Was I wrong to refuse sale at work urgent advice needed

[LemonBlueberryX]

So this morning at work (I work in retail - but not a supermarket, think along the lines of b&m), someone came in and tried to buy an item. I was working on the till. When they came to the till I felt frozen on what to do as I didn’t feel comfortable selling this item in these circumstances (based on a stereotype of what this person looked like). I asked for ID (it’s a look25 item) hoping they wouldn’t have it so I could refuse sale but they did. After that I felt I had to make a choice and so I refused sale. Because of things that have happened in my area recently I felt that by allowing this sale I would be personally contributing to bad things.

They kicked off and asked for the manager who came over and asked me why I refused the sale and I just froze and couldn’t answer. Manager took over the till and served the person. The rest of my shift went on as normal but Managers just whatsapped me an hour ago asking me to come in at 10 tomorrow for a chat. I don’t work saturdays so not usually in. What do I say?

I dont really want this getting back to my manager so have tried to be vague about said item

A knife?

Well if you can’t tell us what it is or what you thought might happen, I’m not entirely sure how you think we can answer?

Tomorrow is Friday. Not Saturday!

Without knowing what you thought and why, it is difficult to comment. No idea why you would freeze. Just write it down and then tell your manager tomorrow.

Come on, you’re going to have to say what the item was and what the person looked like that was stereotypical. What did you think they were going to do with said item.

Sounds like very blatant (racial?) discrimination.

I assume it was a knife or similar. If they had appropriate ID and weren’t behaving in a threatening manner I don’t understand why you wouldn’t serve them?

Tomorrow is Friday

If it was someone who looked drunk trying to buy alcohol, YANBU.

If you don't feel comfortable selling this particular item then maybe working at a place that sells this item isn't right for you? If they had ID then IMO you should have sold them the item.

You refused to sell a knife to a POC?

You refused to sell an item based on someone's appearance?
Were they dressed as Hannibal and trying to buy a knife?

Can’t possibly comment on whether or not you’re being unreasonable if you won’t tell us what they look like or what you refused to sell them!

The person was white btw. And I meant fridays not saturday

Unless you tell us the full story - what the item was - its impossible to say if you were right or wrong

If it’s an item you can legitimately refuse, then don’t worry. Eg. you can refuse a sale of a knife to an adult, if you believe it’s going to a child f(child stood next to them). Say you felt uncomfortable to sell it, as per training, and sorry if it caused any problems.

(or just say you had a blank moment /moment of uncertainty/panic and apologise.)

Whether you were unreasonable is obviously going to depend on what it was about the person that made you uncomfortable and what the item actually was.

Your best line of defence might be to say you thought the ID was faked.

Unless it's illegal to sell the item you absolutely don't have the right to decide who you're going to sell things to. And if you refused the sale based on appearance in some way then you deserve to be fired for gross misconduct frankly - it's pure discrimination.

Maybe they were also buying a can of fava beans and a bottle of Chianti.

Did you refuse to sell them a energy drink, alcohol or a knife?

It'll matter because the legal duty on you to sell some items responsibly (as the person at the till) may protect you.

Surely the rules are you ask for the correct i.d and if they’ve got it and it looks legit then they get to buy the item , what makes you think you have the right to police other people ? The easiest way out of your current situation would be to tell your manager that you thought the I d was fake but didn’t want to say that in front of the customer because of the way they had already kicked off .

It was an 18 yo boy buying a single kitchen knife. I can't say I thought the ID was fake as my manager then went on to serve them so would ask why I didn't say anything at the time. It may be discrimination but morally I don't feel comfortable selling a knife to someone who may be involved in knife crime

Never mind. Cross posted with you

You literally state that you refused sale based on a stereotype.

For that alone yabu

When I used to work retail many moons ago, I absolutely refused to sell tinfoil and teaspoons to people who looked like they were about to go and shoot up. We were specifically told to refuse sales in that sort of circumstance during training. No idea why everyone immediately jumped to you refusing to serve someone because they were Black. Seems kinda racist to assume that only POC look like they might commit crimes/do dodgy stuff 🤨