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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was Waitrose being U?

285 replies

Settlethewreckage · 02/04/2019 20:09

Just returned from Waitrose after having been refused a bottle of wine. DH (30) and I (27) wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary by buying a fancy bottle of wine, so we went to Waitrose and picked one (along with some other stuff). At the till DH gets asked for ID, no problem. Cashier then asks me for mine, which I didn't have on me. So now we can't have this bottle of wine, because he can't confirm my age.

I'm angry. The manager said it made sense to ask us both as we 'look a similar age'. Yet they know DH is 30! To make matters worse, DH is now not able to buy alcohol at that store today and tomorrow because 'they know we are together'.

AIBU to think that this was ridiculous? Yes, I could have gone and fetched my ID from home, but by then I was already fuming, so I left the stuff and went to Sainsbury's.

OP posts:
SneakyGremlins · 02/04/2019 20:12

Why can't he buy it tomorrow? Confused

AJPTaylor · 02/04/2019 20:13

My neighbour got asked for proof of age in b and q last week because she was buying a trowel. She is 63.

sockatoe · 02/04/2019 20:14

Yes, they are.
Happy anniversary, you youthful looking lady!

huggybear · 02/04/2019 20:15

YANBU but it has happened to me too. You do think they could use some common sense.

Namechanger4dis · 02/04/2019 20:15

It’s not the shops fault it’s the ridiculously tight laws and the astronomical fines for getting caught.

Also once you have been asked for ID they can’t change their mind they have to follow through.

LostInShoebiz · 02/04/2019 20:17

Why should they chance it? They’re a huge operation with a lot to lose. What if you're actually spot checking them rather than just a regular customer? They don’t know.

Bluntness100 · 02/04/2019 20:18

It's the challenge 25 thing, if they don't think uou look 25 they have to challenge it, and it's very very difficult to really look at some people and see if they are say 24 or 26 for example.

Over cautious, yes, but challenge 25 is the reason.

Peterpiperpickedwrong · 02/04/2019 20:20

All the supermarkets have followed the challenge 25 guidelines for years. You obviously don’t have wrinkles yet Wink

www.wsta.co.uk/challenge-25

When I went to Florida the policy was to ask everyone under 40 for I.D!

wishingyouluck · 02/04/2019 20:21

I had EXACTLY the same issue at Waitrose and exactly the same conversation with management. My partner was 39 and I was 33! So annoying! My partner argued that he's in there all the time with his children and they don't ask them for ID if he buys a bottle of wine.

Original poster
Settlethewreckage · 02/04/2019 20:22

I would be slightly less angry if it wasn't for the fact that DH will have to wait a while before he can purchase alcohol in case he brings it to me Hmm

OP posts:
Shocksandboooos · 02/04/2019 20:23

My friend had this when he was shopping with his daughter. She is 12.
The manager just wouldn’t listen to reason and kept saying that he couldn’t sell it because Df might give his Dd some. Confused

Imtryingveryhard · 02/04/2019 20:24

Which Waitrose OP? If a town that begins with A they were caught out a week or so ago and fined. I got asked for id after shopping there for 9 years and now aged 44!

LostInShoebiz · 02/04/2019 20:24

Why so angry? You went to another shop, you got your wine, as a number of PPs have explained, it’s nothing personal towards you or him.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 02/04/2019 20:24

My neighbour got asked for proof of age in b and q last week because she was buying a trowel. She is 63.

Does she look like someone who has a patio?

wowfudge · 02/04/2019 20:24

Ridiculous - there is no minimum age to drink at home so this just seems completely pointless. And the example of a parent buying alcohol when they have their children with them just shows it's ridiculous.

CheeseFace · 02/04/2019 20:25

I was asked for ID buying a bottle of sloe gin in M&S recently, I'm 47. Fortunately for me they weren't insistent on seeing ID as I haven't carried any for over 25 years.

Original poster
Settlethewreckage · 02/04/2019 20:26

@Imtryingveryhard nope, doesn't begin with A Grin

OP posts:
TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/04/2019 20:26

I suppose they have to operate on the basis that every customer they serve could be a secret shopper trying to catch them out. Even if in practice it seems like overkill.

Raspberry10 · 02/04/2019 20:30

My husband (45) was buying a bottle of red wine in Tescos with the weekly shop. DD (16 - but looks about 13 and in her school uniform) was standing at the end of the checkout so she was out of the way whilst DH was packing. And the checkout woman, suddenly said she wouldn’t sell DH the bottle of wine, when he asked why laughing because he was delighted to be ID’d.

She said she thought he was buying it for DD! Wtf? How many young teens drink red wine? She then kind of insinuated that she thought DD wasn’t his, like he was some sort of pervert. And that’s when he went nuts and demanded to speak to the manager who was really embarrassed. Poor DD was utterly mortified and refuses to step foot in Tescos now. So Waitrose aren’t the only ones who are idiots.

Lobsterquadrille2 · 02/04/2019 20:31

Seems a bit over the top. So if you have a child, you have to find a babysitter before you go shopping for alcohol? I haven't bought any for many years so this has passed me by.

saraclara · 02/04/2019 20:32

So if he'd gone to the till alone, he'd have been allowed to buy it? But with you in tow, he wasn't? That's nuts.

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 02/04/2019 20:34

She though dd wasn’t his, Raspberry?? There’s someone who needs urgent retraining in dealing with the public Shock

Original poster
Settlethewreckage · 02/04/2019 20:35

@Raspberry10 omg, that is insane. Poor DD, and poor DH.

OP posts:
Wearywithteens · 02/04/2019 20:36

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

Raspberry10 · 02/04/2019 20:37

@TheGrey1houndSpeaks And we’ve been going in there since she was a baby, she looks just like him. I was Shock