Rant about asda

pullenuk

If you drive you are supposed to be carrying your driving license all times. I believe it's an offense not to but they allow you to produce in 7 days if required.

If you drive and had a serious accident how you think they would identify you to contact next of kin or your details for allergies, medical history or even death? The process is much quicker if you have ID on you for them to find.

Even if you don't drive a provisional license is ideal to carry and is just like an extra bank card space in your wallet.

You simply made the situation unnecessary over a simple piece of plastic.

antrobus

pullenuk wrote: »

If you drive you are supposed to be carrying your driving license all times. I believe it's an offense not to but they allow you to produce in 7 days if required......

There is no legal requirement to carry your driving license. Certainly not at "all times". A police officer has the power to require production of a driving license in certain cirucmstances, such as, when you are actually driving a motor vehicle. (S164 RTA 1988.) Production need not be immediate. You have 7 days to comply. Only if you fail to do so will you have committed an offence.

thespiderspeed

marliepanda wrote: »

Considering stores go on and on when training about the 'personal' £xthousand fine that you will get for serving alcohol to someone underage, when I worked at Marks and Sparks I pretty much ID'd everyone with their own teeth.

I didn't care if you don't have your ID. Thats not my problem. I'm not risking a fine or whatever the shop had threatened for nobodys pride.

My brother-in-law got caught out by an underage test purchaser whilst working as a barman. The company he worked for had a zero tolerance policy and he was sacked. Up until that point he had the best record for ID'ing people and spotting underage drinkers in the company, but on one of the few times he hadn't asked, he was caught, fined and lost his job.

Perhaps the OP should consider why shops, pubs, etc operate these policies instead of blaming the checkout assistant for doing their job.

Azari

As usual, there are a vast number of people in this thread who are completely missing the obvious.

It's not about Asda's policy of being very careful of whom they serve alcohol - this is good and responsible behaviour.

It's not about the fact that a checkout operator cannot tell that a 33 y/o is over 25. Some people are not good at estimating age and the penalties for getting it wrong are draconian.

It's not about the checkout operator refusing to sell to someone who he cannot be sure is over 25. Again, this is good and responsible behaviour.

What it is about is Asda (and others) not having the basic good sense to have a procedure whereby when a situation like this arises a senior staff member cannot check the customer in question and authorise the sale - possibly at the customer service station to avoid embarrassing the c/o operator.

It really is beyond belief that any major supermarket would allow a store to operate without someone old enough to be able to tell that a 33 y/o is over 18.

Clearly someone who is once asked for ID should realise they are fortunate in looking particularly youthful and ensure they do carry some ID, but someone who is 33 and has never before been asked before could reasonably expect not to need it.

Remember this is not about what Asda can and cannot legally do, it's about basic, good, customer service and not antagonising the people on whom you depend for your living by acting like a bunch of utter wallies.

marliepanda

Azari wrote: »

It's not about the fact that a checkout operator cannot tell that a 33 y/o is over 25. Some people are not good at estimating age and the penalties for getting it wrong are draconian.



It really is beyond belief that any major supermarket would allow a store to operate without someone old enough to be able to tell that a 33 y/o is over 18.

Clearly someone who is once asked for ID should realise they are fortunate in looking particularly youthful and ensure they do carry some ID, but someone who is 33 and has never before been asked before could reasonably expect not to need it.

Without a picture of the OP how can we possibly state whether or not the checkout operator was reasonable to ID or not. I know plenty of 33 year olds who could pass for 24.

The fact the OP went back with their Dad, in my eyes, speaks volumes. Any mature sensible 33 year old would go and get their ID, not their Daddy.

Azari

marliepanda wrote: »

Without a picture of the OP how can we possibly state whether or not the checkout operator was reasonable to ID or not. I know plenty of 33 year olds who could pass for 24.

There are very few mature adults who cannot tell that someone over 30 is over 25 and certainly well over 18.

Obviously supermarkets and others, quite reasonably, employ a lot of people who are not mature, intelligent, adults.

That is not the point.

What is daft is that a business has a policy of refusing to expect a more senior staff member to review the estimated age of the customer and act appropriately.

