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

agree with scaryteacher and tinofspam, the problem with leaving this issue in the hands of the individual cashier (presumably to take away the burden of legal responsibility from the organisation and pass it onto the worker, which is in itself) is that the checkout assistant can operate with any prejudices they want

"The law works that you cannot sell alcohol to under 18s. How you check that, what procedures are used is up to the shop."

Well if that's the case then I agree the OP wnbu. I personally don't know that it's not illegal to sell to someone when you've requested photo ID and they've refused to provide it. (if you can make any sense out of that then I'm impressed)

Just seen this HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
PMSL

Umm...I wouldn't have flounced out of the shop after spending an hour shopping. I remember once I had a basket full of stuff, too lazy to carry it about so left it on the floor whilst I had a look at the CDs and books a few aisles away. When finished browsing I went back to find my basket to see that it had gone - after speaking to the checkout people they had thought it had been abandoned and put all the stuff away. I could have cried - I certainly wasn't going to traipse round the shop again - think we had a takeaway that night

OP - talk about cut your nose off to spite your face. Plus can't imagine the checkout lady though 'ooh what a tough, incisive lady'. She probably thought you were a bit of a daft bint, tbh.

I was ID'd in Asda a couple of months ago - had 6 bottles of Baileys (they were on special at a fiver a bottle) plus a trolley of other stuff. Just paid for the other stuff, went and put it in the car, then came back, picked up another 6 bottles of Baileys and tried another checkout assistant. Mind you, I am so chuffed at being ID'd at the age of 31 this was no hardship!

AFAIK the law hasn't changed at all. The onus is on the shop to make sure they do not sell to under 18s. How they do that is up to them.

The idea to get people on checkouts to ask for ID of anyone who looks under 25 is to make things easier for the people on the checkouts, as it can be difficult to judge. If you put signs up saying that anyone who looks under 25 will be asked for ID it takes a lot of pressure off the people checking. I always hated asking for and checking peoples ID.

However the law is that you cannot sell to under 18s. So if a person didn't follow the under 25 thing they would be breaking procedure in that shop, but not the law if the person was over 18 IYSWIM.

If the person used to work there are has the manager vouching for them then really that should be good enough.

Trouble with the manager vouching ,is that he isn't the one who would have to pay the fine not him.
Whilst I think the checkout lady in this case probably was BU ,I think it is aqll true easy to cry 'jobsworth' but things look very difficult when it is your own arse (or £2k) that is on the line.

I was in Sainsburys with my 15 year old DD. I was only buying a few items and they included two bottles of wine. The cashier asked me for ID and I was stunned because I am 48 and look it! She explained that she had to ask me because I had my DD with me. I couldn't and still can't see the point because she agreed that I didn't look under 25 and I was quite happy to admit that DD is 15. She called the supervisor and she OKd the purchase but said that the cashier had been correct to ask me.

I am all in favour of strict controls on the sale of alcohol - because I have two teenagers. But if the cashier knows you are over 18 and in the OP she did because the manger had confirmed it - then the sale should go through, surely the responsibility is then his, not the cashiers. I do think the OP was unreasonable to abandon the shopping. If it were me I'd have gone home and told my husband he had no beer but he was very forunate to be married to such a youthful wife.

Re a credit card being proof of being over 18, it's not. They can be an additional cardholder on someone elses account and there is nothing on the card to indicate that it is an additional card.

? grinny that stuff about you and your DD makes no sense at all.

Maybe someone else on the thread can explain what it was all about.

Good for you - I would have probably done exactly the same!

I think the ID for people with underagers is daft, it's in place to stop peope buying for underagers but as if you are going to buy alcohol for them when they are standing next to you

I could'nt get sold a few weeks ago because my 14YO brother spotted me at the checkout and came over to say hello to me!

Now that I was annoyed about.

YANBU - i was asked for ID (i'm 35 and haggard as hell). I have no passport and no photo driving licence but i showed her my NHS ID card with photo on which states that i am a doctor. She was lovely about it (unlike the Woman in OP), i was a little bit flattered and the alcohol was for DH so i did not feel the need to flounce although i can see why you did!! Obviously she wouldn't accept the ID despite the fact that you can not be doctor in this country without being over 18....

Anyhoo, its not the shop assistant's fault but the law makers need to think about what is a reasonable form of ID - a police warrant card is not ID ffs even though you have to be 18 years or over to be a police office - how stupid is that?? I agree with whoever said this earlier - this is a stealth way to introduce ID cards as they are making it more and more difficult for Joe Average.

BTW does this mean i can not take my children to the supermarket if i plan to buy alcohol in case i am buying it for them (3.5years and 8 months)? When am i supposed to shop or maybe they would prefer that i left the children in the car whilst i bought alcohol?? I can see that binge drinking and alcohol comsumption is out of control but treating alcohol in such a criminal way only makes it more alluring imo

I got asked for ID buying a bottle of wine in Marks and spencers after work one night. I am 30 and felt like kissing the checkout lady, I was so flattered! I think the checkout lady in question was just being a absolute cow when the manager had vouched for the OP's age though.
My sister who is 27 got asked for ID buying ginger beer in morrisons a couple of years ago. the checkout lady wouldn't believe her when my sister told her it wasn't actually alchohol and the manager had to be called across!

I work in our local Sainsburys, and I must ID up to 30 people a shift.

