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AIBU?

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Original poster

To hate "think 25" guidance

357 replies

FairiesAlwaysWearBlue · 13/05/2017 16:34

Im 28 and look my age! I'm ten years over the legal drinking age and Waitrose wouldn't let me buy a bottle of cider!

Yes I know I should have had ID but I don't drive so no license and I don't often have my passport with me.

I was looking forward to my bottle of cider as a treat for working hard in the library earlier today.

Yes you should protect underage children from buying alcohol but IABU to be annoyed with "think 25" now means everyone needs to show ID?

OP posts:
Splodgeinc · 15/05/2017 18:02

It was 3.50pm on a Sunday and I needed calpol (wellgenetic chepo paracetamol) for my sick baby....shopping elsewhere was going to be a bit difficult at that point. You should have to have ID to by basic non age restricted medicine

Splodgeinc · 15/05/2017 18:03

*buy

Radishal · 15/05/2017 18:03

No, I agree on Calpol. Totally agree. But alcohol ? Different story.

NoMudNoLotus2 · 15/05/2017 18:04

I wonder what the statistics are for underage selling of alcohol? How many 16/17 years actually get served?

I had a shop assistant say to me "Oh I better ask you for ID as I haven't asked anyone in a while" Hmm As in there was a certain number of people they had to ask in a day which seems very odd to me. He didn't even think I was underage, I was just a number to add to his quota Hmm

NoMudNoLotus2 · 15/05/2017 18:09

I shop elsewhere. Asda I don't bother with anymore nor Sainsbury's. Their policies are totally over the top. A woman in Sainsbury's asked me ID for Paracetamol Hmm Said it was "store policy to look 25." So I made it my "policy" not to shop there anymore.

I don't think it's being overentitled, I think it's more adults who clearly don't look like teenagers wanting to but something they are 10 plus years over the age limit for without being turned away if they don't have ID.

BoysofMelody · 15/05/2017 18:12

How many 16/17 years actually get served?

I wonder. Certainly when I started drinking in the mid 90s you could get served in an off licence from 14/15 onwards and pubs from 16. I don't think I was ever refused service or asked for ID, but a lot of people didn't have ID then. No photo driving licences and very few people where I grew up had passports.

QuimJongUn · 15/05/2017 18:15

The attitude of some people to hard pressed retail staff does make me wonder at an over inflated sense of entitlement

Hardly 'entitled' to be expected to be allowed to purchase items which in law you are of age to buy, and shop staff accept that you are, but still insist on ID. Or being able to buy age restricted items unchallenged when you're a 40yo woman with grey hair. Or to be able to buy painkillers when you're 17, or 27, or 37, as legally you're allowed to do.

Do I think we're entitled to expect common sense is applied when making transactions like these? Guilty as charged.

Unihorn · 15/05/2017 18:16

In my restaurant company we don't observer the 16-17 year old law, we only allow over 18s to drink anything. We're probably not the only ones.

Radishal · 15/05/2017 18:18

As I have already said , painkillers shouldn't have this kind of problem but alcohol? That's different.

NoMudNoLotus2 · 15/05/2017 18:19

I wonder if the goal posts will be moved again soon where they will implement a think 30 challenge? That would be awful. I would get the think 25 policy if alcohol was age restricted to 21, but it being 18 the think 25 just seems ott.

Radishal · 15/05/2017 18:26

It is the retailer's decision. We don't know what shit they've had to deal with over getting a licence to sell alcohol. Speak to your local council or to the police if you think that retailers have been given too harsh a message about their licence . Or write to the head office of the retailer.
Plenty of options to do something about it, if you care that much.

QuimJongUn · 15/05/2017 18:26

As I have already said , painkillers shouldn't have this kind of problem but alcohol? That's different

Why is it? If you're clearly of age to buy something, why shouldn't you be able to without challenge? Whatever it is?

maggiso · 15/05/2017 18:26

I'm twice your age OP and had to get my driving licence out to prove I was over 18 to buy a PG DVD for my almost adult son (who is nearly 6 ft tall - he has learning disability-I was buying it with shopping). I was feeling ( and most likely looking) all of my age on that day too! I do remember having to get my younger brother to buy my drink when I was in my early 20s and he only just old enough to buy alcohol- after I was refused.

NoMudNoLotus2 · 15/05/2017 18:33

Thing is we can write to whoever we want and shout "we don't like it" from the rooftops but the answer is always "it's policy," "it's to stop underage drinking" etc.

I don't know how asking a 32 year old woman ID for her wine on a weekly shop isn't going to stop underage drinking. Hmm

Has all these policies actually stopped underage drinking??

