Refused to buy a U cert DVD as had no ID

System

Some non alcoholic beer contains LESS alcohol than shandy which has no prompt and can be purchased by kids. You need to drink about 30 cans before you can feel the affects of the alcohol. Then again, you may not absorb it as you will flush the shandy via the loo first.

The reason of a prompt coming up for NA beer is because supermarkets don't have a sub-group for their NA products in the booze section. They probably don't have a sub group for NA booze as there are about 20-25 products over the 2000+ different lines they have

peachyprice

ShadowPuma wrote: »

The training contains no such thing. It contains videos which basically are horror stories of people losing their jobs, being fined and going to jail for failing checks. Basically "you screw this up? we won't support you in any way."

Yes, it does, or at least it should.

If that is the way you were trained they never would have been able to sack you for not enforcing Think 21/25/103. They can't sack you for a company policy that hasn't been properly explained and signed off on your training record. That is why they are so !!!!!! hot on making sure all training is signed off properly.

Now, if you signed off on something that wasn't explained to you properly that just perpetuates the belief that some cashiers are thick, I certainly wouldn't have signed off on something that consisted of a video but didn't actually tell me what an age related sale was.

Cycrow

I've worked in retail at various supermarkets in the past. And you have to follow company policy, no matter how stupid you think it is.

if the till asks you to do something, then you do it.

i was once given a written warning for breaking a policy, the manager even said it was stupid, but it was the policy and they must follow it.

i also knew plenty of other people who were given warnings for breaking policies. And one of those did include where the till asked for id for an item that didn't need it.


The main problem is that the tills only ask for confirmation once, so once you have confirmed they are old enough, it wont ask again for the rest of the transaction. So if you scan a U DVD through and have to approve the age and do, then you scan a bottle of whiskey, the till wont ask again which could potentially cause problems. Especially on the self service checkouts. There are certain items that arn't always clear that they are age restricted

hollydays

Cycrow wrote: »

I've worked in retail at various supermarkets in the past. And you have to follow company policy, no matter how stupid you think it is.

if the till asks you to do something, then you do it.

i was once given a written warning for breaking a policy, the manager even said it was stupid, but it was the policy and they must follow it.

i also knew plenty of other people who were given warnings for breaking policies. And one of those did include where the till asked for id for an item that didn't need it.


The main problem is that the tills only ask for confirmation once, so once you have confirmed they are old enough, it wont ask again for the rest of the transaction. So if you scan a U DVD through and have to approve the age and do, then you scan a bottle of whiskey, the till wont ask again which could potentially cause problems. Especially on the self service checkouts. There are certain items that arn't always clear that they are age restricted

Yes , we get all get the policy, but why did you not call a supervisor so the customer could spend their hard earned..

browneyedbazzi

peachyprice wrote: »

They will have been taught that in their induction training and will have been tested and signed off to say that they understand it.

The store can't enforce Think 21/25 without training the staff what it actually means, so not only would they have been trained to say they can't sell a 15 cert to an under 15, an 18 cert to an under 18 or alcohol to anyone under 18, the law regarding knives, solvents and liquer chocolates, they would also have been told they can sell a U cert to anyone without asking for ID as there is no minimum age.

Of course there's always the possibility they didn't understand any of the age related sales training session.

Some retailers think it is easier and safer to simply train staff that if a till prompt appears they must ask for ID showing the buyer is over 18 rather than teaching staff detail of all the products that are age restricted and the relevant ages. They don't give staff any discretion at all - it is simply 'if A, then B'. They like things to be very simple and black and white because they think it will mean less mistakes.

I can understand how this can lead to frustration from customers who aren't able to buy something they want, but I can also understand why the retailers take this route - so long as they have this policy, properly inform staff of it and train them about what ID is acceptable, and monitor staff to ensure they apply it (many use 18/19 year old mystery shoppers to test compliance with think 25 policies) they have a pretty good due diligence defence. They will have weighed up the benefits of taking this stance (ie lower training costs, less risk of prosecution/losing a licence) against the risk of annoying customers and lost sales.

As for the cashier following the policy - I don't think it makes them thick, it means they want to keep their job. They will be aware that testing goes on and in many cases failing a test leads to disciplinary action (some retailers treat it as gross misconduct).

unholyangel

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

Some retailers think it is easier and safer to simply train staff that if a till prompt appears they must ask for ID showing the buyer is over 18 rather than teaching staff detail of all the products that are age restricted and the relevant ages. They don't give staff any discretion at all - it is simply 'if A, then B'. They like things to be very simple and black and white because they think it will mean less mistakes.

I dont think this is necessarily true.

At least with alcohol, there is a requirement for anyone involved in the sale of alcohol to receive training so that they understand the requirements (and their obligations) of the licensing act.

And yes you really do need to be taught the legislation in order to understand how to comply with it because its not just about making sure people are old enough. Its also an offence to sell to someone who is already heavily intoxicated.


And having just had a look at trading standards pages....they also say (specifically in relation to dvd/game sales):

Always observe any age restrictions on the video recording and make sure your staff do so too. It is advised that the legislation be brought to the attention of all staff via regular training. It is important that you can prove that your staff have understood what is required of them under the legislation. This can be done by keeping a record of the training and asking the member of staff to sign to say that they have understood it. These records should then be checked and signed on a regular basis by management or the owner.

Along with saying a record of refusals should be kept. It is how they prove "due diligence".

Zandoni

I haven't read all the thread so not sure if this has come up.


If the OP was under age they should be able to buy the DVD, everyone agrees on that.


I haven't worked in a shop for years, but if the assistant clicked to say the person buying was OK to buy the DVD and then further down the conveyor was some alcohol, would the till ask the question again. If not an under age person could get round the system.


Saying that the assistant should have called a supervisor and if they didn't the OP should have. This does not make anyone 'thick', that can't be clarified without an interview

Cycrow

Zandoni wrote: »

I haven't worked in a shop for years, but if the assistant clicked to say the person buying was OK to buy the DVD and then further down the conveyor was some alcohol,l would the till ask the question again. If not an under age person could get round the system.

The till only asks the question once.

it may ask twice if there are different ages, so if it asks for something 15 rating, then it will ask again for something 18 rating. But not everything is setup on the till with the correct ages