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Original poster

To leave my £80 of shopping for the checkout assistant to put away

453 replies

mummytopebs · 07/06/2009 18:51

Was in supermarket doing my shopping got to the till, had £80 worth of shopping in this was 4 cans of john smiths for dh. The drink was at the end of the shopping so everything had gone through, the checkout lady asked for id (I am 29 but do look young but not that young and god its 4 cans of beer with a full shop not some chavvy drink) I said i did not have any on me but i used to work in the said supermarket so said can you call my old manager who will verify my age. She tutted at me and called the line manager who i used to work for, she said yes she is definitly over age it was 6 years when i worked there and i was definitly over 18 then. The jobsworth sorry checkout lady still looked at me distastefully and the manager said it is up to the checkout lady though cos she originally akked for the id. I said can i have it then and she looked at me and went nah !!!!!!!! I said are you joking and hse said no i dont think you are over age!!!!!! So i said well i'll leave it then and she said ok and put the beer down and said thats £80.71p and i said no i will leave the lot - grabbed my dd and flounced out of the shop with an air of triumph.

I dont care if i had been shopping for an hour, i used to work in that supermarket and know she will have to put it all away ha ha ha

OP posts:
Tortington · 08/06/2009 16:02

2 years ago, i went to tesco with then 17yo ds. i bought a box of bottled beer. plus other groceries.

he carried it to til

cashier said something similar to what has been said below

but ds - did indeed carry it to my car

it was for me btw - even though i do buy them alcohol on occasion and when i see fit.

katiestar · 08/06/2009 16:08

God I would be so flattered to be asked for ID !!
I think you have cut your nose off to spite your face though.You have wasted an hour of your own time and you will have to do the shopping again.She will be paid to put the studff back on the shelves.

black31cat · 08/06/2009 16:12

I was asked in my local tescos whether i was buying alcohol for my ds who is 2!!!!!
I have to admit at first i thought it was some sort of joke, but the cashier said they'd been told to crack down on parents buying alcohol for minors.
He didn't ask me for ID however (I'm 35 and look it!!) which having read all these posts i am quite offended cos it shows that he must have thought i was a right old hag!

edam · 08/06/2009 16:16

I wonder if this challenge 25 thing, which is basically forcing people to carry ID, is a back door way of softening us all up for compulsory ID cards?

expatinscotland · 08/06/2009 16:20

I'm American so I'm used to carrying ID everywhere and being asked to show it (I carry my UK driving license on me).

But one time, I got carded to go into a cinema to see a rated R film, and all I had on me was a passport, and the lady didn't want to let me in! I had to call the manager and remind him that said document allowed me to cross borders and re-enter the country.

Some people do take it too far.

Saltire · 08/06/2009 16:24

edam - I said something similar further down teh thread. The Governemtn want us to have ID cards,a dn the public aren't happy, so by making supermarkets (and in my case banks and financial institutions) demand photo ID, then they have got ID cards by stealth haven't they?

expatinscotland · 08/06/2009 16:27

i had to show my passport to get my UK provisional driving license.

who would carry their passport round with them? how stupid! they don't fit very well in the purse.

if they challenged me (i'm pretty grey so i haven't had it happen yet), but if they did i'd just do what the OP did, tbh.

find somewhere else to patronise.

mummyhill · 08/06/2009 16:35

A friend of mine was asked for ID in walmart in the US because she was purchasing alcohol and appeared to be under 40. She just grinned and showed her passport which proved she was over 21 which is the legal age in the state she was visiting.

shivster1980 · 08/06/2009 16:36

Not unreasonable at all - what a cow!

expatinscotland · 08/06/2009 16:36

many places ask everyone for id with alcohol purchase, mummy. passports are fine.

state driving license or ID card, passport or military ID will work.

scaryteacher · 08/06/2009 16:49

If they did that in the UK, then it would make sense...at least we'd know where we were. Back in the Uk last year I bought 7 bottles of ginger wine in Sainsbury's with ds standing there, and no-one said anything. It's the sheer inconsistency that amazes me.

