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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be annoyed being asked for age ID

134 replies

RosePetels · 04/08/2015 12:20

For FABRIC CLEANER
the sales assistant really tried to deny me fabric cleaner because I didn't have ID. I'm 26yrs old he said I could just be saying that wtf why would I lie it's not alcohol
I am a young looking 26 but I do not look like a teenager, was I being unreasonable to kick up a fuss?
The manager gave it to me the sales assistant refused.

OP posts:

LionessAtHeart · 06/08/2015 23:06

Oh and there are plenty of jobs where if you don't have a driving licence or passport you have to get a citizen card for checks to be completed.

CheshireChat · 06/08/2015 23:20

I don't really mind in general, but it was funny when a chugger knocked on my door and asked if I was 16 (he was selling scratch cards) even though I was 24 and 8 months pregnant. And then asked me if I was sure! But then I was asked if I'm sure that's how my name is spelled.

Metacentric · 06/08/2015 23:22

Blame Labour for this shambles. We could perfectly easily have had an ID card system which was like the European systems: low assurance cards issued with minimal friction, not compulsory carry, used for daily low-assurance purposes and with passports and other documents stood behind them. Such schemes have been floating around for decades, can't wash their face in terms of crime prevention or such nonsense, but would make life easier than our current mish-mash of mis-using other documents that were never intended as ID (driving licence) or are unsuited to daily use (passports) as ID. For people who have bills and statements online, it's getting hard to prove residence, too.

But instead the securocrats and Labour's worst authoritarian tendencies crept in, and a scheme was proposed that was both incoherent (in that no-one knew what it was for, but some vague "crime prevention" rubric was hovering), hugely expensive, almost impossible to roll out and likely to upset a massive spectrum of people from the libertarian right to the liberal left. So as a result we get the current chaos, where passports (expensive, unwieldy) and driving licences (not available to a significant number of people who are legally barred from applying even for a provisional) do duty they were never intended for. Blunkett's fault, I'm afraid.

CassieBearRawr · 06/08/2015 23:22

"Not as much as I care about myself, no.

But vanilla essence is age restricted, even if it contains alcohol. A shop selling it does not require a license (for example, Lakeland sells good quality food flavourings with alcohol bases, and does not have an off license). What are you worried about when selling such products?"

I've never sold anyone vanilla essense as it wasn't a product in our shop. Personally I don't think it should be included in the list of restricted products, but if my employers decided it was then yes I would ID for it, because I would have to. It wouldn't make me thick or stupid or unable to use judgement, it would just make me an employee doing my job.

Happfeet2911 · 06/08/2015 23:25

I'm with you, it's fucking ridiculous, you are supposed to be over 18! Do you have to be on a bloody Zimmer to qualify

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 07/08/2015 08:17

We could perfectly easily have had an ID card system which was like the European systems

Agree, it'd help with many, many things - no ID, no booze. No ID, no rent, no ID no Employment.

But the scaremongers won, as usual.

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 08:38

But the scaremongers won, as usual.

Hardly. I was one of the campaigners against it, but for a low-assurance, practical scheme. The scheme as proposed could not have worked: it was simply too complex, too restrictive and too expensive. European ID card schemes are lower assurance than passports; Blunkett's scheme was higher assurance, with all the attendant problems, which is like using computer systems assured for nuclear release material to store your address book.

An example of the stupidity at work. In order to drive take up, the government approached the banks and asked them if they would switch to a system where the only document acceptable for opening a bank account was an ID Card. After a complex dance around all the other issues (for example, you don't need to be a UK citizen, or even have UK right of abode, to hold a bank account in the UK) the banks said OK, we're perfectly happy with our current risk management, but we will do as you ask if (a) you agree that if we check an ID card we have discharged all our know-your-customer obligations and (b) that you will indemnify us if ID cards are mis-issued? The government refused (showing great confidence) and the banks said that in that case, they would continue to do their own risk management, thanks very much.

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 08:39

no ID, no booze.

So tourists in the UK can't buy alcohol? That's going to end well.

tobysmum77 · 07/08/2015 08:50

yanbu op.

I have no issue with fireworks, fags and alcohol being think 25, because if you look young and will be buying them you know, but the frankly baffling array of products that you get id'd for at times:
nurofen
eggs
flour
children's knife and fork set
calpol

And increasingly more things are added ....

tobysmum77 · 07/08/2015 08:51

meta they would have a passport

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 09:21

meta they would have a passport

In point of fact they may well not; you can enter the UK with an EEA-issued or Swiss ID card, and large numbers of EU/etc tourists do just that. Do you know what a Luxembourg ID card should look like, well enough to spot a fake one? Well done you. Indeed, do you know off the top of your head who's a member of the EEA?

tobysmum77 · 07/08/2015 09:43

so fine they can't buy alcohol, so they need to know that to do so they do need a passport. What's the problem?

