to be annoyed by the refusal of a supermarket to sell me two packets of paracetamol and a tube of bonjela?

[ruthosaurus]

I was told today that I could only buy two "over-18s" items at a time, and the (adult) bonjela counted because it has an ingredient that could react with paracetamol.

Point 1: What if I want to buy, say, an 18 certificate film, a bottle of wine and a tube of bonjela? If that's the kind of evening I had planned, what of it? What kind of joyless rule is "only two naughty items" anyway?

Point 2: Why the hell do you need to be over 18 to buy mouth ulcer gel? Tell me it isn't because bonjela contains ethanol.

I did ask if it was because of the "one pack of paracetamol at a time" rule and they said no.

Why could this be, then? I am baffled and a little perturbed.

Illicit be darned: I've just had a glass of wine and applied bonjela.

Never heard of "over-18s items" restriction- but alcohol isnt an over 18 item anymore, it's over-25 and you still might not get it if you're 40 and they think you could conceivably be 24.

Worse is chemists not selling medicines- I was refused antihistamine today by a Lloyds who claimed they don't stock it (due to parents sedating children) but have bought it before in Boots without trouble.

The drums of 100 paracetamol have been gone for over 10 years now- suicides are still happening though.

LOL @ "I felt Illicit"!

It may seem it, and I agree someone determined to take their own life would find a way (heck, I could buy in each chemist on the way into town, and a few hours later, buy the same quantity again on the way home) but if the rule (NHS ?) has saved just one person, then it should not be considered 'bonkers'.

It might save some teenager who doesn't think laterally about how to get more, just giving up on the idea at the first hurdle.

Actually, its totally bonkers. If someone really wants to kill themselves, all they have to do is grab a knife out of the rack in the kitchen.

Too much government interference in our lives.

It's bonkers. I completely agree.

Cant believe this thread, although I can . I remember seeing another online report of a fella getting ID'd for a jar of Red wine sauce for chicken, he didnt have Id so they didnt sell it to him.

Had to google the teaspoons one, I dont know why Im surprised that its actually true

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5278586/Shopper-asked-for-proof-of-age-to-buy-Asda-teaspoons. html

you DO NOT have to be over 25 to purchase alcohol. The legal age for purchasing alcohol has NOT changed, it is still 18.

The "think 25" initiative is completely separate.

If a person looks under 25, in chains where this inititive is in operation, the person has to prove they are over 18. Not over 25.

1foot -it must have happened more than once then as the story I read was Tesco not Asda.

Do you reckon Waitrose has the same policy or can their shoppers be trusted with the potentially lethal teaspoon.

the think 25 thing shouldnt be sniffed at, its so cashiers dont sell our precious darling teenagers copious amounts of booze.

oh, and if you mean about getting ID'd for alcohol you should be flattered. or, ask really nicely if the cashier wants to get a supervisor over to discuss it, as responsibility then passes to the supervisor.

and if cashiers sell someone underage booze, consequences are:
losing their job.
personal fine.
criminal record.
shop gets a massive fine, thousands.
shop loses booze license.
everyone complains how irresponsible shop is.

i know exactly what challenge 25/ think 25 means. but it is stopping far more legal adults than under 18s from drinking. think 21 was enough, until the law says that any shop who does not check for under-25s can be prosecuted NO shop should do it,

at the moment shops only need to "reasonably believe" that the person was 18+ to have a defence to a test purchase failure. that doesn't even involve ID at all.
but it's been happening often enough:

30yr old: can i have a 4 pack of carlsberg?
cashier: i need to see ID.
30yr old: i'm 30, do you really think i'm under age?
cashier: i KNOW you're over 18, but i'm not sure if you're over 25 so i want id.
30 yr old: i have no id. (no sale)

obviously the shops were getting caught out too often so they needed to increase the margin of error?
tbh, most sensible cashiers would call for a second opinion
tbh, its not that big of an annoyance, if the cashiers didnt do their job properly they would be in danger of losing it.

and id rather 30 year olds being pissed off at being asked for ID than my 16 year olds being sold booze and knives.

My 12yo DD and her 13yo friend bought some ice cream at our local tescos suoermarket, they wanted to eat it on the way home, so they picked up a pack of plastic spoons. They got refused the spoons due to not being over 18. My DD did ask them if they thought she was going to spoon someone to death....She's also been refused a packet of birthday candles, despite buying a birthday cake at the same time, and obviously being completely unable to buy anything to light them with. (It was for a friend and she had arranged for her form tutor to light the candles!). DD in her infinite wisdom asked the cashier if it was possible to burn down a supermarket with an unlit birthday candle...

There is no rule of only 2 "over 18" products, it was 2 packets of paracetamol (max per customer 2 packs of 16) otherwise no-one could buy a case of beer as pointed out above!

But shop assistants in their eagerness to avoid trouble do occasionally get over-zealous - DH picked up teenage DD from her dance lesson and they popped into Morrisons on the way home; he picked up 4 bottles of their special offer beers and a pizza, she bought herself some doughnuts. The cashier asked for ID, and as DH fumbled in his wallet (presumably feeling incredibly flattered as there is no way he looks under 30 let alone under 25!) the cashier said, no for her pointing at DD. DH says no, as she's 17 and the beer is for me at which point he refused to serve him in case he was buying it for her! Not sure on what planet skinny 17 year old girls usually drink Bishop's Finger or Piddle In The Hole, but DH ended up leaving with no beer and a feeling that the cashier must have thought he was some perv buying beer for young girls. I culd have understood if he was buying WKD, or even wine, but surely real ale is a drink for middle aged blokes (and me)?

Oh, and he was also refused at the Asda kiosk for buying Grenadine "non alcoholic syrup" as the label clearly pointed out on the basis that the kiosk can't serve alcohol [hmmm].

Maybe they count the case of bear as 1 item rateher than 12/24 items?

If it's a case of bear it must be Hofmeister then (showing my age for definite)