to think Tescos new rule about alcohol is pointless?

[HotCrossCervix]

They wouldn't sell me a bottle of Merlot because I had a teenager with me.

1. A 16 year old is highly unlikely to be swigging merlot. If the adult were purchasing booze for said teenager, vodka or barcardi breezers would be more likely.

1. What if I had a toddler or 8 year old with me? Would they have refused to sell me my wine?

1. The rule is completely pointless. All I did was tell the teenager to wait outside for me, then I went to a different till and bought my wine. I could have done exactly the same and then passed it straight over to the teenager to swig illegally.

So. Completely pointless and nobbish.

And is it a real rule? or just the till chap being an arse? and what are the details of the rule? Any child at all? Any child over 10? Anyone with a moody teenager in tow?

I am 41. Tesco refused to sell me gin because I might have been buying it for my 25 year old niece who was with me but didn't have ID.

I was effing MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!

Likewise you had a big glass window and you would often see older people coming in to buy for underage people.

So (re the bonkers teenage thing) if you leave your (innocent teatoal) teens outside so you can pop in for a bottle of wine, you will look suspicious anyway?

Oh well, I'm sure you got over it

It's a till prompt on every age restricted item you scan.... Then we are forced to deal with it before the sale can progress

It's also all captured on CCTV. This is a heavily enforced ( by trading standards) rule. I'm not losing my job over it

I get retail staff not wanting to risk the fine/legal action Joules, but there is no way that anyone with sight would take me for under 25, no way anyone who saw me shopping with son could reasonably think I was buying for him, so what's going on?

It happens quite a lot and the one has to wait for a manager while the queue tuts. Manager always agrees I am an ageing husk of a woman old enough or that DC is clearly my DC and not my drinking buddy/customer. I always get served once a manager gives me the once over, so what's the deal with the checkout staff? That's the puzzle.

It's not new, I had the same thing in Sainsburys a few years ago with DS1. He was actually nearly 19 but didn't have any ID on him so they wouldn't serve me.

As I said I do understand why people wouldn't want to risk their jobs but still don't get the over zealousness that would lead to a grown adult being refused a sale of alcohol just because they have their teenage child with them or another adult who doesn't have ID. Just because someone is with them doesn't mean this is reasonable cause for the checkout operator to believe the alcohol is for them .

We'll the person who initially refused you isn't obliged to serve you even if the manager says so. No manager who knows his stuff would tell a cashier to serve if they had any doubts. I'd just sign off my till and let him/her process the sale...... We get trading standards send people in to try all sorts of ways round this. There's no way I will risk getting a criminal record.

As I said, the checkout staff are printed by the till..... In our case the screen goes red.....different people see the she thing differently. We all have to judge in an instant. Harder for some people to do

• prompted by the till

tesco - very little help

yanbu, stupid unenforceable rule.

fideline you would usually see them giving the older person money to get what they want.And you usually get to know the repeat offenders.
Also sometimes you only get a few seconds to judge you get some wrong and some right.

It's just people who are afraid of being tricked by trading standards. It happened to a woman in the shop where my son worked. She was fired and fined, simply for making a mistake. If I worked in a shop I'd probably ID everyone under 50.
Everyone should just have their DOB tattooed on their forehead at birth, then the government can congratulate themselves on solving the underage drinking problem.Ignoring the fact that alot of teenagers now buy their booze and fags from dealers.

It IS enforceable though

We enforce it every day!

It's not just alcohol and tobacco.... It's blades,glue,spray paints,gas,axes......

Drain cleaner
Wd40

I agree Joules and dust that front-line staff are in impossible position. We need a better system.

All supermarkets do this not just tesco. I agree with joules. I used to work on tills few years ago and had strict procedures to follow. I wouldn't have risked a fine or anything on my record either.
I would have signed off the till and got the manager to take over also, they aren't supposed to overrule a cashier.

joules, if I'm not misunderstanding, all I would need to do is send my teenager back to the car and then go through the till.

You've reminded me joules; teaspoons was the other thing i was IDed for last year. Twice.

I'm sure the checkout worker was no happier than I was.

I had this once, when I was buying a bottle of champagne from Tesco as an engagement present for a party I was going to. I had my 12 year old sister with me, who looked 2/3 years older.

The cashier asked for ID, I gave it. Then she looked at my sister and asked for ID, to which I replied that she was 12 years old. She refused to serve me. I asked for the manager and she waved over the 'supervisor' who looked about 16 herself and told me that although she agreed with me, it was policy never to override a staff members decision so there was nothing she could do.

I shouted complained and demanded the manager. He came down, apologised, and I ended up with the wine, an apology and a £20 gift card.

god forbid anyone ever criticises anyone who works on a till in a supermarket but bloody hell they are touchy but why thae actual chuff do they not use a modicum of common sense?

Merlot FFS!

"It's not just alcohol and tobacco.... It's blades,glue,spray paints,gas,axes......"

It's a good job it wasn't like this when I was a teenager. I'd left home and was living alone from the age of 16. Life would've been impossible if I'd not been allowed to buy kitchen knives, scissors and things like that.

Teaspoons fideline? Why the hell is a till prompting for ID for a teaspoon? Good grief.

That was sainsburys Grunt

(posted to soon) when I protested manager insisted teaspoons could be deadly if sharpened and that he had no way of knowing if I intended to sharpen them. He maintained a straight face, I was quite impressed with that, but I still left empty handed.

But that could apply to so many things. You could buy a glass tumbler and then break it to use as a weapon. My daughter works in Sainsburys on the bakery, but occasionally goes on the checkouts, so I'll ask her about this when she gets in.