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 09:54

so fine they can't buy alcohol, so they need to know that to do so they do need a passport. What's the problem?

Excellent! I mean, it's not like tourism is a major industry in the UK, is it? "If you're an EU citizen visiting the UK, travelling legally, you need to carry an expensive document that you otherwise don't need in order to buy normal, legal goods."

What problem was it we were setting out to solve, again? Why is any of this necessary?

tobysmum77 · 07/08/2015 10:01

But it's the same for everyone, tourists aren't different

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 07/08/2015 10:01

So tourists in the UK can't buy alcohol? That's going to end well.

They'd have ID of some sort on them - most of them would have their own nations ID.

If you're going to make problems up, at least put some effort in...

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 07/08/2015 10:04

Meta

Out of interest, how do you think these poor alcohol deprived tourists are buying alcohol (or fabric cleaner, or lemons) now?

They already have to show ID if they look under 25/55/105 depending on the IQ of the salesperson.

The UK having an ID card system for UK residents wouldn't change that at all would it???

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 10:12

They already have to show ID if they look under 25/55/105 depending on the IQ of the salesperson.

But most of the time they don't have to show it, because most tourists (certainly the ones we care about economically) are over 25.

Hotels don't routinely ask for ID at the hotel bar. Restaurants don't routinely ask for ID when ordering a glass of wine with dinner. The suggestion appears to be that if you want a glass of wine with dinner you would need a passport for every adult at the table. All of which would be required with a "no ID, no alcohol" policy.

It would fuck the UK hospitality industry too, of course: how long is it going to take to get served in a pub if buying four pints on a tray requires you to show four passports?

And what problem was it that we were attempting to solve, again?

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 10:13

They'd have ID of some sort on them - most of them would have their own nations ID.

Isn't usual advice to leave your passport in your hotel safe?

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 10:15

But it's the same for everyone, tourists aren't different

I buy booze routinely in the UK and haven't been asked for ID in thirty years. ID challenges in supermarkets are notable because they are so rare: I've not consciously seen someone challenged in Waitrose in years. Moving from that position to challenging every person for every sale is orders of magnitude more time-consuming, and doesn't appear to solve any obvious problem.

Why should I, at fifty, have to prove my identity to buy a glass of wine with dinner? I don't in any other country.

tobysmum77 · 07/08/2015 10:32

no idea meta it sounds barking, but less so than the current system of refusing to sell someone a box of eggs with their weekly shop. Or Calpol for a poorly dc.

Alcohol is less important than some of the other things is my point.

I was just about the tourist point more than anything.

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 07/08/2015 11:24

Meta

Where are you getting the idea that ID cards means people are continually asked to produce them?

It means no such thing, what it does mean is that if people are asked they have something on them that does the job - rather than relying on Tattoos, children or stubble.

If 60 year old tourists aren't getting asked now, they still wouldn't just because the UK had introduced ID cards.

Gruntfuttock · 07/08/2015 11:29

tobysmum what explanation can there be for refusing to sell someone eggs without ID?

Metacentric · 07/08/2015 11:37

I was responding to "no ID, no booze. No ID, no rent, no ID no Employment."

what explanation can there be for refusing to sell someone eggs without ID?

Isn't there some northern/Scottish thing about throwing eggs and flour at houses on some night of the year?

RattieofCatan · 07/08/2015 12:07

I hate the 25 thing too. If they IDed everybody it'd be fine, but they pick and choose and it's ridiculous. Even when I was 17 buying fags I never really got IDed often! I turned 18 a few months before the age went up and never got IDed then either, I have only really been IDed since turning 21 weirdly.

I went to the shop the night before my wedding, 3 weeks before my 26th birthday, with DH-to-be and his best mate. I got IDed buying cheap champagne. Both of the others had ID but I didn't so they refused to serve us, I blurted out something like "But I am getting married tomorrow and am 26 in three weeks!" I was so incredulous, I rarely get asked anymore and every time I am asked I never have my bloody ID on me!

santas I've been IDed for grenadine before. I pointed out that it had no alcohol in but once they ask for ID apparently they can refuse to serve you at all even if there is no age restricted product involved

bodenbiscuit · 07/08/2015 12:09

It has become ridiculous and annoying. I'm 35 and I always get asked for ID in Marks and Spencer. But interestingly, if I have my children with me they don't ask! It's ridiculous.

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