If the manager had looked at the OP and said: "I'm afraid that I cannot be sure you are over 25" that would be a different matter. What is objectionable about the apparent policy of Asda is that they insist on using the initial assessment and will not review a decision that has been made by one of their most junior members of staff even though such a policy may seriously inconvenience their customers..

marliepanda

Azari wrote: »

What is daft is that a business has a policy of refusing to expect a more senior staff member to review the estimated age of the customer and act appropriately.

If the manager had looked at the OP and said: "I'm afraid that I cannot be sure you are over 25" that would be a different matter. What is objectionable about the apparent policy of Asda is that they insist on using the initial assessment and will not review a decision that has been made by one of their most junior members of staff even though such a policy may seriously inconvenience their customers..

It is the same in Marks and Spencer. I dont know about any other stores. The policy is not to back down from the initial cashier decision. To be honest I agree with this, it would be embarrassing for the cashier, and belittle them. They are put in the position to make the decision and the manager quite rightly stands by that.

If customers knew that a manager would overturn they would ask every time, seriously inconveniencing the management and other customers forced to wait behind them in the queue.

All because someone cannot be bothered to bring a credit card sized ID.

Where we worked I ID'd someone who was the managers next door neighbour, she knew she was 24. She still stood by my decision and said 'sorry not without ID' you may find that stupid, but its seriously no hardship to carry ID.

Azari

marliepanda wrote: »

It is the same in Marks and Spencer. I dont know about any other stores. The policy is not to back down from the initial cashier decision. To be honest I agree with this, it would be embarrassing for the cashier, and belittle them. They are put in the position to make the decision and the manager quite rightly stands by that.

Rubbish!

If the shop's policy is that the cashier makes an initial assessment and passes the decision onto someone else if they are uncertain, then there is no need for anyone to be embarrassed. That is the procedure for untold millions of workers in untold millions of situations.

That's one of the reasons to have supervisors and a chain of command in the first place.

If customers knew that a manager would overturn they would ask every time, seriously inconveniencing the management and other customers forced to wait behind them in the queue.

Now you're just being silly. Of course the customers would not know that the manager would overturn the cashier's decision. We're not talking about everyday situations here; we are talking about rare occasions when a cashier makes a mistake that would be obviously so to someone more experienced.

All because someone cannot be bothered to bring a credit card sized ID.

Again, you are not really responding to what I said. I said that anyone who gets refused should carry Id. That's only sensible.

The problem is upsetting and possibly seriously inconveniencing a customer who may have been buying alcohol for over a decade without previous problems simply because a very junior and probably inexperienced employee has been unable to reasonably estimate someone's age.

gik

Azari wrote: »

Rubbish!

If the shop's policy is that the cashier makes an initial assessment and passes the decision onto someone else if they are uncertain, then there is no need for anyone to be embarrassed. That is the procedure for untold millions of workers in untold millions of situations.

That's one of the reasons to have supervisors and a chain of command in the first place.



Now you're just being silly. Of course the customers would not know that the manager would overturn the cashier's decision. We're not talking about everyday situations here; we are talking about rare occasions when a cashier makes a mistake that would be obviously so to someone more experienced.


Again, you are not really responding to what I said. I said that anyone who gets refused should carry Id. That's only sensible.

The problem is upsetting and possibly seriously inconveniencing a customer who may have been buying alcohol for over a decade without previous problems simply because a very junior and probably inexperienced employee has been unable to reasonably estimate someone's age.

The OP and their father spoke to a number of Asda staff including the checkout supervisor and the duty manager and was refused alcohol by all of them.

marliepanda

Its not rubbish. That is Marks and Spencer policy, and clearly Asdas. I havent worked for any other alcohol retailers so I cannot comment on theirs.

There are plenty of 17 year olds out there who look gone 40, and likewise 40yr olds who luckily look under 25. Its is not the 'junior employees' job to take a risk and guess, it is their job to ask for official ID if they are in ANY doubt.

Also theres nothing 'upsetting' about being ID'd, or not getting alcohol. If you are genuinely 'upset' by that then you have issues that cannot be solved by this forum. Theres also nothing inconvenient about not getting alcohol on a visit, especially when the OP clearly had time to go and get his Dad.