Sunday, April 11, 2010

Let me see, no ID and you look 17?

Sometimes it's frustrating declining a sale to a minor. Sometimes it's just hilarious.

Recently, two young people came up to my self-check register. They were trying to buy some type of epoxy. The register prompted me to check ID. I asked them to pull their IDs, and of course, the buyer became indignant.

"I'm buying it, she's not." he said angrily. "Why do you need to see her ID?"

I explained that our store rules require that anyone buying certain controlled substances show ID. And if more than one minor is in the party without an obvious adult (as in Dad buying the substance with his children along), then all must show ID.

Resigned to being denied, the boy offered to put the glue back on the shelf. I declined to give it back to him. Unfortunately, I knew that he would just walk to another register. I also knew that there was a good chance that he would go get another tube and go to another register.

Instead, he showed back up at my register, without his girl friend. Once again, the register prompted an ID check. I explained to him that I couldn't sell him the product alone after I had refused the sale to him earlier with a possible minor. He said he thought this product might not be controlled. I couldn't believe that he didn't attempt the sale at another register.

The very same night I saw a group of kids wandering around together, but one boy brought some alcohol to the register. I was on pretty shaky ground declining a sale to him based on seeing him with some other youths earlier, so I asked him to pull his ID. Game over -- he had given his ID to one of the other people he had been hanging around with. When he had to call them over, I asked for all of their IDs, which they couldn't produce.

Then there was the night that a young man tried to buy two bottles of wine and six cans of spray paint (guess that would have been quite the graffiti party). No, he didn't have his ID on him, but he lived just around the corner. He could go get his ID and be right back. I said the stuff would be here when he ran home and came back. Of course, he never came back.

Finally, don't try using someone else's ID in a small town. One night, a young man came in to purchase alcohol and I asked for his ID. He pulled out an ID and I looked it over, then looked at him. I did a double take. The kid on the ID had gone to church with us. I looked back at the boy, who looked a little like the ID, but it was definitely not him. Sorry, I told him. "And give Matt back his ID before I have a chat with Matt's parents."