Carding for Alcohol Purchases

[Seegtease]

Ooo, how about my shitty encounter at the grocery store?

So I go in the store with my wife and buy some beer. I get carded, even though she knows me and knows damn good and well I'm old enough. Anyway, I give it. She tells me she has to see my wife's ID too. Of course she doesn't have it on her, so she says she'll just go outside. She says she can't do that. I say I can just come back later and she says I can't do that. Basically, she said because I'm married, I cannot come back unless my wife is ID'd. She says it's state law, but I looked it up, and she's full of shit.

So wife is pissed. We go back with her ID on principle and try again. She punches a bunch of random garbage in the computer, looking back and forth at the ID and my wife, and she KNOWS we're both old enough, she's just being an utter bitch because she hates her job and she's 50 and has no career in life. She was acting like she thought the ID was fake. Anyway, I'm so pissed at this point I almost forget to pay but she calls me and I come back and pay but I really just wanted to falcon kick her face.

What the hell? Honestly. Use some discretion. I'm not buying alcohol for a bunch of teenagers, I'm going to the damn grocery store with my WIFE. Get a life.

[deathofcheese]

I thought that you didn't have to show your ID if you weren't paying. Regardless, if she was being a bitch about making both of you show your IDs, why didn't one of you just walk away so that it was only one party participating in the purchase of groceries?

I think I'd have a long talk with that manager, although I'm sure he would stand by his employee's decision.

[chefTENGU]

Liquor stores tend to card everyone when people buy alcohol in groups.

And if she asks for the ID, then you probably DO have to give it to her. My manager went through a similar experience when he was working at a Chili's in Texas. A guy came in, soused to the gills, obviously at least 40 years old, and the waitress carded him. He didn't have his ID, so she couldn't sell to him; it was the state law.

[Gio Takahashi]

Some people are just plain butts about ID.

[Killer_Man_]

I know in Wisconsin they have to card everyone and will card everyone.

My uncle who looks like he's 40+ in age threw a fit at some 18 year old because it's state law to card or atleast store policy at Pick N Save. He threw such a fit at her, I told him that it's either store policy or state law.

I know one time I went to buy for myself and my little brother whose 19 was standing behind me with his soda + snack food. I had my two small bottles of beer.(I think it was steel reserve or something else.) And she carded both of us for no reason at the store. He just got his stuff paid for, left and I came back in and went to a different line. Even though it was just beer for me because I don't buy for even my little brother or even share just for the sheer fact that if something happens it's my fault.

[Seegtease]

I don't mind being carded, at all. I expect to be carded. However, I also expect to go shopping with my wife and not have her be harassed because she didn't bring her ID, even though I'm with her every single day, whether she's at the store or not. That policy is supposed to be to stop people from buying drinks for kids, not stop couples from shopping together. The employee missed the entire intent of the rule, and did not use any discretion. I'm sure the manager would have taken her side but it's still bullshit.

[Killer_Man_]

I don't mind being carded, at all. I expect to be carded. However, I also expect to go shopping with my wife and not have her be harassed because she didn't bring her ID, even though I'm with her every single day, whether she's at the store or not. That policy is supposed to be to stop people from buying drinks for kids, not stop couples from shopping together. The employee missed the entire intent of the rule, and did not use any discretion. I'm sure the manager would have taken her side but it's still bullshit.


Yes but I think when you are married(I'm pretty damn sure of this.) in WI, that you are allowed to buy your spouse drinks even if she is underage.

[Arainach]

Unless you're carrying a marriage certificate to prove you're married, the store can still demand ID anyhow then.

[Bloodcinder]

I think this is a good topic idea!

Posts split off from Random Talkfest to this new thread.

[dinowoman]

IMO all this card business is way over the top. In Britain, they may ask you for ID if they suspect you might be under 18, but for anyone who is obviously old enough to drink it's unheard of to be asked for ID, regardless of whether you're with someone younger. After all, if anyone seriously intends to buy drink for an underage person, they'll just go into the shop on their own and hand it over later. Insisting that you can't buy alcohol just because someone with you is underage isn't going to stop underage drinking.

A couple of friends of mine fell foul of that rule a while ago. An Australian friend, who was 20 at the time, and had been drinking legally in his country for 2 years, went to visit a couple of friends in America, who were well into their 20s. One of them went to buy beer as usual, with him in tow, and they wouldn't serve him.

[chefTENGU]

I know it seems silly, but bear in mind that these people can get in serious trouble if they're caught selling to someone without ID.

When I was working at the gas station, we were told to card everyone who looked younger than 30. For a short while, we had been carding EVERYONE, because one of our cashiers got caught selling cigarettes to an underage individual. The store got slapped with a $1500 fine, and the cashier herself (a girl still in high school), was fined $500.

I don't want to think about what the penalty would have been like if it had been alcohol, since the government seems to care more about keeping that out of the hands of youngsters than tobacco.

So, my advice to everyone is, just carry your ID with you, and comply when asked to present it. The store clerks are just trying to comply with the state and federal laws, and you need to do the same. It's just a little piece of plastic, it's not heavy.

And "I didn't bring my ID with me today, but I come here all the time" doesn't work as an excuse. Every goddamn 17-year-old uses that excuse.

[Gio Takahashi]

This is very true, Chef, which is why I don't blame the store for carding anyone that looks like 30, but if its obvious that you're older than 30, there should be no reason to card you.

Then again there is a rare disease that causes you to grow gray hair at a young age. My dad knew someone like that in high school and he was called gramps for that.

[Seegtease]

After all, if anyone seriously intends to buy drink for an underage person, they'll just go into the shop on their own and hand it over later.

