Refused to buy a U cert DVD as had no ID

lucy03

JReacher1 wrote: »

Considering the fact the policy in all supermarkets is "think 21 or 25". Which means that the cashier has to use their judgement to decide whether the person buying is over 21 or 25.

Then I don't understand when you say they can't use their discretion. The whole system is based on the cashiers discretion....

I will declare an interest as I'm involved in the legal team which runs a bar and restaurant chain. Although different in principle we do have problems with this because only certain staff have discretion. We don't give discretion to the most junior staff because it's not fair on them, they can get fined (not us - although we can) if they make a mistake.

In the OP's case it is a system failure somewhere but companies do have very tight rules on where discretion falls. It is not unusual for cashiers not to be given discretion, not because we think they're thick, but because a supervisor has received all of the training and is more experienced.

I've seen complaints of our staff being called thick, and it's nothing to do with it. It's the systems we've given them, and sometimes there are minor delays whilst a manager is found (although we have ways of avoiding that being obvious).

lucy03

peachyprice wrote: »

You're just making stuff up now to support your own theory.

No, I posted early on because I know that staff are often accused of being thick when it's the system that's at fault. It's not rare.

I'm going to guess about selling DVDs as I have no experience. But I can well imagine a system is put in place which trains the supervisors up very well in this area. They don't train the cashiers to avoid confusion and because the supervisors make the decisions. That's the situation in at least one supermarket chain with regards to alcohol, no ID and no discretion at all, even if they look about 100. A supervisor must decide.

photome

Lucy stop digging.

JReacher1

lucy03 wrote: »

I will declare an interest as I'm involved in the legal team which runs a bar and restaurant chain. Although different in principle we do have problems with this because only certain staff have discretion. We don't give discretion to the most junior staff because it's not fair on them, they can get fined (not us - although we can) if they make a mistake.

In the OP's case it is a system failure somewhere but companies do have very tight rules on where discretion falls. It is not unusual for cashiers not to be given discretion, not because we think they're thick, but because a supervisor has received all of the training and is more experienced.

I've seen complaints of our staff being called thick, and it's nothing to do with it. It's the systems we've given them, and sometimes there are minor delays whilst a manager is found (although we have ways of avoiding that being obvious).

The system failure was that they asked for ID on a U rated DVD.

The cashier failure was

1) - They thought a 27 year old woman was underage
2) - They didn't use their intelligence and realise that you don't need to be over 18 to buy a U dvd

I'm sorry but the cashier was thick.

lucy03

photome wrote: »

Lucy stop digging.

Well, I've said all I can.

But it's the reality that cashiers do not have discretion in many outlets, that is held with the supervisor. It's very easy to call cashiers/bar staff/minimum wage staff thick, but having heard it many times, I rarely find it to be true. Other people might have different experiences.

lucy03

JReacher1 wrote: »

The system failure was that they asked for ID on a U rated DVD.

The cashier failure was

1) - They thought a 27 year old woman was underage
2) - They didn't use their intelligence and realise that you don't need to be over 18 to buy a U dvd

I'm sorry but the cashier was thick.

We'll just have to disagree. But if the cashier is told they have no discretion on IDs and they have to get a supervisor, then I'm not sure why you think they're thick for risking disciplinary action.

If the OP returns and gives more information and that the cashier refused to get a supervisor then the situation might be different.

But at least the OP now has some possible explanations of what happened, whether the cashier, the store, the supervisor or whoever was to blame.

JReacher1

lucy03 wrote: »

We'll just have to disagree. But if the cashier is told they have no discretion on IDs and they have to get a supervisor, then I'm not sure why you think they're thick for risking disciplinary action.

If the OP returns and gives more information and that the cashier refused to get a supervisor then the situation might be different.

But at least the OP now has some possible explanations of what happened, whether the cashier, the store, the supervisor or whoever was to blame.

But they do have a discretion on ID as they have to decide whether or not the person is below or above the ID age limit set by the store.

Sorry but nothing you have posted has made me think this was anything but a thick cashier. If I was being generous I would refer to them as "Untrained"

emilybean

When I was 20, and pregnant, I asked a member of staff in Sainsbury's if they could show me where the non alcoholic grenadine was. She took me to it, confirmed it was alcohol-free.
When I got to the till they asked for ID (which I didn't have).. on the next cashier their was a man I went to school with who I was going to see if he could confirm my age but whilst we were waiting, the lady who pointed it out to me came over and said to the cashier it wasn't alcoholic, the think 25 was just coming up because it is usually purchased with alcohol - how bizzare!

Completely irrelevant but a family friend gave me a lift to Tesco once to sock up before a festival. She queued in front (at this time I'm 18-she's 10 years older) she had some groceries and a case of lager... I had about £50 worth of alcohol, behind her in the queue, as a separate transaction. After asking her for ID, the cashier then asked me for ID. Why are you asking me for ID on somebody elses transaction? I asked as I showed him...... 'she might be buying it for you?' Seriously???? I'm stood behind her waiting to be served for more alcohol than she is buying... why on Earth would she be buying alcohol for me? Sometimes a bit of common sense is needed.

lucy03

JReacher1 wrote: »

But they do have a discretion on ID as they have to decide whether or not the person is below or above the ID age limit set by the store.

Sorry but nothing you have posted has made me think this was anything but a thick cashier. If I was being generous I would refer to them as "Untrained"

I'll refer to the situation we have in the business I work for as it's broadly relevant.

We don't give certain low-end staff any discretion on IDs when selling alcohol (it's actually the glass collectors who can also serve if it gets busy, it's not all the staff). If an 80 year old comes in they still couldn't serve them if they didn't have ID (although they'd not likely be asked, but it'd still be referred to a manager without the customer knowing). We do that because we have a lot of bar staff and we don't want them to make a wrong decision for any reason. They simply refer the matter to a manager, although it's discreetly done. No ID means they manually get a manager to check the decision and that can be even if the person is ordering a coke, just in case the manager feels they're buying it for someone else. It's just an additional fail-safe.

In our case around 75% of the team can make the decision, so there aren't really any delays.

But that member of bar staff could easily be called thick because he didn't immediately serve the 80 year old customer. But that's because we've told him not to, not because he's thick. It is this general fear retailers have that create these obtuse systems.

But in any event, we may well have to wait from the OP to clarify what happened. It could be that my guesses about a supervisor not being present are wrong and that the cashier was giving incorrect information and refusing a valid sale. That would certainly be poor training, and arguably a lack of intelligence.

peachyprice

lucy03 wrote: »

Well, I've said all I can.

But it's the reality that cashiers do not have discretion in many outlets, that is held with the supervisor. It's very easy to call cashiers/bar staff/minimum wage staff thick, but having heard it many times, I rarely find it to be true. Other people might have different experiences.

It was a SUPERMARKET, somewhere you have admitted you have no knowledge of, staff have that discretion in a supermarket.