ID for alcohol gone mad?

[Mobojo]

Guys, all stores differ in policies, even ones within the same company can differ. It all matters on the policy of the company and then how the store interprets that. I know at the store that I helped run the front end at for over a year it changed. When I first started we were more laid back about it but then we had some cashiers get fired for selling cigarettes to under aged people so we lost our tobacco license. Because of that we had to crack down and if someone was in the group that was under 21 and wasnt a child of someone in the party that was over 21, we couldnt sell the alcohol.

[thedeadlyassassin]

I'd agree the policy is stupid, but the guy acted immaturely and negatively towards the employees. You just don't cuss at an employee and leave them a mess because you're having a pissy fit. It's ridiculous. This happens at my store and I have to clean their mess up, when I wasn't involved in the situation.

If there was a policy that the guy couldn't wear pants in the store, I'd still think he acted very wrong here. You just don't cuss at an employee, it's not that employees rule. I can't make the rule whether or not people are 86 at our bottles, it's store management (and the law in this case).

I've been cussed at at my job, and I don't like it. The guy needs to shut the hell up and go to a different store if he has problems with it. It's his fault for making the situation worse.

And I can bet you 1 million dollars that the kids didn't get the alcohol at morrisons. I can give a good example oh how they could have that bag.

Millions of people keep the bags and use them for purposes, here I use my grocery bags for recycling and trash. This case, the kids used it to hide their drinks.

The only way that I think they'd let the kids off the hook is if some moron bought them the beer while they were outside. But I highly doubt the store, after enforcing this rule, would let kids walk in, buy booze, and then walk out.

We all have this rule. The rule is at my store as well. if someone is buying alcohol, everyone with the buyer must show I.D. Asking for a 5 year olds was wrong, but it's a rule, and in fact I donno about the UK, but that rule has been enforced for awhile, it all just depends on if the cashier cares about their customers enough.

I'm still with the store all the way and still think this guy is a jerk and a fool.

[juneau]

I'd agree the policy is stupid, but the guy acted immaturely and negatively towards the employees. You just don't cuss at an employee and leave them a mess because you're having a pissy fit. It's ridiculous. This happens at my store and I have to clean their mess up, when I wasn't involved in the situation.

If there was a policy that the guy couldn't wear pants in the store, I'd still think he acted very wrong here. You just don't cuss at an employee, it's not that employees rule. I can't make the rule whether or not people are 86 at our bottles, it's store management (and the law in this case).

I've been cussed at at my job, and I don't like it. The guy needs to shut the hell up and go to a different store if he has problems with it. It's his fault for making the situation worse.

And I can bet you 1 million dollars that the kids didn't get the alcohol at morrisons. I can give a good example oh how they could have that bag.

Millions of people keep the bags and use them for purposes, here I use my grocery bags for recycling and trash. This case, the kids used it to hide their drinks.

The only way that I think they'd let the kids off the hook is if some moron bought them the beer while they were outside. But I highly doubt the store, after enforcing this rule, would let kids walk in, buy booze, and then walk out.

We all have this rule. The rule is at my store as well. if someone is buying alcohol, everyone with the buyer must show I.D. Asking for a 5 year olds was wrong, but it's a rule, and in fact I donno about the UK, but that rule has been enforced for awhile, it all just depends on if the cashier cares about their customers enough.

I'm still with the store all the way and still think this guy is a jerk and a fool.

I'll answer your paragraphs one at a time.

The policy isn't stupid. In fact i think it's a great idea. But it's intended use is aimed at teenagers. Surely grocery store workers can tell the difference between a teenager and a 5year old. Just because he **** on a forum doesn't mean he exactly said that. Maybe he just told them to 'shove it'? I would have done the same thing in my case. Treated like an idiot by two people that obviously don't have a clue when it comes to making judgement calls. Would it be fair of them to ask a 6month year old baby for ID?

This policy isn't base around a definitive action. There is no couldn't, shouldn't etc. I'll go back to what i already stated. It's a loose policy for the checkout workers to use when they believe the purchaser is buying for underage people that are with him/her.

I don't know about you, but we don't have an abundance of grocery stores all within walking distance of one another. Why shouldn't he use the one that is most convenient to him? He did the right thing. First he questioned the checkout worker, then after getting nowhere he asked to speak to a manager. It's just a pity that neither of them seemingly had any intellectual ability between them.

And you would loose that bet. You won't know what chavs are like. Chavs don't go storing bags. They can barely walk for a few yards without having to sit down somewhere (this will include places like the hood of your car) so that they don't have too. Also, in the UK you barely see anybody concealing their alcohol in bags while they drink it. Reason being.... they don't need too. Do the scum walking your streets aged between 13-17 store bags in their bedroom? Somehow i doubt it.

I do believe that they waited outside, and therefore the person that bought the alcohol would not have been questioned. It still however doesn't remove the idiocy that the 2 workers showed towards somebody that was breaking no law, and no policies.

[Mobojo]

This policy isn't base around a definitive action. There is no couldn't, shouldn't etc. I'll go back to what i already stated. It's a loose policy for the checkout workers to use when they believe the purchaser is buying for underage people that are with him/her.

Juneau, you cant know that about that store unless you work there. At the store I worked at it wasnt a loose policy. I agree its stupid and that it was pretty dumb that my store enforced it that much but we had to.

[Hammy]

Juneau, you cant know that about that store unless you work there. At the store I worked at it wasnt a loose policy. I agree its stupid and that it was pretty dumb that my store enforced it that much but we had to.

