Pens and pencils though? No clue!

Depends how sharp the pencils were.

@VimesandhisCardboardBoots SFX magazine used to (possibly still do 🤔) deliberately position the cover picture so it looked like the magazine was called SEX.
Probably just to wind WHSmith up 😂

SFX still do that sometimes!

I got ID’s for teaspoons. It was an issue with how the things were categorised on their system. Also got ID’d for grenadine (pomegranate syrup which is alcohol free) but it’s kept in the cocktail section, so it gets flagged on their till systems.

It’s an issue with self service because their courier systems aren’t perfect when they categorise stock for the till to read. Just realised it’ll be the same system at a manned till too! Gone are the days that the person just scans and asks without a till checking for them!

I had this. I was told by the cashier that attackers use teaspoons to gouge out eyeballs.

Grief. I guess by the same logic pens and pencils could be offensive weapons.

That sounds like a cashier with no idea what they’re talking about, and random staff jokey chat and they missed the joke.

If they are literally just pencils & pens then it will be an error. The flags been added to the barcode by mistake. The strangest one I've had where I work was a dressing gown.

I have to manually remove the flag for teaspoons & chopping boards etc as it's quicker to put the flag on the whole batch & remove the ones that don't need it than to put them on individually.

If it's a stationary pack that includes scissors thpughthen that will trigger the age restricted flag.

By that token, anything pretty much could be used as a weapon. A rolling pin, a glass, a shoe!? 🤣

Possible stab implements. 🙄

Yeah with it being Seven of Nine, who was an absurdly on the nose male sci-fi nerd's fantasy, you can see what the magazine editors were doing.

Might have been the area this shop was in - IIRC it was a dodgy part of the city where my daughter was a student.

Not just pens/pencils, but kid's pencil case sets with a pencil sharpener went through phases of being age restricted in our local WHSmith, supposedly because of the razor blade in the sharpener.

More likely because they are used by cocaine addicts.

l experienced that in schools.

A boy in a Fife high school used one to stab a teacher in the neck.

What are the cocaine addicts using the spoon for?

Actually my daughter was stabbed with a pencil in Spanish once (the boy sitting behind her was bored, it broke the skin on her arm). I will remind her of that

Because the pen is mightier than the sword? (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

That you, John Wick?