To think 'think 25' is getting silly

[ChopSuey2]

I'm in my 30s. I might look late 20s on a good day but there is no chance I look early 20s. It seems like 'think 25' has now become 'is there any chance they could be 25?' when the whole point is making sure under 18s (or 16s, depending on the product) aren't being sold things illegally. You might think someone could be 25 but very clearly not under 18. If that's the case, why do they have to ID?

I usually carry ID so it's not a big issue but it seems ridiculous I get IDed more in my mid 30s than I did at 15!

AIBU to thinks shops should trust their workers to have some common sense and only ID people who there is actually a chance could be under 18 (people who genuinely look under 25).

I'm a personal licence holder (I have a licence to sell alcohol and can be the responsible person at a venue) and I think it is ridiculous. I know the pressure of getting it right, and the responsibility of me or my staff getting it wrong is high. Yes it's the individual who could get charged and fined but the PL holder can get a much bigger fine, especially if the worker can claim/prove lack of support or training. But that doesn't mean all common sense and personal judgement has to go out of the window.

I got caught out buying lemsip for my MIL the other day - you need to be 16, and I'm 33. I'll admit I have a youthful face, but not under 16.
I understood that once she asked me, the cashier had to reject me based on the fact I'll couldn't present ID. Its annoying, but the rules. But I did point out to her when she said "well it's check 25" that you're still allowed to use your common sense and say 'does this person look more like 25, than 16'. The answer was quite obviously yes. So it really wasn't a necessary stop. Very irritating.

What does annoy me is they're very quick to refuse sales etc but I bet money that they aren't keeping a refusal register as they are supposed to.

At my work (Supermarket) we are reminded regularly to fill in the refusals log and it’s checked weekly and countersigned by a manager.

Well I've just turned 26, and I've not been ID'd for the last two years. The cashier always hits that "visibly over 25 button".

Very depressing 😭

@Bromptotoo what is a “service brat”? Is this anyone who has a parent in the forces? Or is this child an actual brat in some way? Is it reserved for people whose parents are officers? Or are all children born to military parents brats? Please explain.

’Service Brat’, or ‘Military Brat’, is a common term, not invented by the OP, for the children of military personnel in many English speaking countries. It is not derogatory.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_brat

All children of army parents who've moved around a lot and lived on army bases, and/or gone to boarding school are Army Brats, (as am I).

A child of one military parent who stays in civilian accommodation with their non-military parent while other parent is deployed elsewhere and goes to a normal day school isn't an Army Brat because their upbringing isn't defined by their military parent.

I actually wish they had these policies when I was younger and working in a shop. I am awful at knowing peoples age and being able to ID someone who may have been anywhere from 16-24 under the guise of 'think 25' would have benefited me massively. I don't envy people working jobs where they have to sell age restricted products at all.

DM was refused a bottle of wine with her grocery shop recently because she wasn't carrying ID, she's nearly seventy. It's ridiculous. The policy is think 25 not ID anyone who buys anything with an age restriction.
She didn't have her licence with her as she'd applied for a renewal and sent the old one back. She's not in the habit of carrying her passport.
I used to work in bars when I was young and would ID younger looking people, but 68 is ridiculous.

I'm 30, and it's very rare I don't get asked for ID. I always have it on me, and I understand the caution when I'm purchasing alcohol. However, when I'm being asked to show it for something you only have to be 16 for, it does seem a bit ridiculous! Especially as 9/10 times I'm with my two children who are 8 and 9!

YABU, and you’ve clearly never done a job where you have to ID customers, it’s so difficult to guess someone’s age and as a worker you can get in a lot of trouble for not checking ID, so can the shop/bar.

I got ID'd at TK Maxx because I was buying false eyelashes.....it was the glue that came with them. I'm 36 and I look very much in my 30s.

