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 once got refused a sale as my ID didn't have my picture on it
I was too bloody old to have got one of the new picture driving licences!

I do understand the consequences for a cashier of selling to an underage person, or to an adult to give to an underage person, but what I don't understand is why merely having a child with you, or even worse another adult with you would make the cashier believe that you are going to provide alcohol to a child. That's the bit that makes no sense to me.

It is very annoying. My OH is 33. I'm 27. If I forget my ID, I can forget standing in the queue at the supermarket with any alcohol with him.

I have to sneak off to the car so they don't suspect a 33 year old might buy a 27 year old a drink to have at home.

oh no

Tesco stores should accept the PASS logo ID. We have to do the frigging legal training every 6 months and it's on the list of ones to accept. Along with photo card driving licence, passport, Garda(?) cards

The last time a cashier kicked up a fuss (a few months ago now) we left all the food we'd picked up from around the shop dumped on the convenyor belt and left it to them to move it! I was so pissed off, we'd spent quite a while selecting food and bits for dinner. That was in Waitrose! The cashier was a bit gobsmacked, but sod her, she refused to serve us, she can fecking well clear up, we'd already wasted enough of our time. We ended up going to Tesco

bluesbaby Just wait, there'll come a time when they don't ask for ID then you'll feel irrationally insulted

Sainsburys refused to sell me a newspaper with a free DVD (12 rated )in it because I had my young DD with me.

In the US, I was asked for ID, age 46 with lots of grey hair and wrinkles. When I protested, they told me they ID everyone, so I asked if they would card my father, who was 102. They assured me they would.

I will be sticking with Ocado, so these problems don't arise. Who wants to shop at a shit supermarket like Tesco anyway? I have never liked it and avoided it like the plague since the horse meat fiasco. No wonder their profits are going down.

Bryony, I am 50 and got ID-ed in a supermarket 3 weeks ago. I win. I said 'what? Are you joking?' She let it go through.

Its almost as if these stores think they are doing us a favour by letting us shop there ...

bluesbaby, presumably it would have inconvenienced her a lot more if she'd lost her job.
And you know she was safe, but she didn't

I used to run a student night in a bar and used to go into Tesco every week on my way to work and buy some sweets and a couple of cheap bottles of fizz to give as prizes. It was a small Tesco and so always got served by the same girl who I used to chat to and she would always ask what was going on that night (we had a different theme each week) and as I 'knew' her I used to let her and her friend come in for free. EVERY WEEK! One week the theme was pyjama party and so I was wearing pyjamas with a coat over the top and as I got to the till the usual conversation started etc. She then asked for id as i apparently didn't look 18 (i was about 26) and as luck would have it, it wad the same week of sent my driving license off to change my address so didn't have any. So she said she couldn't serve me.

One of the girls who worked for me was with me and do she offered her id instead but she said she couldn't sell to her either as she knew she was buying it for me. I couldn't believe it!

She didn't get any more freebies from me.

But isn't it perfectly legal for minors to have alcohol with food in their own home? just illegal to buy it for them? So what if the OP was buying the wine with the intention of allowing her children to have a glass with dinner? (nothing wrong with that!) Surely that would be legal? I agree its a pointless bloody rule.

It must be hell working on a checkout, grotty job, grotty wage and at risk of a criminal record for a simple mistake! It also sounds as though a lot of taxpayers' money is being wasted on 'secret shoppers' - I wonder how much they get paid and whether their job is marginally more interesting.

When we were in Florida my DFIL got IDd while buying beers. He was 72 at the time. To be fair, he didn't look a day over 70.

I got asked for id to buy a packet of toddlers' metal cutlery with my children in tow because of the knife in the packet! Apparently I looked younger than 16 with my four children the oldest of whom was 7 at that point

I said to him 'you do realise this is designed for toddlers and I will be giving it to ny two year old to use as soon as I get home?'

I think 'well, it saved her losing her job' is a bit irrelevant if the person is clearly eg in their 40s though, because she wouldn't have been doing anything illegal.

by which I mean that I honestly don't believe that anyone could look at someone in their 40s and think 'well, they might be under 18'. 40 somethings just don't look under 18. Ever.

To be fair, he didn't look a day over 70.

@ Bum

I used to work on a checkout as a student & it just wasn't worth my job or the fine to sell anything to someone underage.
one shift I had 2 youngsters trying to buy a game with no id so I refused the sale, got the standard grief. next customers also trying to buy a game, one had photo id, other only had birth cert so I refused the sale. more grief.
apologised to the next customer for the delay and having to listen to it, his words were "I'm a licencing officer and you did exactly the right thing". never been so relieved I'd stood my ground!
it just isn't worth the cashier's job or the fine for your one bottle of wine!

Teaspoon argument sounds like an excuse for a till categorisation error. All blades including plastic children's cutlery are restricted age 16 with id (although what I'D a 16yo is meant to have I don't know)

The place I worked that take bank cards as I'D is not for age restricted products but for an in store membership. But in Germany you can buy cigarettes from vending machines using a credit card as ID because you need to be 18 to have a cc.

But Potato, you used your common sense and you were right.

Refusing to sell alcohol to someone that is clearly over 25 because they haven't got id is daft. How are you going to lose your job for doing something perfectly legal?

potato I agree with you if you think the person might not be over 18.

I'm talking about eg my 40 something sister not being allowed to buy vanilla extract to bake a cake. She is fairly young looking for her age but even in the most flattering light she does not by any stretch of the imagination look under 18, or even under 25. There is absolutely no way that the cashier is going to be fined or lose their job for selling it to her because its perfectly legal for a 40 something to buy alcohol. So why refuse? (Not you, personally, obviously!)