Aww..you think I mean it as a compliment

[Spork4pedro]

After reading a couple of the ID stories on here combined with how my day went today at work, I'm curious if anyone else that works where they need to card get this too.

Majority of the places that I've come across (either as a customer or employee) have some form of "We will ID you if you look under 40" with the age ranging from 30-40, 40 being about average. I see these signs EVERYWHERE, my place of employment included. In fact there is a huge yellow sign with this on every register. Hard to miss, I know..I know..people don't read signs, but daily I get a handful of people that get so excited that I'm carding them because "OMG! She thinks I look under 21!" Sometimes they even call over whatever companion is with them and have me repeat it. : I usually just smile and thank them for handing over their ID but really I'm thinking "No, I just think you look under 40 and look you're actually 32. Whoo! " I don't have the heart to burst their bubble.

Anyone else get these customers?

[Arcus]

There was an ad I remember seeing a few years back that said "Make a 38 year olds day. ID everyone that looks under 40"

[Bright_Star]

...and that's EXACTLY how peope should react when asked for their ID. They should take it as a compliment.

[Teskeria]

It's good you don't burst their bubble. It may have been the nicest thing that happened to them all day. You never know. Sometimes the silliest things can make you feel happier after a hard day. (or in the middle of one).
Heck, a friend of mine actually ID'd a lady in her 90's. Made her day. And the guy behind her, who threw a fit every time he was Id'd actually just pulled out his ID and showed it without a word. Guess he figured he'd look stupid (as usual) if he argued after a lady old enough to be at least his mother wasn't insulted.

[PepperElf]

To be honest I still take it as a compliment.

I know they don't think I look under 21, but I'm 39 now so... having them think I'm under 40 is getting pretty darn good every day I'm closer to the cutoff.

Although one of the women at my college thought I was 18 - mainly because that's the age of most college students. The problem is that I'd already told her that I'd completed 13 years in the Navy. If I was 18 that would mean that I'd enlisted right out of 2nd grade.

I guess logic wasn't her strong point anymore...

[dalesys]

... I'd completed 13 years in the Navy. If I was 18 that would mean that I'd enlisted right out of 2nd grade.
...

... doesn't the Navy still have cabin boys?

[Teskeria]

Go Navy! Best branch ever (yes that was my branch. I give my baby brother a hard time cause he went Army. He was in the front lines in Panama. We all tease him that he only grew to 6' 6" so he could be bigger than his 5 older sisters.)

[Pixilated]

*snip*
I usually just smile and thank them for handing over their ID but really I'm thinking "No, I just think you look under 40 and look you're actually 32. Whoo! " I don't have the heart to burst their bubble.

Anyone else get these customers?

NOOOO! Don't burst their bubble! I'm in my mid-50s and if I were ever carded it would guarantee I'd come back to that place even if I had to be wheeled in!

I've seen convenience stores here with a photo of a gentleman who is very definitely at least 50 and the caption, "If you don't look like Bob, we need to see ID." I love it.

The store where my mom used to buy her cigs decided they were just going to start carding everybody ... she was dumbfounded when they asked for her ID. Don't think she turned into an SC, but she honestly couldn't understand it. "I hardly look like a teenager, do I?!" I tried to explain that it just makes the staff's life easier if they can honestly say, "We ID everybody."

[fireheart]

At my old job, the bog standard signs located at the liquor counter and the cigarette counter had the standard: "If you don't look 18, we need to see your ID"

and then underneath the 18+ symbol was the sentence "Take it as a compliment."

[Food Lady]

We ID everyone, and yes, I do get people saying thank you. Thing is, does a 55-year-old really think I'm IDing her because I think she looks under 40? It should be obvious to her that I have to ID her, regardless of age.

[fireheart]

We ID everyone, and yes, I do get people saying thank you. Thing is, does a 55-year-old really think I'm IDing her because I think she looks under 40? It should be obvious to her that I have to ID her, regardless of age.

The assumption is that while we do a quick glance, somehow we employees all have photographic memories and are therefore glancing at your address, your birthdate and your photo and can somehow steal your identity with just these bits of information.

Or that we'll track you down.

[NateTheChops]

There are alot of things we sell in my store that require an ID and will not let me go any further without a supervisor's approval number.

I've gotten the range of responses from, "You don't think I look old enough" to "Trust me, I'm old enough" and all of them in between.

[Lovecats]

Or the lady that paced the whole while I was ringing up her stuff after I asked for ID saying, this is stupid, this is stupid.

[mharbourgirl]

It's good you don't burst their bubble. It may have been the nicest thing that happened to them all day. You never know. Sometimes the silliest things can make you feel happier after a hard day. (or in the middle of one).

There have been a couple of times when it DID make my day. On one terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day a few years ago: I'm just getting over food poisoning, put a hat on because I can't be bothered to wash my hair, haven't slept much in days, and it's beyond laundry day so I'm wearing a really terrible combination of the least dirty clothes I have. Pale, bags under my eyes, unable to smile because my mother picked that day to call and whine (again) about my failure to provide her with grandbabies to raise. Nothing else could have made that day any worse.

Clerk at the local NSLC was new, and quite properly asked me for ID. No idea why she thought I looked under 25 (the standard at the time, now it's 40), given that the mirror was telling me I should probably go pick out a casket, but she was uncertain enough to make me pull out my ID. I looked at her like a deer in the headlights for a minute, then smiled for the first time in a week as it sunk in. I'm like, "Really???? Sure! Here!" I handed her my ID and giggled at the double-take she did when she saw my birthdate.

Yeah, made my day, I don't mind saying, so folks, keep on checking. There may be a lot of jerks out there, but you are definitely making some people very, very happy.

[wolfie]

Go Navy! Best branch ever (yes that was my branch. I give my baby brother a hard time cause he went Army.

The Navy definitely attracts a better class of people than the Army does, and it shows - would anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together trust an army Captain with as much responsibility as a navy Captain?