Saltire · 08/06/2009 17:05

I have written to my MP, asking him if he can look into the subject and clear up some apparent discrepancies, and also asked him to look into what the police would do if they were called out to a shop where someone had been ID checked and didn't have nay yet still tried to buy alcohol, as legally, if the customer is over 18 then they can be sold it.

LovelyTinOfSpam · 08/06/2009 17:50

So hold on, when my DD is older, I will not be able to buy alcohol in the supermarket if she is with me, because she is under 18?

That seems a bit weird.

Especially as if I were to buy a bottle of wine say and share it with the famly including her over a meal, that wouldn't be illegal anyway!

I can see they are trying to crack down on underage drinking but I'm not sure denying alcohol to people purely on the basis they are out shopping with their children seems really peculiar.

pinkmagic1 · 08/06/2009 18:04

I can't believe some parents have been refused alcohol when doing the weekly shop because they have the kids in tow, this is just ridiculous, especially the one that was questioned because she had her 2 year old with her! . Its not a case of an older teenager going in to buy alcohol for the younger ones waiting in the wings ffs. In any case you can give an over 5 alcohol in the privacy of your own home on special occassions such as Christmas, birthdays etc. I am not saying I condone this but it is not illegal.

edam · 08/06/2009 18:09

Saltire, sorry, didn't realise I was repeating your point. Oops.

lizzyboo · 08/06/2009 18:27

Think I would have kissed her if she'd asked me for ID. I got asked at a club once if I was 18, one of my best nights out ever, had to drive home and get the ID, Snogged the bouncer who asked me for iton my way back in, I had been feeling particularly old and mumsy that week.

Heated · 08/06/2009 18:40

It's a daft. Never get asked for ID at the doorstep when internet delivery arrives. DD often helps me unpack - gasp!

Kimi · 08/06/2009 18:57

What a stupid woman, (her not you) I think you did the right thing, I hope she gets a bollocking.

We had a real cow in our local supermarket had no life beyond swiping peoples shopping all day. In the end so many people including me complained about her she was fired.

I think you should take this further

scottishmummy · 08/06/2009 19:38

oh behave take it further?cashier acted legitimately with the rules

the person stropping out empty handed after wasting an hour was the OP

think cashier sounds spot on stood up to flouncy customer
wasn't swayed by manager
impervious to "I know the manager"

op worked in the same store,she knows the rules too

expatinscotland · 08/06/2009 19:47

'op worked in the same store,she knows the rules too'

she worked in there 6 years ago.

never heard of any rules like this 6 years ago.

expatinscotland · 08/06/2009 19:47

'op worked in the same store,she knows the rules too'

she worked in there 6 years ago.

never heard of any rules like this 6 years ago.

scottishmummy · 08/06/2009 20:03

as i understand the cashier makes a judgement call and is held accountable

so if the purchaser is under-age,they bear the consequence (potential disciplinary or loss of job)

loulou33 · 08/06/2009 20:06

These new rules seem to have come in very quickly and without much clarification for the shopper. The staff may know the rules but the shoppers don't and i am still not clear on whether my sons (under 5s) need ID with them when i buy alcohol!!

black31cat - I can not believe that someone would seriously ask you if you were buying alcohol for a toddler ffs - that is taking things too far....

So let me get this straight, i can't buy alcohol in a shop with a 5 year old present but i can give them some to drink in my own home - how fucked up is that????

This is the government clutching at straws and trying to be seen to do the right thing in tackling under age drinking. They have got it totally wrong and are penalising the innocent shopper as well as getting the shop assistants in more shit with either their managers or the shoppers....

LovelyTinOfSpam · 08/06/2009 20:34

It's not the governemtn lou, it's the shops that are making these rules.

I find it amazing that an adult with ID could be refused alcohol if they have a teenager with them. Bizarre.

expatinscotland · 08/06/2009 21:17

'as i understand the cashier makes a judgement call and is held accountable

so if the purchaser is under-age,they bear the consequence (potential disciplinary or loss of job)'

she made it in front of her manager who verified the OP was not underage.

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