NoMudNoLotus2 · 15/05/2017 18:34

weekly shop is going

itssquidstella · 15/05/2017 18:35

Have only read the OP. The exact same thing happened to me yesterday - walked up to my local Tesco with a pocket full of loose change to buy a bottle of cider (not even to drink, to cook with!) and got asked for ID.

I said, "no, because I'm 32."

Once they've asked, they can't serve you, apparently. Really annoying as sometimes it's nice to go out without a bag/wallet etc.

BasketOfDeplorables · 15/05/2017 18:40

People who are just rude to retail staff because they can be are awful, obviously - and I've served a fair few of them.

However, if the cashier treats someone like a criminal for buying a bottle of wine with their weekly shop because their child is present, then they can't necessarily expect the customer to react kindly. I'm not saying it's going to be anyone's finest moment, but having someone refuse you something you're legally able to purchase saying 'well you could be buying it for them' is very insulting. Just as if someone insinuated you were trying to steal from the shop. Compounded by the fact that it's in front of a queue of people and their children.

I wasn't so much insulted as exasperated when I was accused of trying to purchase calpol on behalf of my 1 year old, but

BasketOfDeplorables · 15/05/2017 18:59

Posted too soon!

... but they did say to me 'well, you could be buying it to give to a child' as if I was some sort of baby drug dealer delivering to my customers at Rhyme Time.

Splodgeinc · 15/05/2017 19:02

It's so stupid basket of course you were buying it for a child, it's an infant medication....the training is clearly wrong

Cellardoor23 · 15/05/2017 19:06

I still get ID'd and I'll be 30 in a week. As much as I love the compliment, I don't believe I look under 25!

I do however agree with challenge 25, not 21. From my experience when I have had to ID in the past, there had been times when I thought someone looked about 23, but because they looked under 25 I had to ask. Turned out they had turned 18 a couple of days before. You really can't tell sometimes.

BasketOfDeplorables · 15/05/2017 20:03

I find the 'if you're lucky enough to look under 25' bollocks annoying on the official info. Ive been hearing 'it's a compliment' for nearly 15 years now, and it's only now I'm in my 30s that it's even close to making sense, surely - when I was 22 it wasn't a compliment that they thought I might be under 25. At 27 it must be pretty common, and none of my 30 year old friends are looking decrepit yet!

'Smile, you're on CCTV' also winds me up.

NotEvenListening · 15/05/2017 20:09

I was refused to play my lotto numbers in tesco recently. I've been using the same numbers 10+ years. Im 33 weeks pregnant and had 2 dc screaming "mum can I have some chocolate" and a purse full of credit cards and store cards! Lotto age is 16.

Beerwench · 15/05/2017 20:10

"I had a shop assistant say to me "Oh I better ask you for ID as I haven't asked anyone in a while" hmm As in there was a certain number of people they had to ask in a day which seems very odd to me. He didn't even think I was underage, I was just a number to add to his quota hmm"

Yeah, unfortunately to prove you're being a responsible licence holder you have to prove that you've got a challenge (whatever age) in place and that you regularly use it, and that you ID people regularly. So many have ensured those conditions are met by making it policy to ID so many ppl a day/week/month.
A licencing board can also impose conditions on a license of there have been issues, so anti social behavior and they will insist in security to keep your licence, served a couple of ppl underage and they can insist you ID say, 30% of your customers, to prove you do it.
They're making the licensees accountable for their actions, and their answer is simply that it's better to inconvenience a few ppl than to risk prosecution.
The license rule that annoys me the most are the penalties for serving someone already under the influence. Why am I suddenly responsible for deciding when someone else has had too much?! Why can't they be accountable for their own actions?! But that's by the by!

MaisyPops · 15/05/2017 20:16

Why am I suddenly responsible for deciding when someone else has had too much?! Why can't they be accountable for their own actions?! But that's by the by!
Very valid point.

To be honest I'd also add 'Why are you suddenly responsible for deciding what an adult parent does at home with their teenager? Why are you suddenly responsible for deciding 2 clearly over 18 adults can't have a bottle of wine with their shop because one has proven they are almost 30 and the other doesn't have ID other than a bank card that proves they're married?"

It's putting way to much onto cashiers who simply don't have the information required on make the judgement. (Not against the cashiers but they simply can't possibly know it's a proxy sale when it's parent and child so to refuse sale would be on nothing more than speculation)

BasketOfDeplorables · 15/05/2017 20:21

Beerwench - that annoys me too! Very difficult to judge too, as some people appear a tad tipsy and then are suddenly on the floor!

I think with pubs and bars, though, most people have ID with them, and the staff get better training in my experience. Most of the daft stories on this thread have been in supermarkets.

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