Our policy is if you APPEAR to be under 25, you must PROOVE you are over 18. If you are buying alcohol and come into the shop with someone else (a friend etc) you must BOTH have ID if one of you looks under 25. The implications for us, as staff, are huge if we sell to someone underage. £2000 fine, loss of job and a 2 year criminal record.

I have been "stung" by three trading standard test purchases in the last month. A youngestr comes in, and routinely looks 21/22 +, and either tries to buy alcohol, or cigarettes, a lighter, rizlas, tobacco, paracetamol, etc. I request ID, they say something along the lines of "sorry it's in the car/in my other bag/my other trousers". I then ask their age. TS Test Puhasers are NOT ALLOWED to lie to you they must tell you their age, and these three, without fail, have all grinned at me and said "17 - well done love".

Now, I don't care how old you SAY you are...I work in a minumum wage job to earn extras for my kids...I WILL NOT get myself a criminal record and massive fine because of the fact that you don't want to cary ID.

I have common sense...anyone with a child under 12 I don't refuse to serve them because of the child, UNLESS the child has picked up and brought alcohol to the checkout...in that case I do refuse. A group of teenagers, sorry you ALL need ID. Often towards the end of the night as they are queueing up, they see me eyeing them up as I serve a customer and the banter starts..."she's gonna ID us get your stuff ready lads" . I had a 13 year old lad the other week take a bottle of carlsberg to his mum..."mum can I have" "ok" she says, and puts it in her basket. Sorry, but no. She was clearly over 25, yet I refused the sale...she was buying it for a minor. Not on my shift, she isn't.

I'm polite, I explain and I apologise if I refuse a sale. 90% of refused customers are ok about it. The other 10% end up with manager involvement (who ALWAYS back me up) or 999 involvement whenthey get violent. Around twice a week usually...it's like working on the Shameless estate at that shop.

And you know what...the younger the customer, the twattier they are about being refused.

OP, I think you behaved very childishly leaving your shopping, but I think the checkout girl could have been politer to you.

To clarify,...Sainsburys don't state I must ID up to 30 people a shift...I'm saying I do end up with at least that many most nights that need ID'ing!

I got id'd a while back (I'm 30) and had nothing with me, so I showed your one my weddin ring and stretchmarks, and she laughed so hard she couldn't even scan the bottle properly!

OK to clarify - if I go through your till with my 13 year old, doing a whole load of grocery shopping that includes wine, you will ask me for id (even though I am well over 25) and for my ds as he is 13.

If I am displaying no intention to give him my bottle of wine, do I get to buy it? What if he is helping to unload the shopping, and he sticks the wine on the trolley with bottles of olive oil/squash/milk, as I like all the liquids together in one bag? Is that the appearance of providing a minor with alcohol? At what point should I send him to sit looking angelic at the back of the store whilst I unload and reload the shopping?

This is what I find difficult. In Belgium, no-one bats an eyelid at whizzing around the supermarket with your kids after school pick up and if there is wine or beer in the trolley, and my 13 yo is with me, nothing is said. I can't figure out from this thread at what point I should let my ds off the supermarket run when in UK if I am buying a couple of bottles of wine. Can anyone enlighten me? DS is nearly as tall as me but looks young for his age.

And of course, the really stupid thing is that parents can go round the supermarket on their tod, buy booze, and then let their kids have it anyway. How has underage drinking been prevented?

I am almost convinced this is a plot by teenage boys to get out of the supermarket run because it is boring; and to prove that food does automatically reproduce in the fridge and the cupboard!

scaryteacher

I work in a small local Sainsburys...if your tall lad brought booze to my counter HE would need ID and would be refused. I would also refuse to sell it to you because HE brought me it...if you brought it to the counter, and I asked his age and you said 13, the line I would have to give you is "I am selling you this on the understanding you are not providing it to anyone under the age of 18". He also could not pick it up and carry it out after you have paid.

This is why I shop online.

YANBU @ ALL!!!!!1111111111!!!!!!!!!!

Right, I get it I think. If he inadvertently unpacked it from the trolley as he was being in 'helpful' mode (happens rarely), would I then be refused it?

I think people get annoyed with this because they may cook with alcohol; I do, and that could be 'providing it to someone under 18'. I sometimes offer him a small glass of wine mixed with water or lemonade with a meal at the weekend and I don't think that that is against the law.

He's about 5 feet tall, but I'm a short arse, so he's not that tall. I make him come to the supermarket on principle, as he needs to see that food has to shopped for and unpacked, but thankfully, living in Belgium, common sense prevails about middle aged mums buying a bottle of wine when shopping with their teenage sons. Looks like he'll have an escape clause when visiting the UK this summer. It seems such a shame that common sense has deserted the retail trade about this, and the government as well.

But it isn't clear cut. Would everyone be happy for their DCs to be able to go out with a friend who has just turned 18 and stock up on whiskey?
I know you're going to say but I'm his mum not a friend, and I was buying lots of expensive shopping and it was a bottle of wine. OK, so where do you set the boundaries - spell it out?

No, it isn't clear cut..which is why Sainsburys are so strict.

I'd like the boundaries to be spelled out and legislated on so everyone knew what the rules were. Just because some parents choose to buy their kids alcohol doesn't mean we all do, and it's a slap in the face for those of us who do parent responsibly. I find it insulting to be told I can't buy a bottle of wine because I take my teenage ds shopping with me.

I agree scary but you have no way of proving you are a responsible parent. My point exactly - I don't think the boundaries can be spelt out, I think it is down to judgement by the seller, and for this reason most of them will choose to be over cautious.