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.

Really? Considering OP’s comments I’d beg to differ. Like mother like daughter! Not exactly a great example to set, now is it?

Never in a million years do I act this way in person. However I do love a good wind up on Mumsnet!

I so want a spokesperson from Homebase to come on and comment. It would be the cherry on the cake.

Teenagers are spoken to in Homebase and there’s a small war on MN, during which Homebase has been rung up and its website meticulously searched. Absolutely fucking brilliant. It’s what makes AIBU? such a gift to the world.

Homebase staff member: You do know it's no under 16s?
Vicky Pollard: No, but, yeah, but, no, but, yeah, but, no, but, yeah but I know because you know Micha? Well, she is under 16, right, because she was bunking off school looking at plants for insta because she was gonna go down homebase right and get off with Luke Griffiths, only she never because he's been trying to grow a moustache but it just looks like pubes, so she got off with Luke Torbet instead, only don't tell Bethany that because she's fancied Luke Torbet ever since she flashed her fanny at him at Homebase'. Don't be giving me evils.

@WhatsTheUseOfWorrying What’s more worrying is the people who have nothing better to do with their time than ring up Homebase for an issue not even related to them 🤣

If a store were to have such a ridiculous rule then it would need to be highlighted by signs on the doors and inside the store itself.

If all stores were to have their own stupid rules about who could and couldn't shop there how long do you think they would stay in business? The same applies for those who would ask a paying customer, who had not done anything wrong, to leave.

I don't have children, but if I had been OP in this instance I would be sending an email and asking for clarification on this "rule", and asking why there were not clear signs advising of this (if it does in fact exist).

OP's daughter is not "entitled", she simply queried what she was told - as she should have done, given how ridiculous it sounds. I worked in a farmers' supply store and we had no such rule.

Honestly, the number of people on this thread who seem to think they should meekly accept anything they are told. If you have never been told something by an employee of a business which is quite obviously incorrect then you either lead very sheltered lives, or you don't get out much!

That sounds like discrimination on the grounds of age to me. Any age restrictions only apply at point of sale! That is what challenge 25 and ID is for!

It doesn’t matter if they care or not. Withdrawing your custom is the only way to protest. Big business gets away with unreasonable behaviour exactly because of your attitude.

Is this you demonstrating your class and good manners?

Yes it was actually. But I don’t think I ever claimed to have class and good manners despite posting on a predominantly white MC site such as MN.

i actually re read some of the OP’s PP’s and felt a bit bad because when you see them she states she is shy and not outspoken like her DD.

I also read a post by @IloveAslan ss and also have worked in a legal background (no not a lawyer!) and I’m now of the opinion that Homebase should really display clearly in writing both on and off their website if under 16s aren’t allowed to shop there..I still think the Homebase worker and manager who the OP spoke to were in most probability correct and on the other hand I quite see that OP’s DD may well (not beyond the realms of probability) have been telling the truth albeit embroidered on for mother dearest.
I also enjoy a bit of a scrap here and AIBU always brings out the vipers hissing from their nests.

It’s amazing after a good night’s sleep how your mind can change slightly.

Her attitude only exists in your head along with your class and manners. Every accusation you've made has been to accuse others of your own clear faults.

You've spent the entire day and night lecturing other people on their fictional lack of manners while being extremely rude about a child. You say others should have better things to do when they spend time looking for answers by contacting homebase, preferring your pre-conceived assumptions, yet fail to see the irony. You tell people they lack class while mocking them for no reason other than they disagree with you.

You are totally devoid of any self awareness.

It’s a shame about the rep teenagers get. ‘She was probably messing around.’

At 15, I was doing voluntary work with disabled people. Not messing around in shops.

I’ve also been spoken to like shit by other colleagues at work when I was a teenager, knowing full well they wouldn’t have spoken like that to a 40 year old colleague.

If I, as a genuine teenager had gone into a store to make a genuine purchase of a non-restricted item, and someone told me to leave like that, I probably would have been ruder than your daughter op and told them to fuck off.

The fact that they were able to go and purchase these items makes me think the ‘policy’ is inconsistent here. If they are concerned about young people, that’s what cctv and security is for.

Well, this descended into a nasty show of snobbery last night didn’t it! There’s clearly a contingent of posters who feel that OP’s daughter must have been rude because she’s some sort of Vicky Pollard character. The person who posted the Vicky Pollatd photo must be particularly proud.

Even though plenty of sensible people have commented that a) it doesn’t seem to be a rule b) it’s ok for people (even girls!!) to question nonsensical authority and c) if it is policy it needs to be displayed, there’s a contingent of posters who have really got the bit between their teeth and have run with this idea that they and their children are just better than OP and her daughter.

Yes, that’s how you’re coming across @MaloneMeadow and @WhatsTheUseOfWorrying etc. All your refs to Vicky Pollard and classy behaviour- we see you.

Perhaps you are from a higher socio-economic band than OP? Perhaps if you were asked to leave a store on spurious grounds, you’d shrug it off and wouldn’t care. That’s probably because you wouldn’t see it as a targeted attack on you, being used to fairly respectful treatment in life. Well, what if someone is used to being judged (by people like you) and decides, no, I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m going to stand my ground. What happens- they get called names by grown women on MN. Slow hand clap.

