To be annoyed they wouldn’t sell the false nails to me?

[RhodaCamel]

Dd (12) and I have just got back from a shopping trip.
We popped into B&M, I purchased a few bits and dd had chosen some body butter and a pack of false nails for herself. She was purchasing them with some pocket money so I made my purchases first and paid up and dd popped her bits in the conveyor belt so she could pay for these bits herself.
The lady at the till looked at dd then called over the manager. I was stood next to dd and asked what the problem was. The manager said she needed proof of ID to show if dd was over 14 (no label in false nails stating this). I said ‘She is 12, is it because there is glue in the pack?’, they said yes and I said I understood, no worries I’ll buy them. The manager came back with ‘No, I can not sell them to you as your daughter is standing with you and we know they are for her’, wtf!! I then said ‘Well, that’s ridiculous but ok. I’ll sent dd back to the car and I’ll go back round, pick up a new pack of nails and pay for them myself’.....’No, we won’t sell them to you today as we know they are for your dd’!!!!!!
WTAF?? I totally understand there must be rules, regulations and policies to safeguard vulnerable people etc but is this not taking it to a completely new level, FFS!!

No it isn’t the shop assistant won’t sell it because you may give it to your child, at home , to drink .....

That generally only happens if there is a reasonable suspicion that you are buying it for them to consume

Buying your own alcohol, for you to consume that you may or may not give them some, with the weekly shop is something millions of people do every week without incident

My 20 year old fashion design student daughter was told that a shop couldn't sell her fabric scissors because she is under 25??! Seriously?!

Scissors have an 18 restriction. Some shops operate a 21 or 25 policy to make it less likely they'll make any mistakes

The local off license here has a 25 policy. The shop owner says it's just too risky with the fines, and with how hard it is to judge the ages of some people.

@slashlover How is that relevant to a child trying to buy an age restricted item?

The store said that because he couldn't prove he was old enough, he wasn't allowed to buy the movie.

I work for a major retailer and literally 2 weeks ago we had someone try and buy a lottery ticket. They had no i.d so didnt get it. Adult they were with who claimed to be Mum said she would buy ticket, this was refused as a proxy sale. Customers then went to customer service desk asked for duty supervisor which happened to be me. I went over expecting to be moaned at so was very pleasantly surprised when the customer showed their i.d and were actually working for Camelot. Had the 'mum' been served my colleague would be looking at a potential personal fine and the store woukd have been looking at a large fine and possible withdraw of lottery license.

The whole not allowed to buy alcohol as it might be for your underage teen is ridiculous, as you can legally give your child alcohol from age five.

No it isn’t the shop assistant won’t sell it because you may give it to your child, at home , to drink .....

You might think it's ridiculous but I can promise you that, as a cashier, I don't care because IT IS THE LAW. What you do in your own home doesn't matter to me but if I am aware it is for someone underage then I will refuse because IT IS THE LAW.

Would you be happy if your 15 year old came home pissed because they convinced an adult to buy alcohol for them?

www.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/19022/ARP-Advice-leaflet-Aug-16.pdf

A proxy sale is when an adult buys alcohol or another age restricted product on behalf of someone who is under age. In the case of alcohol, this is an offence and can be punished by an unlimited fine and for tobacco and nicotine inhaling products it can be punished by a fine of up to £2500 While it is the adult who buys the product on behalf of the child who commits the offence, the retailer has a duty under the Licensing Act 2003 to uphold the licensing objectives including ‘the protection of children from harm’. Knowingly allowing proxy sales, or failing to take appropriate steps to prevent such sales from taking place, may constitute a failure to uphold the licensing objectives and could be used as evidence to support a review of the premises licence.

No it isn’t the shop assistant won’t sell it because you may give it to your child, at home , to drink

I have never seen any cashier do or say this in any shop. If we did then as I said we wouldnt sell much alcohol at all because the majority of people who are doing the shopping are families or single people in with their kids. It would be ridiculous to refuse to sell them all alcohol.
There has been the odd instance over the years when a cashier has mis-applied the law but its not an every day occurance as made out on MN.
If you say at the till its for your kid thats with you then thats another matter. We cannot sell you it, end of story.

@HollowTalk

The store said that because he couldn't prove he was old enough, he wasn't allowed to buy the movie.

Right, but how is it relevant to an ACTUALLY underage child trying to buy a product they legally cannot purchase?

That's standard

I had this once with a bottle of disoranno in Waitrose. I was 34, had no id on me so it couldn’t be sold to me. Passed it to my mate who was behind me in the queue and the cashier said no, we know you are buying it for her.

I was 34 and visibly aged

I wanted to buy antihistamines that contained decongestant in Boots. The woman would only sell me one pack and when I asked why she said it was because they contained pseudoephedrine 'like Breaking Bad'. DH was with me so I asked him to buy me the second pack and she sold them to him. Presumably after reading this she shouldn't have in case I was starting a meth lab in the kitchen!

We had this with a small bottle of PVA glue the other day.

I don’t blame the staff, but the rules are bloody ridiculous.

It's not illegal it's just the shops policy, in uk law a proxy sale only applies if it is alcohol being purchased.

The first I knew of it was when I was stopped from buying wine amongst other things when with my 16 year old. I explained it was pink fizz for me to give to my gay hairdresser who had just got engaged- I was also buying a card. The shop assistant was so mortified that gay men could get married she let me buy the wine. (I have a great relationship with my hairdresser and always buy him pink alcohol to take the piss)

It's not illegal it's just the shops policy, in uk law a proxy sale only applies if it is alcohol being purchased.
Nope. Proxy sales apply to all age restricted products.

@Slith
No in uk law proxy sales being illegal only apply to alcohol.
It is best practice to prevent purchasing age restricted products for someone who is underage but it is only illegal for alcohol.

www.hants.gov.uk/business/tradingstandards/businessadvice/underagesales/retaileradvice/retailerproxy

It’s annoying fir you but good that they don’t sell glue to kids 😂

@LEELULUMPKIN bloody hell! I stared drinking coffee at the age of eight (I used to go alone and buy it too!). What has the world come to?

Slightly off topic - I use the self scan thing in Asda and was buying an age 15+’dvd at Xmas and when I scanned it, a message popped up saying I had to be over 1 (one) year of age to buy. Then when I scanned brufen, it said I had to be over 2!! Wtf is that about???

For the ibuprofen, it may mean you could only buy 2 packs at a time

Proof!!

Nope. 2 years of age.

Is there supposed to be a picture?

How bizarre. Picture is showing now

I tried to buy paracetamol a while back. Got asked for ID, didn’t have any as I’d been on a run... went back later on & they didn’t want any ID. I was fuming 😤

My 30 year old partner got Id’d for cigarette filters the other day in b&m. He told her he wasn’t getting his ID out for them and put them back. It did embarrass him