daughter was asked to leave homebase because she's under 18?

[whatisgoingonitw]

My daughter and her friend (both 15) went shopping yesterday and nipped into Homebase as my daughter wanted a plant and her friend wanted a heated blanket. They were approached by a member of staff who said “what age are you both you don’t look old enough to be in here” they replied 15. The member of staff asked them to leave as you need to be 18 to shop. My daughter is very straight forward and says how it is, she told the member of staff no as that is not true. The girls continued to walk around the store and they were followed by this lady who works there. They got to the till and paid with no issues the employee at the till didn’t mention age. My daughter told me this when she got home and explained the employee was rude and followed them around the store as well as giving them “dirty looks” I rung the store today to speak to a manager as that customer service is not okay. He told me you do infact need to be with an adult 18+ to shop. Is this serious? I can’t find anything on the website.

It's not okay to treat nice children like shit, just because they are children.

Pointing out the store's "no unaccompanied under-18s" policy is not "treating people like shit".

Some teens cause a lot of trouble - yours might not, but because others do, there is a blanket ban.

No-one ever died because they couldn't get a houseplant or a heated blanket.

Teenagers have got to be the most reviled age group. Adults detest them for deigning to exist in public spaces - if they're hanging out in the street then they're loitering, if they're in a shop then they're trying to shoplift. No wonder they spend so much time online when society treats them like criminals when they leave the house.

I remember being a nerdy, quiet 15-year-old in a Tesco with my mate and getting followed by security the entire way around. We paid for our stuff and the security guard asked to see our receipt, despite watching us pay.

If you can't see a difference between questioning an instruction that seems unfair or unsafe and "kicking off", that's a "you problem".

What? You might have been a miscreant but young people are pretty nice, on the whole. If you leave the house, they probably serve you in shops, cafes and other areas. What is it you're up to that makes you so damning and suspicious? Heavens above!

It’s definitely possible. I was living alone at 16, 26 years ago. Social/council housing houses anyone 16 & over. So do private landlords in my experience. Particularly HMO’s. I was never asked for a guarantor either. Thank goodness because there are plenty of young people who have to support themselves & don’t have anyone to turn to.

Pointing out the store's "no unaccompanied under-18s" policy is not "treating people like shit".

If this policy isn't signposted on the door, it doesn't exist. There's no such thing as an "unwritten rule", only people being unreasonable by setting expectation traps. If this policy is real, the staff member could have summoned the manager or store security. So either the DD did nothing wrong or the staff member mishandled it.

It is rude assuming you know more than the person with more knowledge, in this case the person who actually works there ffs

I don’t actually think that it’s to do with shoplifting or restricted items at all, but to do with liability for unaccompanied minors if they get into accidents with machinery like fork lifts, they dislodge piles of wood or stacks of doors which fall on them, etc etc. The insurance implications could be huge. Parents would be responsible for supervising children with them, but staff can’t supervise them if unaccompanied.

I’ve definitely had situations where I’ve known more than someone who has worked somewhere - I thought most people had?

In my decades of experience of work, frequently if you ask three different staff members what a rule is, you get four different answers, none of which are correct. Policy dissemination and training are minimal if they happen at all in retail. It was one of the reasons why I got out.

Unless OP’s daughter is a Homebase expert, I highly doubt this was the case.

If you’re seriously going to imply that a pair of teenage girls being politely asked to leave a shop (by two separate staff members) is the same sort of situation as the Wayne Couzens case I’m afraid that’s a you problem @VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia

Surely we can aim for a higher standard than “nobody died”.

A slight sideline but I detest The Range because of all the negative notices plastered around the entrance!

What kind of danger do 2 15 year olds buying a pot plant pose?

I repeat: A written policy, scrutinised by the legal department and created for objectively justifiable reasons that will stand up in court, is not the same as a staff member making it up as they go along.

There's nothing wrong with challenging unfair treatment.

That is correct - But there are ways of challenging it in a polite and mature way, rather than in a rude and entitled way which judging by the OP’s posts would be the case.

☝this.

(Unrelated: I just noticed that the Mumsnet emojis include a middle finger 🖕 and that has made me giggle.)

"Saying it how it is" = rude.

There is honest and there is rude.

Speaking without a filter is not honesty, it's rudeness.

My daughter is very straight forward and says how it is, she told the member of staff no as that is not true

That's deemed rude? No wonder I keep getting into trouble!

Please tell me about this "filter" because I was built without one. It's called "being autistic" and I keep getting into trouble.

You can get a trustee to sign a lease if you're 16 and need to rent or find a landlord willing to rent without a contract. It's difficult but not impossible. The issue is you'd have trouble (you can't legally) enforcing a contract signed by a 16 year old.

I had a bedsit at 16, in the 1980s, no contract, as did plenty of others under 18.

’straight forward and says it how it is’
That would be considered rude in my book. There’s a time and place to be polite, mature and careful with your words. It’s a necessary life skill

You are also being very unreasonable to blame it on autism. My 19 year old DD is also autistic - no issues at all in the department. She can articulate herself in a perfectly polite and meaningful way to authority.

Being straightforward and saying it how it is doesn’t necessarily equate to being rude, though.

Being rude would be “fuck off you stupid cow, I’m entitled to be here”

Being straightforward would be “Please show me where it says that, otherwise I will carry on about my business”