"Get yourself fired for me! Come on, help a friend out!"

[Gizmo]

I had a horrible moment when I was working at the supermarket. I couldn't quite bring myself to ID a colleague who did look 20ish - the only thing I could rely on was that I'd seen her selling alcohol to customers without shouting out to a colleague for the ID (the way most places around here allow 17 and younger to do tills).

I still wonder though. Luckily I never got picked up on it... Stupid in retrospect - I should have just ID'd her.

[raudf]

Oh believe me, the Mall-Wart I worked at let us know exactly how much of a fine we'd get and that it was OUR responsibility to pay that fine and do our time.. without Mall-Wart. We'd be fired on the spot.

If the person didn't have gray hair and lots of wrinkles, I carded.

Sorry, lady with 3 kids under the age of 5, you don't fit my idea of "over 45." I need an ID. No, I don't care that you have three kids and need the booze for your baby-daddy. I've seen 16 year-olds with 3 kids. No, your WIC voucher doesn't count as ID. Seriously. Did you drive here? You got your driver's license? Oooh, you really aren't 21... yeah, no. No booze for you. Me? Oh, yes, I'm over 21, by 4 years actually. Not that it matters. This transaction isn't happening. No, I will not "help a sister out." If you were related to me, I sure as hell wouldn't sell you booze no matter your age. My kin don't need booze to be idiots. *take booze and put under counter and flag CSM*

Yeah, I went through this conversation quite a bit in the single year I worked there. In one case, there was an off duty cop behind the girl in question. He congratulated me on not selling to her. Though two cashiers were caught and fired for it during that year...

[KiaKat]

I have my job because my predecessor didn't ID people and got caught in a sting.

You better believe I card almost everyone.

[fireheart]

When I did cigarette training, I was always told that the fine was $5000 for the person and then $20,000 for the corporation. So the distinction between a personal fine and the corporation fine was clear.

Thankfully I will hopefully be moving into an environment that doesn't deal with age restrictions! (apart from the "no your 3-week-old baby cannot enrol into a waterbabies class ")

[RayvenQ]

I'd have been tempted to go

"Alright, I'll serve you... *pause just long enough so that thet think they are triumphant*..water."

[Merriweather]

SC: Come on. One friend to another. It’s not going to affect you, is it? Let’s just pretend we didn’t have this conversation.

One friend to another? Since when does a friend ask a friend to risk their job by doing something illegal?

He needs a new dictionary, obviously.

[TonyDonuts]

Kid at the convenience store up the road from mine sold a pack of cigarettes to a sixteen-year old boy two years ago.

A sixteen-year old boy working for the local sheriff's office.

He received a $3,000 fine, thirty days community service and a year's probation. And was fired on the spot.

Every kid I tell that story says, "Well, the company pays the fine, right?"

And I smile, a kind smile, and I say, "No, the company has its own fine to pay, that's all you, kid."

[Mr Hero]

Me: I don’t make commission, I get paid by the hour regardless of how much customers spend in here. It doesn’t affect me at all.

Loved this line right here! way to put the EW in his place!

[sstabeler]

It's the police - off duty officers have intervened in the past. It can get very expensive very quickly if you serve an U/18 alcohol.

primarily Trading Standards, actually. As you might expect from the name, Trading Standards are in charge of keeping businesses honest. (I am related to a retired TSO, so know a bit about what they do.)

and CRML, I suspect that bartender was a little more concerned than he let on. staring at the group, and hand over his mouth? yeah, he's really relaxed about it now!

[Syriilord]

I always hated the whole 'come on, you can do it for me, we're friends, right?' or 'I'm the customer, you HAVE to do it' mentalities when it came to I.D. checking.
I once had a guy accuse me of being nothing more than a corporate robot who could only spout policies when I refused him. I just replied deadpan that I have a firm personal belief in 'The 3 Laws of Retail Servers' .
That shut him up quick enough....probably because he didn't know what I meant

[customersruinmylife]

What was his reply?

He shrugged it off, but he spent all his spare time staring at the group with his hand over his mouth. The group left shortly afterwards. I learned that they left because I was in there.

[eltf177]

£5000 PERSONAL fine. As well as a criminal record. And that's before they even start on the business!

That is why I absolutely hate people who don't card people who look underage. I went mad once in one of my local pubs. I walked in and it was filled with 16 year olds. I knew this because I worked with them in the school! I discretely had a word with the bartender, who I was on a first name basis with, who then said:

B: Well, as long as they are behaving, it's fine.
Me: So you have five grand ready, just in case the police come in?

What was his reply?

[customersruinmylife]

It's the police - off duty officers have intervened in the past. It can get very expensive very quickly if you serve an U/18 alcohol.

£5000 PERSONAL fine. As well as a criminal record. And that's before they even start on the business!

That is why I absolutely hate people who don't card people who look underage. I went mad once in one of my local pubs. I walked in and it was filled with 16 year olds. I knew this because I worked with them in the school! I discretely had a word with the bartender, who I was on a first name basis with, who then said:

B: Well, as long as they are behaving, it's fine.
Me: So you have five grand ready, just in case the police come in?

[Nemesis44UK]

My wife works at a large supermarket and she has been tested by trading standards posing as over 18.

Luckily, she is sensible and asked them to prove their age. No ID, no sale. She was informed by her supervisor some time later that she had passed. I didn't know, but she would have been in trouble personally, not just the store.

[crazylegs]

I don't know if the UK has an equivalent agency that polices liquor laws or whatever, but while CRML was talking about how anyone in the SCs' group could have been part of a sting, there could also have been the problem that someone witnessing the exchange might have been capable of blowing the whistle-- as he pointed out to the SCs.

It's the police - off duty officers have intervened in the past. It can get very expensive very quickly if you serve an U/18 alcohol.