Sainsbury's checking IDs

Storck

mad_bad_spender wrote: »

I wasnt aware this was the case but HMV are just about to get an A*S kicking from me as my 11 year old daughter came back from shopping yesterday with a 15 rated film...

will be calling manager tomorrow for a very stern word..

What are you going to have a stern word for, surely as it isn't illegal then it is not their fault if your child buys something you fell is not right for them. The ratings at the moment are just suggestions.

Rosemary7391

I work on a checkout sometimes, I hate having to ask for ID because I don't like to make a fuss. I'd hate losing my job and a fine even more! We don't do it to annoy you. It really is hard to judge age, I asked a work colleague to guess my age once, he'd chatted to me several times - he guessed '22 or 23?'. I was 16, had no make up on or anything. Hence why we have a policy to ID those who look under 25! I really wish people wouldn't get hostile about it, take it as a compliment!

Bamber19

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

I work on a checkout sometimes, I hate having to ask for ID because I don't like to make a fuss. I'd hate losing my job and a fine even more! We don't do it to annoy you. It really is hard to judge age, I asked a work colleague to guess my age once, he'd chatted to me several times - he guessed '22 or 23?'. I was 16, had no make up on or anything. Hence why we have a policy to ID those who look under 25! I really wish people wouldn't get hostile about it, take it as a compliment!

But if someoen genuinely looks 22 or 23, and it's reaasonable to take them for that age then if you sold alcohol to them you would have a defence provided for in the very statute that creates the offence. This is why trading standards send in kids that look like kids, they gain nothing from "catching out" someone selling to a 16 year old with a beard and wrinkles.

ThinkingOfLinking

superscaper wrote: »

Although at the moment it's not illegal to sell DVDs to underage people. (what wonderfully competant governments we get).

I worked at HMV and in our training, we were told we could personally be fined £5,000 if we sold an age restricted product to someone who is underage (so that's games and DVDs).

We were also told to fill out the refusals record every time we knocked someone back; it had the time, date, item and age rating and a reason (eg "Looked 14, had no ID").

one_hot_minute

hose of you who work on checkouts and are posting saying you're only doing your job when you ask for ID - that's fair enough, and I understand that you risk being fined/sacked if you sell to somebody underage.

Thats the thing though, its not just the checkout operator that could lose her job. My husband is a supermarket manager, licensee for the store etc and is required by law to ensure that alcohol isnt sold to a minor. If a checkout operator doesnt check age and sells to a minor, my husband can, and very nearly did lose his job and license to sell alchohol - over something a very quick check would have avoided. Only the mere fact that he had training records and a date book of every check his staff usually do kept him in his job and the roof over our heads.

I would MUCH prefer to be inconvenienced by being asked to produce ID than think that people with families would lose their jobs because they were afraid to ask.

How hard is it to carry ID? BTW, I'm 30 and get asked all the time and I think I look my age.

MuckyDucky

I've been on both sides of the fence, have worked as a Christmas Temp in M&S Foods (years ago) having to ask customers for ID and am also personally asked for ID quite a lot (I'm 27).

I think if you've ever worked in a job where part of your duties is to ask for ID then you become a lot more tolerant and sympathetic when you're asked for ID yourself. Some people may think it's annoying, a nuisance or that the people you're buying from are trying to be difficult, but they're not. It's part of their job and they don't wish to risk being fired/fined.

I don't mind being asked for ID at all, and recall when I worked in M&S Foods you would get some customers that were really aggressive when you asked for ID but they tended to be the ones who did actually look very young and had no ID.

My only rude experience was last Christmas when a few of us from my office went to a pub, we were all standing by the bar and one of us ordered but then the bar lady shouted over the bar pointing to two of us saying 'I'm not serving any of you until those two little ones show me their ID.'

The two 'little' ones were both 25 and they showed the bar lady their passports, but not content with that the bar lady called her Manager and asked him to check the passports as well. Fortunately he seemed miffed why she was asking for a double check and said to her 'Why are you asking me? It says their age on there.'

But on the whole it really is just part of somebody's job to ask for ID, so it's best to always carry around some form of ID.

catch22

Storck wrote: »

What would that prove, except it is their card. You can get a bank card at a very young age and you can be a second card holder on a credit card before you are 18.

It also shows your date of birth

Storck

catch22 wrote: »

It also shows your date of birth

When one of the banks over here did pictures on back of cards, that was all it was. Just the picture. No DOB.

michellem1978

Im 31 and look it ! and was ID'd in ASDA recently. After much red-facedness, my 42 year old boyfriend said he would pay for the items, but he was not allowed to ! Im all for tackling underage drinking, but come on !

triggerhappy_2

I haven't been asked for ID since the day before I turned 26. I must have just come across particularly talented age-guessing till operators since then but I'm still a bit gutted that I so clearly look my age!