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

[mummytopebs]

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

I fail to see how it protects me as your customer (how patronising, as if I can't make my own well reasoned and well thought out judgements) if you refuse to sell me alcohol when I am well over 18 and legally allowed to both purchase and consume alcohol. It's not doing anything for me at all is it?

How precisely is it 'protecting me'? Please elucidate.

I think your tone is patronising. I meant 'you' as in the customer in general, those who try to buy alcohol or are not supposed to. how can i tell you're over 18 just beacuse you tell me you are?

What's patronising about asking you to explain how you are protecting me and all the others on here well over 18 by refusing to sell me alcohol? You say above, 'those who try to buy alcohol in general'. If I want to drink myself into a stupor that is my business surely and not yours or your employers?

You only have to look at me to see I'm over 18 - giveaways are the grey highlights and the slight crows feet. If we're generalising, then those who are evidently pensioners from their appearance.

then you shouldnt have any problem with the rules in question, as surely they do not involve you?

I have a problem with the rules if they prevent me buying alcohol when I have my teenager with me (see previous posts on the thread); because they are neither transparent not consistent; because they inconvenience consumers who may be asked for ID because the cashier is too young or not sufficiently trained to make a common sense judgment on whether to ID or not.

You still have not explained how these rules and stores are 'protecting' me.

As I said before my 26yr old Dd produced I.D when asked and was still refused because she had her 13 yr old sister with her to help look after her Ds, how would you decide that she was going to ply a minor with alcohol? is it down to the cashier having a bad day?

On other occasions in the same shop she has done the same thing with her dsis with her, and had no problem buying wine and lager, how is that fair or store policy?

read the licensing act- it is to protect CHILDREN from buying alcohol, not necessarly you, which is what im trying to tell you. If you are obv old enough to buy alcohol its up to you to protect yourself. I dont mind if you want to buy a billion bottles. The shops have the right to deny you alcohol sales if they think you are supplying it to your son.

How do you decide if someone is going to supply a minor??

If you see the child choosing it from the shelves and handing it to the parent/ adult, which happens quite a bit.

Trikken, we all know that the aim is to stop u18s buying alcohol...that was established ages ago. What we are objecting to is the randomness and incoherence of the policy of IDing individuals when they buy a bottle of wine; see GumsNRoses example above. Not a coherent policy there is it?

We'd also like to know on what grounds a cashier might decide that we are supplying our children with alcohol. That has not been made clear either - probably because it isn't clear to those who are applying these policies. Please explain how they might decide that we are supplying our children...is it that they are helping to unload the trolley and pick up the bottle, or do the same when helping to pack the shopping once it's been scanned?

There needs to be clarity here as well; as if it is down to the individual cashier then that is unfair and needs to be addressed, especially if you get a teetotaller on the checkout who considers alcohol to be the stuff of the devil.

Why in the world has this kicked off? Buying alcohol is not some God-given right .

OP (and I do mean OP, not the cashier) sounds like a prat, tbh. I still think something else was going on, perhaps OP was already acting like a prat or cashier has unusual social skills problem. The whole thing doesn't sound real.

children who linger around alcohol sections in groups are ones to watch as they usally choose it then send one person in.

I worked on the tills at Sainsburys and we were always being told not to serve alcohol to people with no ID and to use judgement when someone had a minor with them and it looked as if they may be buying for them.

I did once ask a mother obviously buying for her daughter if she was and told her I couldn't serve her (her daughter looked 15 and was cuddling her Mum and saying 'thank you mummy' as the alcopops went through!), and she got my manager involved. She wasn't sold it in the end because it was too obvious to all involved what was happening. Also, she was very aggressive, which gave it away too.

As far as I am aware, Sainsbos always errs on the side of caution over this, expecially as it's had several fairly high profile cases about them selling to minors in the last few years. Bad Sainsburys

its common sense. if you see a child give it an adult!! what would u suggest automatrons?

Drunk teenagers is what is trying to be prevented, cashiers just wnt to keep their job, we would rather be cautious then get it wrong and get fired. Im going to my mums now, have fun.

My Dd neither picked up a bottle nor put it on the conveyer, oooooh she did push the trolley the alcohol was in

I find it offensive that one can be accused of trying to supply a minor, on the whim of a cashier having a bad case of pmt,sleepless night or argument with her hubby!!

As said before you can go to one till with your weeks shopping and sail through, go to another produce I.D and still be refused, it makes no sense.

As do I GNR - no-one has yet answered the query about a teenager helping to pack/unpack a trolley and putting booze on the conveyor belt. is that intent to supply, or a helpful child?

Gums - It's not usually on a whim on the cashier's part - we were told with alarming regularity that we could lose our jobs and end up paying a very large fine if caught supplying to a minor.

If you were doing a job you really needed and this was being threatened all the time, you'd think twice about who you sold alcohol too as well.

As an aside, I got asked for ID recently, I am 33 and had both children with me. I thought it was a joke, but it wasn't and I was flattered. Does anyone really mind being asked?

Have read most of the thread. OP YANBU.

I just find it so sad that we have to have guidleines, policies etc for every little f*cking detail in this country - OP is 29, therefore she cannot possibly look underage (sorry OP, I am sure you are gorgeous but let's get real here...) - the checkout lady could have applied a leetle common sense here but no, she has to stick to the 'guidelines'. FWIW, I am certain she was just being a stroppy bitch and I would have done exactly what the OP did.

Peanutbutterkid - I totally agree that buying alcohol is not some "God-given" right. But it is, of course, legal to do so in this country if you are over 18 and therefore op and the rest of us do have the right to be able to expect to buy alcohol.

I must admit I haven't read all the thread. But is it really illegal for me to buy my 16 yo teenager a bottle of alcopop for her to consume in my house, in my presence? It might signify bad taste on her part, but surely if I allow her to drink in moderation when at home it is no-one else's business. I've probably totally missed something....

Therefore buying toilet roll is a service provided by stores as well. Stores provide a service, that is what they are there for. If one is unhappy with the level of service provided, one goes elsewhere - Oddbins for instance or Majestic.

And yes, I would shop elsewhere. You have to be careful that you don't piss the customers off too much. I'd be quite happy to take my £400 per month grocery spend elsewhere if someone took the 'fucking tough, like it or lump it' attitude that you are taking Nahui. Which chain do you work for, so i can avoid it in future?

No portofino. As an adult you can give your own child alcohol whenever you like (I believe).

That's what I thought! I haven't actually got a 16yo (and don't plan to ply my 5yo with alcohol for some years yet ) but I always thought it was more responsible parenting to do it that way.....

As opposed to secretly sneaking gin out of the drinks cabinet like I did.....