Exactly. Carding both prevents nothing and just causes frustration.

So, my advice to everyone is, just carry your ID with you, and comply when asked to present it. The store clerks are just trying to comply with the state and federal laws, and you need to do the same. It's just a little piece of plastic, it's not heavy.

But carding people with you is NOT a federal or state law. They cannot be fined by the government for selling alcohol to people legally who just happen to know people under 21. Get a clue, everybody knows somebody under 21.

Plus, it's the principle. She shouldn't have to show ID. She's not buying anything. If she had been in the car, it'd have been okay. What's the difference between being in the car and being in the store, especially if the clerk knows I'm married to her anyway?

Not to mention she was just plain being rude. She saw my ID the first time, but the second time we went it she said she "had to see them both out together" which is a load of crap. She also studied my wife's ID as if it were fake, and she knew it wasn't. We live in a small town, even. The bottom line was she was just being a b.i.t.c.h.

[Gio Takahashi]

I agree that it's really a dumb thing to show an ID to someone even though they're not shopping. Chef Tengu has a point, in this day and age, you've got to have an ID with you, its not just for buying drinks or cigarettes, but some store actually demand your ID if you're using a debit or credit card, hell if you're using your check (which almost no one does, unless it's something more than a grand, which in this case, would not work on debit cards).

I hate to say Zeit, but there's always going to be pain in the ass about you or your wife's lack of ID, which is why both of you should always carry ID, to prevent this mess in the first place. PEople are going to be idiots, people are going to be asshole about ID.

[Seegtease]

I always carry ID with me and always show it when asked and I also am the only person who buys things when we're together. I have no problem whatsoever with being carded. I do have a problem with non-shoppers being carded.

[chefTENGU]

With a controlled substance like alcohol though, she could get in trouble for NOT carding your wife. It doesn't matter if she was buying or not, the mere fact that she was with you and you were buying brings her into the whole mix as well.

Also, bear in mind that you have no right to anything in a store until it is paid for. They do not HAVE to sell to you just because you are a customer. They can deny you any purchase you attempt to make on any grounds whatsoever. If the store itself has a policy of carding everyone, shoppers and non-shoppers alike, then either adhere to the store's policy or shop somewhere else.

Stores are well within their right to do that sort of thing, believe it or not. And when you're talking about selling something that can get them into legal trouble, they are within their right to ask anyone they want for ID. The Montgomery Co., Maryland liquor stores have such a policy: it doesn't matter who you are or how old, just being INSIDE the establishment gives them the right to card you, and if you can't prove that you're of age, you will have to leave.

I can understand your frustration, I really do. But I also understand where that woman is coming from, unreasonable as she was being. Just thank God you don't live in Tennessee, where EVERYONE has to show ID; even if you're a toothless, gray-haired grandpa of 8.

Just remember that it's a free country, and while they have the right to deny you service, you don't have to continue shopping there. Find another store where the clerks are more agreeable. Getting mad at the clerk is only going to make you both feel bad, and it's not going to change anything.

[Gio Takahashi]

I hate to say Zeit, ,but there's always going to be pain in the ass about you or your wife's lack of ID which is why both of you should always carry ID, to prevent this mess in the first place. PEople are going to be idiots, people are going to be asshole about ID.

And I'm going to re-iterate my previous quote. Even if she's not shopping, it's better to have a card, than to deal with stresses from asshats.

[DoomKitty]

Ok. Being someone who works in a grocery store we have to card people buying the beer. But people with you, who aren't paying for anything, don't have to be carded. Adults shop with they're little kids all the time and buy beer, we can't not sell it to them just because they have kids. It's the same thing with your wife, she shouldn't have to be carded. That lady was just being a bitch.

[Seegtease]

Yes, chef, I know the store has a right to not sell me anything. But the law itself lacks logic in assume that my wife only exists if she is with me at the store, even if they all know she is with me every day. Suffice to say, the rule prevents nothing.

I could have dealt with it if she had been kind about it, but she was not kind in the least bit, but she was hateful and suspicious, and went to extreme lengths to verify her ID when we did come back, just to be ornery. She was fine with just looking at the IDs because she KNEW she was old enough, but she took it an unnecessary step further out of spite.

[chefTENGU]

Well, a lot of the time, it might not even be the law so much as whoever's in charge. I'm just giving her the benefit of the doubt; maybe her manager is a jackass who forces them to do that sort of thing out of fear of selling to underage kids.

Having been in that same position myself, it really doesn't help things when people start acting like you're singling them out or start demanding special treatment, especially when you're just trying to do your job and avoid getting in trouble.

I agree with you that it prevents nothing and is pretty much unnecessary, and she didn't have to act like you were trying to trick her. I'm just saying she might not have had much of a choice.

[Seegtease]

Most employees don't bother asking me, even the new ones don't ask, they just trust me. And the new ones you'd expect to be most careful, since they are still early on in the job. I think this has been demanded of me twice there now, but that's all. So I know there's no death punishment for not doing it, since not everybody does. She's just a PMS bitchskank.

Obviously, there is some degree of discretion used, because I had my daughter in there and that was okay. If they can use discretion in that, they just as well use that discretion with spouses. But not when you have sandus vaginus syndrome.

[DarkStar]

I was gonna say why would she card you if you were married and then I remembered you can't drink till you are 21 in america. See if you were in canada this never would have happend cause you can't get married till your 18 and you can drink at that age. I think carding is a good idea but like people said a lot of the time adults buy alcohol for kids anyway.

[Killer_Man_]

Zeit, the new employees are just afraid you are going to eat them.