I was almost inclined to agree with you, but in doing so, I would be insulting the intelligence of the workers behind the counter. The reason I say it would be an insult, is that the only reason you wouldnt have a "best judgement" for your employees is if you didnt believe they were intelligent enough to handle that kind of deductive reasoning.

Juneau is probably right and the checker had a chip on his shoulder and decided to wave his wand of power at the defenseless customer to give himself a little "pick-up" and brighten his own meek existence.

Not all checkstand people are like this, in fact most arent, but the rule has to be enforced somehow in order to form a protection. It's actually a legal standard that companies protect underage people from buying alcohol. Thus the extension of ID Card Acceptance rules:

Stage 1: Ask for ID
Stage 2: Rule Modification, ask anyone who seems underage
Stage 3: Ask anyone under 25
Stage 4: Ask anyone under 35
Stage 5: Ask everyone, no exceptions
Stage 6: Ask everyone, no exceptions + No alcohol purchases in the presence of unrelated minors
Stage 7: Ask everyone, no exceptions + Absolutely no alcohol purchases in the presence of any minors
Stage 8: The store stops selling alcohol

Looks like this store is nearing stage 7

[juneau]

Juneau, you cant know that about that store unless you work there. At the store I worked at it wasnt a loose policy. I agree its stupid and that it was pretty dumb that my store enforced it that much but we had to.

If the policy is indeed 'stop everybody with a minor and refuse them alcohol' then 100% staff through 4 stores i've been to over the past month or so are not following this policy.

I believe that it happened something like this.

H.O send out new policy guidlines stating that workers need to question for ID when they believe the alcohol is going to be given to a minor.

Manager recieves new policy via fax and is too dumb to understand it.

Manager goes ahead and tells staff to stop anybody buying alcohol that has a minor present. Probably to cover his butt as he didn't understand said policy.

@Hammy the stage i believe we are at is....

Ask anyone under 21 even though the legal age is 18 + No alcohol purchases in the presence of unrelated/suspicious minors

[Mobojo]

It could also be that the individual store messed up so in order to protect the store they need to be more strict then other stores. The one I worked at lost its tobacco license for a year and almost the alcohol license because of a couple stupid cashiers. Those cashiers didnt represent the cashiers as a whole but because we were close to losing the alcohol license we as a store had to crack down, not as a company. Im not sure if the company sent down the order to just our store or if it was the store manager but we basically had to crack down. Im not entirely sure if other stores were more laid back about selling alcohol or not. Another option is that these stores are playing it risky and want the sales so they will bend the rules for the sale. I have seen that happen at my store in situations besides tobacco and alcohol. A lot of it is up to the discretion of the store manager and what they want to try to get away with, thus not the fault of the cashier or other managers.

[{CLR}geneSW]

You avoid loosing your licenses if you don't hire stupid cashiers that don't card people who need to be carded. Like a person who doesn't look to be of age, or might not be of age, or carding a person who might be selling it to minors. In the last case the cashier can simply refuse to sell the alcohol. Point blank, at least in Kentucky and Arizona it is.

At the end of the day it's a judgment call, and this judgment was way out of line from a common sense standpoint.

[Mobojo]

Yes, I know its usually a judgment call but in SOME stores its just how it is. In SOME stores they have policies in place that reflect what happened in that situation and the cashier and manager have their hands tied.

[{CLR}geneSW]

Yes, I know its usually a judgment call but in SOME stores its just how it is. In SOME stores they have policies in place that reflect what happened in that situation and the cashier and manager have their hands tied.

Your hands are never tied... There are always options. Being a Grocery store clerk isn't like being in the military where you have to do everything you are ordered to do. At the end of the day I would bet money that the clerk wouldn't have gotten fired for not carding the 5 year old kid. Policies (like rules) have their limits and are made with the best of intentions. It is those intentions that the policy/rule is there for, not generally to be followed to the T as I believe you are suggesting for this case at hand.

[Mobojo]

Your hands are never tied... There are always options. Being a Grocery store clerk isn't like being in the military where you have to do everything you are ordered to do. At the end of the day I would bet money that the clerk wouldn't have gotten fired for not carding the 5 year old kid. Policies (like rules) have their limits and are made with the best of intentions. It is those intentions that the policy/rule is there for, not generally to be followed to the T as I believe you are suggesting for this case at hand.

Again that depends on the store. The store I worked at you may not have gotten fired right away for selling the beer to someone with the 5 year old but if you are caught you would at least get written up if not fired. So yes, there is a choice, dont sell the alcohol or sell it and try not to get caught, and if you are caught get written up.

[Hammy]

Or just hit yourself in the face with a frying pan until you pass out and then claim workers comp.......

[[TT]BrundleFly]

I don't care how much they are buying, or how often they come to my store, if they are offending me or my co-workers I won't care about them and I'll make sure they never come again.

I agree 100%. Driving away customers should be every retail workers primary duty. And when the store closes due to no more customers, the employees can go sit on welfare.

[{CLR} Major.Massacre]

I agree 100%. Driving away customers should be every retail workers primary duty. And when the store closes due to no more customers, the employees can go sit on welfare.

This is by far the most logical idea in this thread. I could not agree more. I also find that when I wave my gun around in my house my children behave like little angels.
Hats off to you Brundle!!

[mapes]

Here in Cali the law states that parents or guardians can administer alcohol to minors (or least I thought it did). By that token if your the parent of said child you can still buy alcohol.