To hate "think 25" guidance

[FairiesAlwaysWearBlue]

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?

I totally get that shop staff need to cover their backs, but a bit of common sense really doesn't go amiss

Precisely. DH, for example, clearly looks older than 17, 21, or 25. The staff at our local Aldi know him, know me, know our teenage daughter. By their own admission he looks in his thirties. So why ID? Then refuse sale of a bottle of wine when he doesn't have any?

As for the 'just carry ID argument', not everyone drives and people don't usually have their passports on them when they're on their way home from work or whatever. As for buying a citizen card, it wouldn't occur to most people in their thirties or even forties to need one because the legal age to buy alcohol in the UK is 18.

I realise that staff are just doing their job, fearful of fines, mostly genuine etc but come on. Sometimes they take the piss and sometimes they just enjoy the power. I was IDd in Asda a few years ago by an officious little idiot who refused to sell me my wine (with a weekly shop) because I didn't have ID. I was 40 and had grey hair. I insisted on calling his supervisor who took one look at me and put the sale through, even as the assistant protested.

I work in a shop and have to ID people constantly (its on a uni campus) so used the abuse when people don't have it.

I get told by my manager if I sell to someone underage its an offence and I can be fired and face jail time and both me and the business can get fined.

Its also common for places that ID to have 'mystery shoppers' who are there to test if you sell to someone without ID - for example they might have none or they might have ID that's just a little out of date- to test you. I'm always on edge about this and people I may not have ID'd I feel I have to because I'm so paranoid.

You can get this thing called a Citizen card which is only cheap, about £15 I think which classes as ID in the UK.

Yeah its usually Asda. That's a shame because most of the staff are lovely. So i don't buy into 'just doing my job'.
Funny enough, i was never asked for an ID in pubs or clubs, even when i was really young.

What baffles me most, that an adult (like obviously middle aged) wouldn't be served because they might give it to a child or a younger friend/partner. What kind of bright spark came up with this?

Asda have been the worst for it for me too.
I drove 45 mins to the nearest supermarket. Bought food and a bottle of wine. They refused to serve it to me because I had a friends child with me!

I was in my 20s. The child was in 12/13ish at the time.
I showed ID. They asked for ID for the child. I said "well they don't have ID. They're 13." And they refused because we had someone underage with us.
Would they have refused if the child was 3 because they're underage?

Let me buy what I need to as an adult and once I've proven I'm over 18 let me get on with life.

In America the policy is to ask for ID no matter how old the person looks - even if you are an OAP and are obviously old enough. That applies to purchasing alcohol in shops or in bars. (This is based on a fair amount of time spent in New Jersey, I get some other states may be more laxed.)

I once got talking to a bouncer and he said they get audited and inspected and if anyone in the bar is found to not have ID then the fines are usually enough to put the place out of business.

Though it is a ball ache to make sure you have ID at least it's a consistent thing. You want to drink alcohol means you need an ID. End of. It cuts the whole looking over 25 / offence causing issues.

I speak as someone who used to go around local pubs and drink in relative safety from the age of 14 and though I sympathise with today's youngsters, the crack down on alcohol / ID does seem to have changed attitudes towards drinking with younger people and now I'm old enough to drink legally (and then some) I know I can go out drinking with annoying drunk 14 year olds cluttering the place up :-P

I completely agree, Maisy - there is no law that you cannot buy alcohol when with a child, and that 13 year old can legally have a glass of wine with you at home, anyway. Whether you choose to allow that or not, it's perfectly legal.

Why supermarkets have chosen to apply challenge 25 policy to products that are not age restricted I cannot understand. I have ID, but why should I show it when I'm not buying an age restricted product?

Exactly basket.
It's for THEM to check I'm over 18. It's for ME to decide what I do with the alcohol I have purchased.

It's not their place to decide I can't have alcohol because I have a child with me.
They claim it's because of 18/19 year olds buying for 16/17, which I get.
But they don't have the authority to weigh into my family life and nanny my weekly shop.

It makes me really happy when they ask me for ID. I practically skip out the door.

fannydaggerz
I don't mind being asked.
I mind when they ask for stupid things like painkillers.
I mind when I've proven I'm over 18 and get told I can't have it because my (allost 30!) DH doesn't have his with him.
I mind when I have a child with me and they won't sell to me because I have a teen with me and I can't prove that a 13 year old is 18.
I mind when I go out with my mam who doesn't drive (so no licence) and get refused a sale because the 50+ year old woman can't prove she's over 18.

It's the lack of common sense that winds me up.

When shopping with someone, they've never been asked for ID if I'm buying wine.

I understand they have to be vigilant about the kids who will hang around outside asking others to buy for them, but that's completely different from a parent shopping with their children. It's very insulting to have someone remove an item you can legally buy from your shop because you have your child with you. And it's not for them to decide if you let a kid have a sip of wine, which will probably only put them off drinking anyway!