I don't mind so much with alcohol because the penalties are high. It's all the other stuff. There was a thread last week about supermarkets refusing to deliver to under 18s even without age restricted items. Also things like paracetamol can legally be sold to any age. The restrictions are placed by the store. Whilst obviously they need to sell responsibly it's ridiculous that the pp could not get her lemsip! I do think it may stray towards age discrimination in some cases and in particular really feel for young carers.

As someone who have been the one who has to make thst quick decision you often only have a fee seconds to decide and from angles (like if at a self service till) you can ask for I'd from someone who if you saw them face on you would not.

I once id a 42 year old. He looked like he was flying walking out of the shop after.

I'm in my 50s. I still carry my drivers licence with me . Likely a habit from growing up in Scandinavia where this was expected but it comes in handy at times when otherwise we would be stuck.

I can remember being about 24 and driving to the petrol station to get some cigarettes. At that time it was 16 to buy cigarettes, not sure if it's changed, and Think 25 wasn'ta thing. Anyway, I went to buy them and was asked for ID. I was bemused because I'd just driven up in my car and parked outside! And I definitely didn't look under 16!

I'm in that middle-aged bracket now where they just press the 'Visibly over 25' button with barely a glance.

It's fine. Better safe than sorry.

It would be far better just to id everyone buying age restricted products.

It only annoys me when other people in the queue are sniggering or rolling their eyes because I clearly look over 25 let alone 18. I feel like a spectacle with everyone trying to guess my age and pass a judgment of whether they would have asked for an ID.
I used to be surprised of being asked in my late 20s and early thirties as I've always been told I looked older as a teen. I don't get asked anymore and I'm 35. I think it's my weight gain and dress sense as I used to get ID'ed at 32 but I was significantly slimmer and dressed younger. I was also big in some of my teen years when I was being told I looked older.... so yeah, if you don't want to be IDed gain loads of weight! (joking! of course it's not healthy!!)

In which case you need a national ID card, as not everyone has a driving license or passport

The only place I was consistently asked for Id when buying alcohol, and on one occasion a pair of scissors was when I lived in NewZealand. Once been asked for ID in a pub in the UK, I was way over 25! But took it as a compliment that I looked much younger.
I can see it's irritating if you don't have ID on you, especially if you use your phone as payment, so don't have a purse/ wallet on you, but at the end of the day, it's a pretty thankless job working on the tills. I wonder if women get ID more than men though?

Seems sensible to me. It is not easy to spot an under 18, me and most of my friends passed for 18 when we were about 15. If somebody easily passes the 25 test then they are almost certainly over 18. I don’t see why being ID checked is such a big deal.

I just think some of them enjoy being twats. I'm 45 and look nowhere near 18-25 but I've still been asked in tesco a few times

They really don't. They don't really care they just don't want to lose their job.

Yeah right, that's why they asked a pps over 70s dad for ID, because they don't want to lose their job

I'm in my 30s and I still get IDd sometimes.

People who claim it's a compliment give me the absolute rage. It's not. When you've gone through life as a petite woman, what it actually means is you get taken less seriously in the workplace. This is not helpful when you're trying to be taken seriously seriously, especially when you're dealing with external stakeholders or the general public. It has had a detrimental effect on my career; I've had a radical career change and started my own business. Only this week someone asked me if I was a student working a part time job - err no, I own the place.

It annoys the hell out of me - I don't carry a handbag or a wallet, so there's nowhere to store ID. I do everything with my phone (apple pay etc).

It means I need to plan for alcohol purchases - including making a special trip home to get ID. See a good bargain on a nice bottle of wine? Can't have it. Bump into a friend and want to go for a quick pint? Can't do it without risking embarrassment. All because of someone else's incompetence at ascertaining my age. To be clear, I have every right to buy that pint.

Oddly if I'm doing a full supermarket shop and put a bottle of wine at the end - I never get IDd. Put the same bottle of wine at the start of the same shop and I usually will get IDd. If I just need a few bits and a bottle of wine I'll get IDd. They're not even fully basing it on your appearance.

Probably because computer said ask for ID so they did without thinking. Once they've asked they aren't allowed to unask