To think 'age related' purchases in supermarkets are getting stupid

[Mrsdavidcaruso]

Just been to Tesco did a huge shop using the scan and shop, one of my purchases signalled 'age related' and had to be cleared by an assistant.

It wasn't the garden fork I bought with the wickedly sharp prongs oh no it was the box of MATCHES that I bought.

madness

I often do ask for them to defer to management but I also believe in personal responsibility and not always turning the other cheek unconditionally. It's easy to say "submit" and look like the reasonable one but the expectation of unconditional tolerance is the bane of our society today.

We, as human beings, don't have to tolerate everything. In fact, if I believed in human rights, intolerance to nonsense would be one of them. I can be tolerant and usually am but there come times in your life where you have to turn around and say enough is enough. No more spam, no more stupid questions, no more excessive conditions and requirements, no more monkey business. For me, this was one of those moments. If it's their job, do it better or get another one.

If her manager fired her for not asking me and she fought back with an unfair dismissal law suite, she would win. The manager might actually have a better legal case if he fired her for asking me. You can't use the "I was just following orders" or "I was afraid of being fired" argument here as neither reasonably applies. I quite sure she was not asked specifically to ask me or to ask everyone but rather trusted to make her judgement on the matter. She made it and made it poorly.

I don't like having to do that and I'm sure it was not pleasant for her but she drew the short straw and broke my back with it. We can't all be lucky.

I got ID'd when I tried to buy vanilla essence apparently there is alcohol in it. I never knew this, will down a bottle after my next fraught day with DC

Stuff like this is why I hate being checkout trained.

I hate the Think 25 DVDs we get shown every 3 months showing people getting fined, talking about court cases and criminal records. It does play on my mind every time I have to guess someone's age.

Cashiers are on minimum wage, of course they will ask to avoid facing court, a fine and a criminal record.
It's a trading standard punitive, have a go at them if you want to.

What I don't understand is why they don't accept debit/credit cards as proof of age given that you're not allowed to apply for one unless you're 18 or over.

I'm sure there are many people like me who don't have a driving licence and don't take their passport to the supermarket, but surely most people over 18 have a debit or credit card they could show.

Because they will only take photo id as proof. There are only 5 different types they will accept iirc s
Passport
Driving licence
Prove it card
Connections card
And something else

You can get a debit card if you are under 18. I can't say about credit cards. It is also very easy for a child to take someone else's, particularly a parents. I have seen this happen many times before in the online business. It is disappointing how often parents are careless with such important things.

In the law, even if you sell to an under 18 it's not necessarily punishable if you took reasonable steps beforehand. You don't actually have to ask for ID but for evidence is enough as long as you and any anyone else would be reasonably convinced.

I was buying some wine a couple of years ago, would have been about 24/25, so it was probably reasonable that she asked me for ID. However, when I handed over my driving licence she said 'this doesn't look like you'. My response was 'but it is me' and she then proceeded to serve me without asking for anything else

Confused me a bit as to the point of the whole thing...

DH got IDed buying Alcohol Free cider the other day :o

SUpermarkets definitely have the most stupid rules/approach. I do agree tht it isn't necessarily the cashier's fault, but who else are you going to complain to in the first instance? And they are asked to challenge anyone they think looks under 25. Who could prove what they genuinely thought? The under 25 thing gives leeway so they would definitely challenge under 18s, but surely they can make a judgement about older people. If they didn't challenge someone who was, say, 24, how could it be proved that they didn't think the person was 26?
In our local Tesco, DD (18) can't buy alcohol if she is wearing her school uniform, even if she has ID. WHo do they think that is protecting?

I agree with mooncupgodess about the debit card thing! They're happy to accept fraud (as they're accepting a debit card from someone who they think is too young to have one) but not underage purchase of birthday candles/plastic spoons.

The medicine one is odd too- parents can be under 18, and surely would need to pick up their children's prescriptions?

It is ridiculous nowadays- and I doubt it's done anything to reduce the dangers. I'd like to see the stats for underage drinking sine challenge 25 came in.

Surely it's more to change mind set, to stop adults buying for underage people etc
Someone bought my nephew a bottle of spirits, he had never drank before he was 14 and drank the whole 75cl bottle and ended up in hospital

People really do not recognise the dangers of alcohol

I thought people under 18 could only have a cashcard, not a debit card, but maybe I'm wrong?

In any case, staff should be able to accept decent circumstantial evidence. I was once refused permission at Waitrose to buy a bottle of expensive wine alongside a trolley of nice food for my boyfriend's birthday. I was 31, and offered to show them my credit cards and my business card and answer any questions that would help confirm my age, but they still said no, though it was clear that both the checkout assistant and the manager I asked to speak to knew perfectly well I was over 18.

'In the law, even if you sell to an under 18 it's not necessarily punishable if you took reasonable steps beforehand. You don't actually have to ask for ID but for evidence is enough as long as you and any anyone else would be reasonably convinced.'

This is perfectly sensible, but it's not what the shops do, is it?

The till in asda wanted id for me buying teen girls vests the other day. The assistant was bemused.

btw Dd has had a debit card since 11yo.

It's a definite debit card. Looks the same as my visa. She can buy stuff in shops or online with it.

No because most (all?) Retail establishments have signed up to challenge 25 which has a straightforward criteria which only accepts 5 forms of photo id and challenges anyone who looks under 25

I think that all DVD's are flagged as age restricted these days regardless of their classification. Presumably most cashiers would just use their common sense and skip the asking for ID part when the "check age" comes up for U rated films.

SSorry, I was talking about alcohol. Not vests

Calpol / paracetamol is actually age 12 but if you look under 25 we have to see ID to prove you are over 12..... Go figure..... Just remember the people serving you don't make these ridiculous rules so don't shout at them!

apparently Asda is going to start refusing to serve people alcohol if they have children with them

I have visions of loads of kids tied up to the bicycle racks outside Asda shops whilst parents buy their weekend bottle of wine.

I was refused service in wether spoons as my friend had no ID. We were about 20 at the time and both drinking.....J20.

I got ID'd for ice cream in Waitrose! Poor cashier and I were equally confused until we realised it was Marsala wine flavoured... Cashier was under 18 so couldn't even sell me it without a supervisor!