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Original poster

To think checkout lady was being OTT about alcohol and child?

445 replies

Potkettlexx · 20/02/2020 15:02

In supermarket yesterday with DD 7. DD struggles at school so I let her help with shopping to get her used to the concept.

Bought some bread and small gift pack bottle baileys £5 for in-laws bday.

Got DD to scan the gift box and the bread and press the correct buttons etc... (dd Aldo has some sensory and coordination difficulties so again it helps this doing practical things)

DD wanted to pay with my card so I told her what buttons to press and gave her the card to tap on card reader. Dd didn’t really understand so I just gently took it from her and tapped my card myself.

Before I took over, dd was trying and the woman supervising the self service tills piled up ‘ohh you’ll have to be the one that pats with the card’ or something to that affect.

I was thinking.... for real?!

I get that they need to be very careful when selling alcohol....

I get that a 15 year old can look 18....

I get that an 18 year old could be potentially buying it for younger friends....

I get that they could be disciplined if they were willingly selling alcohol to under 18’s....

But for goodness sake, surely common sense would say she really didn’t need to say that under the circumstances.

After all, the reason the sale of alcohol is forbidden to under 18’s is incase they drink it and quite right.

That’s not the same as the this situation. It was clearly evident I was the one ‘buying it’ and giving my consent. Does she honestly think I was planning on giving it to my 7 year old?! 🙄

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 20/02/2020 17:23

if you’ve ever used your partners card/PIN number to get cash out then potentially you could get done for fraud if the bank found out!!

Only if you didn't have the card holder's consent. If you did it is not fraud.

However, if your daughter had managed to make the payment with your card the shop and the assistant would have committed the offence of knowingly selling alcohol to someone under the age of 18. The fact that your daughter wasn't going to drink any of the alcohol is irrelevant. She isn't allowed to buy it.

lyralalala · 20/02/2020 17:23

The supermarket DN works in makes very clear to any of the staff under 21 that "I went to school with him" or "I go to college with her" is not an acceptable reason to not ID someone who looks under 25. They even have to ID each other if someone tries to buy alcohol or cigarettes.

The person delivering his training summed it up as "Even if you are 18 if your Mum is fortunate enough to look under 25 you must ID her" which amused them, but made the point quite bluntly.

woodchuck99 · 20/02/2020 17:24

Woodchuck is ONE of those people who having had no experience of retail thinks they know what really goes on.

I just said I have worked in retail! I actually know quite a lot of about the law in relation to this and I think people are getting muddled up with company policy which the different thing.

Enko · 20/02/2020 17:25

@Potkettlexx
Not the same at all as a 16 year old buying it

Yes, it is exactly the same you see they are BOTH underage.

As an x Supermarket worker, the attitude of parents for this astonishes me. WHY do you think someone else should be in receipt of a fine because your little snowflake likes to tap the card? This is the reality of it they will get a fine if someone reports.

It is ok to teach your child that somethings only adults can do. Paying for alchohol is one of them.

woodchuck99 · 20/02/2020 17:25

So that makes it okay to expect her to go against company policy, does it?

I didn't say she should go against company policy. I just find it quite irritating when people talk as if it's the same thing as the law. It isn't.

easythere · 20/02/2020 17:26

OP it's not ridiculous at all asking ID from a person you KNOW to be over 18 if they look younger than 25.

The cashiers are being watched. They are also on camera. If their supervisor or manager sees the younger looking person buying alcohol and challenges the store cashier/assistant on it they won't always believe 'I knew the person buying the alcohol'
And then the cashier will still get in trouble or even fined! Is it worth it?! No!!!

They are simply saving their asses! Good on them!

lyralalala · 20/02/2020 17:26

Also people asserting that stores wouldn't sack someone for it obviously don't realise how ruthless supermarkets, in particular, can be. They'll happily get rid of staff rather than take chances.

In a test purchase she'd have been in trouble if she'd allowed the 7yo to pay. In a lot of supermarkets she'd have got a bollocking for allowing the child to scan it.

CynthiaRothrock · 20/02/2020 17:26

Woodchuck one failed a spot check spectacully and served 3 teens that look 15 without IDing them. They were actually of age but looked so much younger.

The other for serving a 15 & 16yr old to the point of being paralytic because they were in with a group of people he knew, the people he knew were 18/19/20. She looked older, one of the group said "they're with us, they're at college with us" so he served them.1 of the girls ended up with alcohol poisoning.

PurpleFlower1983 · 20/02/2020 17:27

This is black and white. What you were letting your daughter do is against the law, simple as that. The rules are strict and need be adhered to.

FrancisCrawford · 20/02/2020 17:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sunglasses123 · 20/02/2020 17:28

On the point of young people generally. They know to carry ID especially if they look younger. My DS looks 16 but is actually 21. He is ALWAYS asked for ID and always has it on him.

I have NEVER been asked for ID in the last 20 years but if I was I would be massively flattered.

