Refused to buy a U cert DVD as had no ID

lucy03

JReacher1 wrote: »

The fact you believe these are the only two options the cashier would think they had, supports the argument of people who think the cashier was thick.....

You either follow the system or don't follow it.

Personally I think we need to hear more from the OP about where the supervisor was and if the cashier offered any other options before progressing this to any firmer conclusions.

lucy03

peachyprice wrote: »

In which case, Asda colleagues do not have to call a supervisor for every age related sale. The cashier could have used her common sense and just pressed the 'id accepted' button and legally sold the DVD that had been erroneously marked on the system as an age related sale.

Like I said at the beginning.

Most importantly I'll see if I can get permission to name the ASDA store but apparently this very situation has occurred in their store and the cashier had to refer it to a colleague as per the rules they were told.

Which is like I said at the beginning. It might be the store rules and not the cashier.

ciderboy2009

It would be interesting to know if the person was just buying the DVD or other items as well - bear in mind that the think 25 would only normally come up once per transaction so overriding it would potentially allow age restricted products to be sold to a minor.
In my opinion the law should be changed so id has to always be shown when buying age restricted items regardless of the purchasers age.

sheramber

It would have been more sensible if the person trying to buy the dvd had gone to the customer service desk to ask for the reason.

She would have got the right answer instead of suppositions from those who don't know the real reason.

unholyangel

lucy03 wrote: »

You either follow the system or don't follow it.

Personally I think we need to hear more from the OP about where the supervisor was and if the cashier offered any other options before progressing this to any firmer conclusions.

In the shop - if the supervisor wasnt there and the cashier was unable to bypass the system themselves....it was completely pointless asking for ID as there would be no supervisor to overrule it whether ID was given or not.

While being a shop worker has nothing to do with their intelligence, it doesnt necessarily mean that there aren't shop workers out there who aren't the brightest coin in the till.

If the cashier isnt authorised to sell age restricted items and only the supervisor is, then it should be the supervisor asking to see ID - not the cashier.

DalePie

JReacher1 wrote: »

No I agree with the OP that they were thick.

It's a U dvd which means anyone can buy it. The till may flash the message up but anyone with a bit of intelligence would have just clicked the accept button.

It's this sort of lack of initiative that will doom the cashier to a life permanently in the minimum wage sector.

If you had ever worked as a cashier you'd know, any thought process that's your own and not supermarket sanctioned results in a P45 winging its way over to you.

They don't want thinkers, they want "monkey see monkey do".

The cashier wasn't being thick, stupid or mean - they were simply trying to do the thing that helps them keep their job. My aunty works for Tesco and believe me, it's a pretty horrible place to call work judging by her stories.

As for the OP, calling people doing menial jobs "thick" is a typically lower working class thing to do. What if that "thick cashier" was earning enough to pay for Medical School or was studying a degree in Physics.

Are you a Doctor or a Rocker Scientist? Thought not.....

Nilrem

cookie365 wrote: »

From the cashier's point of view:

Option 1: follow the policy.
Pros: won't lose job
Cons: none

Option 2: don't follow the policy
Pros: none
Cons: might lose job

Only a thick cashier would breach the policy, not follow it.

Pretty much it, I suspect a case could be made for gross misconduct if a cashier responds to an age check prompt on the till with an "ID checked" when they haven't (as many items that are age checked are done so for legal reasons with the store potentially being held jointly liable), because in this instance it wasn't needed legally, but the store management would have no idea how many other times you've done it and with a lot of items they cannot, and will not risk losing their ability to sell the age restricted item because of one cashier they can no longer trust to follow policy/law.

If I worked at a checkout and was told by the bosses that I had to check ID every time the till asked or risk losing my job I know what course of action I would take (assuming I wanted/needed to keep the job*).

What people tend to forget is that often age checks are done for legal reasons and the store management and trading standards both do anonymous checks that the law is being followed (and in managements case, store policies are followed as well).


*Also allowing for the fact that with some age checks if you (as the cashier) get it wrong, you could be liable to a large fine if the person doing the buy is part of a TS (or similar) test.

JReacher1

DalePie wrote: »

If you had ever worked as a cashier you'd know, any display of a thought process that's your own and not supermarket sanctioned results in a P45 winging its way over to you.

They don't want thinkers, they want "monkey see monkey do".

The cashier wasn't being thick, stupid or mean - they were simply trying to do the thing that helps them keep their job.

As for the OP, calling people doing menial jobs "thick" is a typically lower working class thing to do. What if that "thick cashier" was earning enough to pay for Medical School or was studying a degree in Physics.

Are you a Doctor or a Rocker Scientist? Thought not.....

They are not being called thick because of the job they do. They are being called thick based on the fact they insisted on seeing ID for a U rated DVD.

hollydays

I'd love to see someone dismissed for not obtaining ID for a U dvd.
I think they'd be claiming unlawful dismissal.
Gross misconduct lol
The " you've never worked in retail you just don't understand our pain" brigade don't do themselves any favours do they?

JReacher1

Nilrem wrote: »

Pretty much it, I suspect a case could be made for gross misconduct if a cashier responds to an age check prompt on the till with an "ID checked" when they haven't (as many items that are age checked are done so for legal reasons with the store potentially being held jointly liable), because in this instance it wasn't needed legally, but the store management would have no idea how many other times you've done it and with a lot of items they cannot, and will not risk losing their ability to sell the age restricted item because of one cashier they can no longer trust to follow policy/law.

If I worked at a checkout and was told by the bosses that I had to check ID every time the till asked or risk losing my job I know what course of action I would take (assuming I wanted/needed to keep the job*).

What people tend to forget is that often age checks are done for legal reasons and the store management and trading standards both do anonymous checks that the law is being followed (and in managements case, store policies are followed as well).


*Also allowing for the fact that with some age checks if you (as the cashier) get it wrong, you could be liable to a large fine if the person doing the buy is part of a TS (or similar) test.

You seems to be missing the point that no law was being broken...

I am pretty sure trading standards would not do a test to ensure that supermarkets ask for ID on a U rated dvd....