Asked for ID

[untiednations]

I am 34, I went to the supermarket today buying a top up shop incl a bottle of gin. Cashier asked me for ID. I didn’t have any on me but I am a regular in the shop and I went to school with the cashier on the neighbouring checkout and we had been chatting while waiting (his checkout was vacant). After I mentioned this (and school friend confirmed) I expected my cashier to back down as it was obviously a mistake. She refused. Claimed it was against the law to serve someone after you’ve asked for ID if they can’t produce it. I was absolutely gobsmacked. Why do people just invent laws to suit themselves and save face?

I used to run a pub so I know very well the risks of serving someone underage but this was clearly just a misunderstanding followed by total jobsworth behaviour.

It's policy in shops. As annoying as it is (it's happened to me) she is right and you are wrong.

But the point is, why is anyone asking a 34 yr old for ID.

Exactly! In what world does a 34 year old look younger than 21? If you’re applying the ID21 thing.

OP I’m slightly older than you and I was in Waitrose with my DP. DP was paying for some wine when the cashier looked at me and said, sorry I can’t serve you while you’re with a minor!! I look 30 at best!! I told her my age and that it was DP buying it not me but as I didn’t have my wallet with me so couldn’t produce ID we had to leave it. I honestly don’t know why people have such a bad time gauging age, I swear a lot of check out staff are short sighted!

@BackforGood

But the point is, why is anyone asking a 34 yr old for ID. She can legally buy it at 18. They introduced the whole 'ask if you think they are U25' thing, to support bar staff / bouncers / cashiers in giving them some leeway to not have to make a judgement around 19 - 22 yr olds. It will be pretty clear that a 34 yr old regular shopper is not U18

THAT's the point.

Completely agree.

I suppose at the moment all they can see if your eyes so it might be harder to work out, but a 34 year old's voice also sounds very different to a 17 year old's voice even if it a little muffled through a mask.

I’ve been asked a few times lately for ID for alcohol (I am 36 and wearing a mask - never used to be asked before!)
Anyway, I voted YABU because they’re doing their job! The lady at our local shop who has served me god knows how many times asked me and she felt awful about it but it’s not worth her job. I drove home and grabbed my ID and went back.
She was so apologetic. I told her not to apologise for simply doing her job!

It is what it is these days - masks etc make it so much harder for people and I would imagine they’re being told to ask for ID more often.

@MrsSchadenfreude Just read your post after writing mine. Check 25? Is that a thing?! My cashier was obviously implementing her own made up Check 35

DD1 was also refused a bottle of wine after she had produced ID, as the cashier said triumphantly “that she wasn’t 25.” If you’re going to implement “check 25”, at least tell your staff what it means

Yes.

Certainly if I were out with ds I would tell him to leave the shop before I bought any age-restricted item, even if it was part of a large shop.

DD1 was also refused a bottle of wine after she had produced ID, as the cashier said triumphantly “that she wasn’t 25.” If you’re going to implement “check 25”, at least tell your staff what it means

Haha! What an idiot that cashier was!!

It is what it is these days - masks etc make it so much harder for people and I would imagine they’re being told to ask for ID more often

If that is the case it might be worth putting signs up to say that and telling people to make sure they have ID with them. Not everyone carries it as a matter of course, though I always have my driving licence in my purse.

So now the checklist for shopping includes: keys, money/card), mask, ID, not forgetting the eco-friendly shopping bag...

Were all the sad face slots in your local paper full of were even they bored of this total non story bollocks that's been done to death..

There's nothing more to this than you're the embarrassing customer who thinks they know their rights

I think the silliest version of this scenario I have ever heard was the pharmacist who refused to sell paracetamol to the guy whose 19 year old daughter was with him and didn't have ID. So what do you do when you want to buy calpol for a younger child. That really was idiotic behaviour (and I think it was here on MN).

There's nothing more to this than you're the embarrassing customer who thinks they know their rights

Not really. A very sensible rule is misapplied and misunderstood. Much like GDPR and consumer protection rights. Retailers and other businesses are terrible at training their staff properly.

If that is the case it might be worth putting signs up to say that and telling people to make sure they have ID with them. Not everyone carries it as a matter of course, though I always have my driving licence in my purse

They do in my local supermarkets.

Anyway, not 100% sure about this but the cashier at my local Tesco said she would accept a photo of my driving license. I did try to call DH to ask him to text a picture to me but he was putting our son down so didn’t answer the phone.

I have since taken a pic of my driving license to show, should I be an idiot and forget my purse again (I usually just pay with my phone these days)

@lifesalongsong

Were all the sad face slots in your local paper full of were even they bored of this total non story bollocks that's been done to death..

There's nothing more to this than you're the embarrassing customer who thinks they know their rights

Someone complained to our local paper (with mandatory arms folded shot) after my DD refused to serve someone who was 30 without ID. The chain of stores she worked for get her a £100 bonus as they were pleased she kept to the policy and it was proof they had good licensing practice.