PuppyMonkey · 20/02/2020 17:30

I’m not joining in the inevitable pile on, but I just had to say I really enjoyed “jollier than thou.”Grin

Original poster
Potkettlexx · 20/02/2020 17:32

@FlamingoAndJohn

So you’re telling me that if a cashier served a lady she went right through school with in same class and knows she’s over 18, thus didn’t ask fur ID... that they would prosecute her? Absolutely rubbish!!!!

OP posts:
woodchuck99 · 20/02/2020 17:32

Woodchuck if a person looks under 25 they have to be asked for ID. End off. If licencing come in and ask for cctv footage (which they can and do, do-they do random spot checks as well as send in people that look well under 25 and some that just look about 25) you can be fined for not asking someone they deem to look under age.

Please link to where someone has actually been prosecuted for serving alcohol to someone over the age of 18 because someone else has decided they look under 25 . How someone looks is entirely subjective and I don't believe for a minute that if you served someone aged 23 alcohol you could later be prosecuted because somebody else had decided they looked well under 25. You would only be prosecuted if they looked under the age of 25 and they were under 18.

CynthiaRothrock · 20/02/2020 17:33

Pot kettle if she looks under 25 then licencing CAN prosecute. Doesn't mean they will but they can. That is the point.

woodchuck99 · 20/02/2020 17:36

I have NEVER been asked for ID in the last 20 years but if I was I would be massively flattered.

Try ordering from Amazon prime then. They ID everyone and despite the fact I'm in my 50s they wouldn't give me alcohol the other day. They gave it to my 20-year-old instead because she had ID. The man seemed surprised I was annoyed rather than flattered..

Quartz2208 · 20/02/2020 17:36

Potkettle so you accept that you were wrong with your 7 year old

And its more likely she would be reprimanded by her employer

woodchuck99 · 20/02/2020 17:39

Pot kettle if she looks under 25 then licencing CAN prosecute. Doesn't mean they will but they can. That is the point.

So who decides that they look under 25 ? Please link to any evidence that someone has been prosecuted serving alcohol to someone they know is over the age of 18 simply because that person could be under 25.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 20/02/2020 17:40

@rainbow1982 - have you missed the fact that the person could have been sacked for violating company policy on selling alcohol to minors? Or that, if the OP had been a mystery shopper checking if the shop was following the terms of the licence, the shop and the checkout operator could have been fined, and the shop could lose its licence.

Maybe you think the checkout operator should have risked losing their job and being fined £5000, just so the OP’s dd could play at shopping. Hmm

Willow2017 · 20/02/2020 17:41

No one has ever satisfactorily excused away why I can give my bottle of wine to my child in my house. But if you think I'm buying it to give it to her, you're not allowed to sell it to me

Christ how many more times do we need to spell it out?

We are not risking our jobs because randoms want us to break the law.
What you do in your own home is up to you. What you do in store in front of us is pertinent to our not getting fined, not beingl sacked, manager not being fined and the store not losing its license to sell alcohol.
WE DONT MAKE THE LAWS UP AS WE GO ALONG. TAKE IT UP WITH LISENCING BODY AND GOVERNMENT.
How much more simple can it be?

Enko · 20/02/2020 17:41

@woodchuck99

No one gets fined for serving alcohol to someone overage. However, if you can not prove that you are over age then that means you can not purchase the alcohol.

yes, age is very subjective I challenged 25 to a male who looked at me laughed and said "I am 42" I again asked for proof of id. He said I do not have any. I asked do you not have your drivers licence? He went ohh yes.. and yes he was 42 .. he walked out of the shop looking like he was walking on air. I bet he lived high on the challenge for quite some time after.

My manager had seen it and also said she would have challenged him. Very youthful looking guy.

CynthiaRothrock · 20/02/2020 17:42

Wood I never said they had been prosecuted for serving over 18s but looking under 25. But you would fail a test purchase certainly.
Unless you have a personal licence and have done the training get off your high horse. Your just being a goady twat now.
Looks of age is subjective. I might think someone looks old enough. The next person might not.
Why risk it? Why risk losing your job? Why risk the fine? I wouldn't when I worked in an off-licence. My dp wouldn't when he was a bar manager.

Original poster
Potkettlexx · 20/02/2020 17:45

@rainbow1982

I know 😂 thing is, I bet many of them have used their partners card etc to get money but that’s different no doubt.

People are so rude on here at times and take it to the next level. I’m sure some people act like that just because they like disagreeing.

OP posts:
Awwlookatmybabyspider · 20/02/2020 17:46

“It’s a long the lines of asking a 50 year old for ID”

It’s nothing remotely like asking a 50 year old for ID. To do that is just total stupidity. Mind you I bet any 50 year old would be delighted to get Id’d. Grin
To not serve a 7 year old alcohol (and technically that’s what she’d have been doing) is simply complying with the Law.

woodchuck99 · 20/02/2020 17:48

No one gets fined for serving alcohol to someone overage. However, if you can not prove that you are over age then that means you can not purchase the alcohol.

People buy alcohol all the time without "proving" their age. I don't think I've ever been asked in the UK for about 20 years. Obviously they are going on my wrinkles but the fact they do prove you don't have to have ID if you know someone is overage for some other reason.