Some of you were defending your right to look down on people until quite late last night (and passing judgment on other people who were arguing with you because they had ‘nothing better to do’ - oh the hypocrisy!!). Others were going on about it being ‘comedy gold’ as if it was so beneath you. Yeah, so funny that some sections of society are followed round stores and then lambasted by snobs for not liking it.

Yuck.

If you want to start slagging people off at least get your facts right.

I haven’t said anything about the daughter’s behaviour or manners. I haven’t called her anything. I haven’t posted any pictures of, or quoted, Vicky Pollard. We don’t know what she said or how she said it so I left that alone.

I haven’t said anything about the OP’s behaviour either. (Although aggressive swearing didn’t do her any favours.)

The only point I keep making is that the shop can impose rules of admission about youngsters, which would not be surprising for a DIY shop, and that this thread’s self-appointed experts on retail law and practice are missing some obvious possibilities. I also don’t think that a teen being spoken to and asked to leave a shop is any big deal.

I didn’t judge anyone. I haven’t looked down on anyone. I haven’t said I’m better than anyone. There’s been no snobbery. You’ve just made all that up.

I do think the thread’s been very funny, basically because of the craziness of some worked-up-over-nothing posters. But it’s not bad to find that sort of thing comical.

I did say I’d like to be able to go to the cinema without teens causing a nuisance, but that’s not exactly controversial.

This is the sort of thing I mean. Condescending laughing at people being upset at being profiled and asked to leave a store. Never been an issue for you - great. Funny when it happens to others? Yuck.

That’s not condescending at all.

And I’d been asked a v nasty question about whether I go round hassling teenagers.

You don't see many children shopping in Homebase and presumably these two looked out of place. I think that this store may have a problem with shoplifting, even if the OP believes that the staff were not right.

Not reasonable to ask them to leave IMO.

If I'm one of the 'worked up over nothing' posters you reference, I can assure you I'm actually pretty chill currently. I do enjoy bating fundies a little bit. It's a yahoo Answers R&S thing. And I am a bit surprised by the anti-teen sentiment here. Young people are actual people. I don't think it's societally beneficial - long or short term - to demonise them. I'm really glad the OP's daughter felt confident enough to question a staff member who WAS rude and needs training. With the YA stuff, we were 100% trolling. But this is a different forum. All this pearl-clutching negativity about teens is really off. As is the 'mum's so rude and her daughter is obviously a liar' stuff. There isn't a policy that precludes under 18s from shopping at Homebase. Source: Homebase. Find another argument. Your choice isn't mine (REM. So Central rain). The bating of the OP and suggesting the girl concerned was rude or abusive is very wrong. She's a little girl, FFS. Launching into mum and saying stuff like: "See where she gets it from" is really unpleasant. I need to go and do some chavtastic crystal meth or something. According to some of the 'gang' here. I've got some time off work with a teenager for half term. There isn't a teenage shoplifting epidemic or anything (ONS says it's mostly 30+ people) and I really like them, so we'll be fine. And - like I say - very chilled. Unlike people who are overly jealous of and spiteful to teenage girls!

In my previous job as a legal PA/Sec we acted for people with their own businesses including a shop owner who during the riots of 2013 held up and used grilles of his shop to defend his business being looted!

My best friend has owned a beauty salon for the past 5 years and occasionally people see her on reception and assume she’s aggressive but she’s told me how many times people have refused to pay as they’re not happy, have said they’ll go to the cashpoint and never return etc. She’s also got abuse and her shop front was vandalised once. She now has shutters. If you own a small or even larger business it’s bloody hard work and she certainly bans customers who are proven troublemakers. In this case the manager and shop person were probably and I say probably right.

The teenager may technically by law be a child but she’s 15 ffs and legally can leave school and get a job at 16.

The teenager in question was quite happy to stand up for herself to an actual adult but in this case, rather than getting angry with staff either in Homebase or at home she should have ensured she was measured and maybe best to just walk away rather than just kick off.

I’ve had a couple of encounters with rude random children, one with her mother and the other by herself, who seem to defy adults and either remain silent or give lip and rudeness back. I’m guessing they also do the same in shops, on public transport etc. I’ve also encountered charming and polite and normal behaviour from children and teens. I don’t expect to be treated any differently just because I’m an adult but with respect and politeness as I go about my day to day life.

Maybe this shop assistant hates teenagers, maybe she’s seen them shoplift or got abused by them verbally. No one knows because we were not there!

I'm running a course on better mental health for really offensive people. Would you like to sign-up for the discounted rate of £500?

This girl wasn't rude.

And it doesn't matter whether the shop staff have had encounters with rude/stealing teenagers before - they haven't had them with this one and shouldn't treat her disrespectfully on the basis of what some other kid may have done!
Most shoplifters and stroppy customers are adults - you get whole gangs stealing to order. I don't think teenagers are this country's biggest problem when it comes to anti social behaviour or crime. But they are a soft target for jobsworths.

According to ONS data, the typical criminal profile for shop lifters puts them at 35 plus. The main economic risk of theft is still down to Karen and Darren putting through their avocados as apples on the self check out.