I personally don't think I look under 25, but I accept that I have to take ID if I want to buy alcohol and I wouldn't complain about that. But over the counter medication can be bought by anyone, so why should I have to prove I'm over 18 because I look 25 in order to buy it? Because I have a child with me, apparently. Well, guilty as charged, the calpol was in fact for my child, which meant they wouldn't let me buy it! Has Kafka written the policy?

Maisy I'm sorry you've experienced this madness, too, but glad I have someone to commiserate with!

DH and I don't drink alcohol, but we were in Asda a few months ago buying a miniature bottle of brandy to chuck in a fruit cake I was making for a friend.
Baring in mind we both wear wedding rings, and had both DC with us....DH (27) got his card out to pay but the cashier wouldn't let him buy the tiny bottle of brandy because I didn't have any ID Apparently having a credit card, being married and driving a car isn't enough proof for some cashiers that's I am in fact over 18

I understand they have to be vigilant about the kids who will hang around outside asking others to buy for them
Yep, but these kids are smart enough not to go inside the shops and make it obvious. Also they certainly woulun't be in primary uniforms

Funny enough, that sort of fuckwittery never happens in small shops. If reprecussions are so strict, they should be especially careful.

MyBread I do understand, and realistically I wouldn't have IDd you, but your statement that

"Apparently having a credit card, being married and driving a car isn't enough proof for some cashiers that's I am in fact over 18"

The driving age is 17, the age to marry is 16 and I'm pretty sure it would be possible to lie about your age to get a credit card? Clearly you are old enough to buy alcohol, but you can also see that cashiers can't rely on things like that to make a decision, they use their 'best judgement' and if they're at all unsure, they have to ask for ID. I do get that it's a pain, but it's far less hassle to just carry your driver's license in your purse.

Also if there's more than one person at the till, you have to ID all of them. It's to do with proxy sales, and again is a requirement of age-restricted sales/training

Do you refuse sale to people with primary aged children then?

We're going to get to the point where adult parents can't do a food shop with their teen next to them because somebody else feels it's their place to police their home life. The parent is perfectly within the law to allow their child to have a drink at home and it's not for someone in a shop to dictate or judge.

Common sense. Bunch of late teens/early 20s. ID the lot.
Late 20s with their child with them apply a little bit of common sense before refusing to severe adults who are legally allowed to purchase a product.

I think though, that OP you're not BU haha you hate think 25, most of the staff hate think 25, most of the managers hate think 25. But it exists, and as long as you don't take your dislike of it out on the frontline staff who are just doing their job...then honestly, hate away :) I definitely had a joke with people about it before, we all knew how frustrating it was.

Oh no, I'd never refuse a parent/child combo, although I have heard of that happening, it was actually IN our training not to do that. If it appears that the parent is buying alcohol FOR a young person, then by law you have to ID the young person if they are standing at the till in front of you. I also had a kid of around 6 come to the till alone, and attempt to buy a can of beer for their parent...I said no ofc haha

How would you prove it's your card

Is it down to a sales assistant to accuse you of lying about it/stealing it?

Answer: no. And it's silly to be expected to carry your passport around with you. I don't really understand why there was all the furore about ID cards, if we all had them this would never be an issue.

I'm old enough for this not to affect me, but it does annoy me that shops don't ensure that the sales assistants under 18 do not have age badges on or something on the till lane so that you know to avoid their till if you want to buy age-restricted goods. Sometimes the supervisor is nearby, but more often, they've wandered off.

The 'common sense' does work both ways... If you're specifically buying alcohol for your 17 year old to drink at home, I don't care (fairly responsible parenting IMO) but don't come to the till talking about how it is for them, and if they want anything else, or "so what do you want"ing at them, and then get funny when I ask ID from them. You as a parent cannot authorise me as a cashier to sell alcohol to an underage person via you as a proxy.

Jesus wept. Get a provisional like everyone else in the world who ever needed ID, OP.

I recently got turned away from a nightclub because I didn't have ID so they couldn't let me in. I'm 42. The nightclub was empty, now I know why.

Common sense is the problem, isn't it? I may have said this before on here, Sainsbury's didn't want to let me buy a U certificate DVD because I didn't have ID with me. I couldn't believe the cashier was serious but she was very insistent! And no, no mistake over the age rating.

You as a parent cannot authorise me as a cashier to sell alcohol to an underage person via you as a proxy.
But you as a cashier can't assume that me buying alcohol in the presence of my (hypothetical) child is a proxy sale.
Goes both ways.

Fair do if to they're talking about "is this all you want. Do you want some more vodka?" Then view it as a proxy sale.

But I'd get pissed if somebody happened to decide that it was a proxy sale purely because I had a teenager with me. There's zero evidence of it being a proxy sale and it's not someone else's place to assume a back story without any evidence.