71 year old man asked for age ID at supermarket
Rushda:
September 20th, 2007
An amusing new incident emerged at Morrissons supermarket the other day when a 71-year-old pensioner was refused alcohol as he could not produce proof of age. The white-haired, bearded old man was taken aback as staff did not believe that he was old enough to buy the two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon he produced at the checkout.
Mr Ralls, a grandfather of three, asked to see a manager because of the ludicrous question which he refused to answer as he thought it was clearly “stupid.” However, the manager simply put the wine back on the shelf and showed no consideration. As Mr Ralls explains:
“I felt like saying ‘What do I look like? Are you a fool?’ He picks up the wine and, in the manner of a child taking home his ball, says ‘Well, we won’t serve you’. It is bureaucracy gone mad. If the check-out lady, who was about 40, had asked me with a twinkle in her eye perhaps I would not have been so tetchy. But she asked me the question with a perfectly straight face and I said I wouldn’t dignify the question with an answer. And if the manager had explained that all the staff had to ask everyone because they had previously been fined, but said I was clearly over 21, it would have been fine - but he showed no sense of humour.”
After this incident, Mr Ralls, confused and disappointed, left all his shopping on the conveyor belt and left the store. He now feels too embarrassed to go back until he receives an apology for the bizarre situation. The supermarket insists that what it had done was fair as they take the selling of alcohol very seriously and always ask if in doubt.
Who’s to blame? Is it really a case of regulations going too far or should Mr Ralls have sympathised with their cause and answered the question upfront? Whatever the case, it’s certainly a shocking one, and maybe once he gets over the humiliation, the customer may end up feeling proud of himself for being mistaken for a youngster!