My Paitence was Tested

[jackie j]

Friday night / Saturday morning customer comes in to buy booze, we sell 24 hours, he was with two ladies all had been drinking one lady goes to the loo whilst he pays, he and the one lady left look over the age of 21 ( we have to think 21 ) the other I'm not sure about so I said I will have to ID her before I can sell this to you. Did he go off on one or what, shouting at me that if he came in with his 12 year old daughter would I ask for her ID etc at 1 am yes during the day use my common sense. How would he have liked it if I sold booze to someone who supplied his daughter with it under age.
If I sell booze to someone under age its MY JOB that I loose its ME that gets A fine, or if I sell to someone that then gives to someone and something happens its ME that will get into trouble.
So please if you are out having fun and drinking and you or someone you are with looks under age just show your ID when asked make sure you have ALL got ID cos if not you will not be served. Its not me that makes up the rules its the goverment.

[Two_Sheds]

I may have this wrong but ... she wasn't buying booze, the bloke was, so why would you need to ID her?
Surely your back was covered. Or not?

[petal]

my husband often comes across this problem, people behave like louts towards shop workers. i get it completely - adults do buy booze for underage frequently and you have to do your job.

[FionaH]

I went shopping in local T***o a while back. I had a trolley full of food and some beers for hubby. My son was with me to help pack and carry. It wasnt 1 am it was 11.30 in the morning
They asked me for ID and then him. I was really cross. Not even in a GREAT light would I look under 21 and my son was not entering into any transaction with them. The manager came and also asked him for ID, when I pointed put yet again that the boy wasnt buying anything he said he couldnt serve me.
But get this. He then said if I left the shop and came back in without son I could buy the same box of beer! Was going to say stuff it but its the only place here that sold the stuff hubby wanted so I strolled out, strolled back in minus son and bought the same box. I then asked manager to carry my beer to the car as I had a bad back which is why I brought son with me in the first place!
I know it is important not to sell booze to underage kids but to hassle a middleaged mum doing her shoppin? Very silly.

Apparently the law states that they can only query my ~ID if they have good reason to believe I am under 21, Iwish!!

[bluemoon]

I thought the legal age for buying alcohol was still 18? When did they change it? I know I don't watch telly and tend to miss stuff, but I'd have thought my 19 year old daughter would have had more than a few words to say on the subject.

[kirsty b]

I used to work on a checkout at Tesco about 6 years ago, and if someone didn't look as though they were 21, they had to have ID to prove they were over 18.I used to work a 6.30pm - 1.00am shift and from 10.30 - 11.00 we would sometimes get under age kids pushing their luck.

[ailsasyl]

As far as I understand it the legal age is still 18 but some supermarket have a won't sell to under 21 policy and its also illegal to sell to over 18s if you suspect they are supplying the alcohol to a minor.
Googled this and this is what I found, didn't realise that there was some differences between Scotland and England on this one see last bit.

Youth Information UK Licensing Laws explained

[Hilary B]

If a parent can prove that it is THEIR CHILD with them, then the age of the child doesn't matter, because you can give your 5yo wine to drink if you so choose. When my daughter was 16 she wanted to buy me liqueur chocolates for Christmas. An adult neighbour bought them on her behalf (I don't think my daughter was in the shop), and she phoned me on Christmas Day. That was something of a 'special occasion' situation (yes the chocolates really were my Christmas present), but it wasn't strictly legal.

[jackie j]

The law is still 18 but we have to look at the people even if a group come in we have to check all of them if we think any one of them is under 21 as it is very hard to tell. If an adult comes in with a under age during the day I wouldnt dream of asking for ID I just use my common sense however if the adult looks nearer 21 than say 31 I will ask for ID.
If the chap and the two girls he was with looked over 18 or 21 I wouldnt have asked for her ID but one of them did look under age and she was fine about it and was only just 18 anyway, I can get into trouble for knowingly selling alcohol to any one that I think is supplying to an under age person. It was the chap that was being abusive because he had been drinking and it was a large bottle of Jack Daniels that he was buying.
Also if I think someone has had enough to drink I can refuse to sell them any. The security gaurd will back me up as will my managers but the guard was talking to the police about an incident where the police had already been called.
Friday nights are the worst.

[Two_Sheds]

Jackie, you really have my sympathy. I don't envy you your job at all ... it's bad enough that we have to hear drunken yobs outside our house at night; I wouldn't want to be in a confined space like an off-licence with them.

[jackie j]

It is a very large super market the space is confined at the checkout because its only the self serve tills that are open and we have to get right up to the screen now to validate the ID whereas before we could do it from a station and I do feel very vunerable anything could happen, if I lived in a rough area I wouldnt do the job.

[SarzWix]

I used to work in a petrol station shop which had an off-licence section. I used to regularly have arguments over this one too Jackie. They seemed to think that as they were old enough to drive that was proof they were old enough to buy drink, and I could see from inside the bunch of little girlies they had in the back seat of the car The worst ones were ones which I KNEW were already drunk & driving Usually they were middle-aged and upwards men, and would go bananas when I refused to serve them. And of course you're obliged to ring the police to report the drink driving, so then had to frantically try to record the registration number before they screeched off & call the police with the other customers all chuntering away (usually in support of the the drunk - W.T.F???). I know I lost at least one person their license, because he came in threatening all sorts and I had to get the police again

[vicky]

I went shopping in local T***o a while back. I had a trolley full of food and some beers for hubby. My son was with me to help pack and carry. It wasnt 1 am it was 11.30 in the morning
They asked me for ID and then him. I was really cross. Not even in a GREAT light would I look under 21 and my son was not entering into any transaction with them. The manager came and also asked him for ID, when I pointed put yet again that the boy wasnt buying anything he said he couldnt serve me.

That's crazy! So if I go in with my 9 year old or 2 year old I would have to leave them in the car alone in order to buy my (very necessary!) wine!!! Mums accross the country will revolt!

[jackie j]

No vicky if you look over 21 you wont be asked for ID but if you are lucky enough to look under age you will be asked. It depends on the company's policy and the person serving you. I am 53 and take my 12 year old daughter shopping with me and I buy alcohol when she is with me, I unfortunatly for me look well over 21 !!!!! My daughter scanned something at the self serve checkout without me thinking about it and I got told off as I should know better, and as I knew the person she let me off but she could have refused me. Because some stupid people do stupid things it reflects on all of us.
If asked for ID just show it, some older people joke with me about them showing me their ID. How many that look under age are asked for ID ? its the same with Cigarettes, Knives, Fireworks, Party Poppers and many things that most people wouldnt even think about. My daughter is not allowed to buy Deodorant in S**** D*** thats a new one on me.