So Op did you make a scene?

@cologne4711

There's nothing more to this than you're the embarrassing customer who thinks they know their rights

Not really. A very sensible rule is misapplied and misunderstood. Much like GDPR and consumer protection rights. Retailers and other businesses are terrible at training their staff properly.

Why do you say the staff member was wrongly trained, the overwhelming consensus above is that once asked for id there's no way back. The issue isn't challenge 25 itself it's the op expecting to be a special case

I do think some people take the mick. In my late 20s I was ID’d for buying paracetamol. I do not look 15 at all, I had one or two deep wrinkles even then, there is absolutely no way I was under 16, It was not mistakeable and this person was clearly younger than me.
I think some do just like to be extra, extra, extra careful....

I got id’d the other day. I’m 30’s, the cashier asked and I laughed saying haven’t been id’d in years and she said it’s really hard with people wearing masks because you see less of the face and they have to be careful. They’ve also been told be careful with teenagers using face masks to try and get served.

I don’t get why your finding it hard to believe that she id’d you and then didn’t back down. It’s also incredibly rude for you to drag someone else into the whole saga and try and get them to ‘vouch’ for you. Imagine if you were her and a colleague tried to do that to you. I’m sure you would be straight back on here raging that tim from accounts tried to argue with you infront of a customer.

@OnTheWheelOfLife

I do think some people take the mick. In my late 20s I was ID’d for buying paracetamol. I do not look 15 at all, I had one or two deep wrinkles even then, there is absolutely no way I was under 16, It was not mistakeable and this person was clearly younger than me. I think some do just like to be extra, extra, extra careful....

I'm hopeless at telling how old people if I worked on a till I'd ask to make sure I kept my job, I actually don't get those guess how old i am thread where posters are sure someone is a really specific age, I struggle to get the right decade unless they are 12 or 97

YABU. She was doing her job; she has to go through with it once she’s asked the question.

Don’t like it? Carry ID.

It must be harder to assess age with facemasks. Yes it is the law to have a challenge policy and to implement it as part of the licensing laws.

Don’t be a dick OP. Especially when it should be pretty obvious that it’s harder to be sure about ages when people are wearing face masks.

It's honestly not that difficult to carry your ID when you go shopping...

And no. She couldn't back down once she asked you.

Don't think this thread went quite the way you wished, OP

I do think some people take the mick. In my late 20s I was ID’d for buying paracetamol. I do not look 15 at all, I had one or two deep wrinkles even then, there is absolutely no way I was under 16, It was not mistakeable and this person was clearly younger than me.
I think some do just like to be extra, extra, extra careful....

Challenge 25 applies to all age restricted products. Lotto, paracetamol, alcohol etc.

I suppose at the moment all they can see if your eyes so it might be harder to work out, but a 34 year old's voice also sounds very different to a 17 year old's voice even if it a little muffled through a mask.

34 and 24 aren't that different though. Challenge 25 means that if the person looks under 25 they will be asked to produce ID. If they can prove they are of legal age to buy the product then they can. It's to protect staff because a 17 and 20 year old can look very similar but a 17 and 25 year old probably wont.

The penalties are personal fines for the person who sold it as well as fines for the store and potential loss of their licence,

It's not the store who gets the fine, it's the licence holder, which will be a member of management. I'm a licence holder in my store. If I or a member of my team break the licensing regulations it's them and me that get the fine and lose our job. Other members of management have personal licenses too, so if I got sacked for breaching and losing my licence, the shop can carry on selling alcohol with the other staff members licence. I'm in Wales so not sure if other parts of the uk are different but that's how it is here.

@slashlover

*I do think some people take the mick. In my late 20s I was ID’d for buying paracetamol. I do not look 15 at all, I had one or two deep wrinkles even then, there is absolutely no way I was under 16, It was not mistakeable and this person was clearly younger than me. I think some do just like to be extra, extra, extra careful....*

Challenge 25 applies to all age restricted products. Lotto, paracetamol, alcohol etc.

I suppose at the moment all they can see if your eyes so it might be harder to work out, but a 34 year old's voice also sounds very different to a 17 year old's voice even if it a little muffled through a mask.

34 and 24 aren't that different though. Challenge 25 means that if the person looks under 25 they will be asked to produce ID. If they can prove they are of legal age to buy the product then they can. It's to protect staff because a 17 and 20 year old can look very similar but a 17 and 25 year old probably wont.

My point still stands. I didn’t look under 16. Challenge 25 is ridiculous in the instance of medicine, because I didn’t have any ID at 16 or 17, so had I been that age then I wouldn’t have been able to prove it. Applying challenge 25 in these instances is stupid and jobsworthy. Not in terms of the cashier, but the shop/law itself.

There was no way anyone could have mistaken me for being too young for medicine, which is why I said some people are being extremely (over) careful.