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Dad refused beer after checkout joke
A father was refused alcohol at a supermarket checkout after an “over zealous” cashier overheard him joking about giving the beer to his young daughter.
Kieran O’Sullivan, 48, from Hove, was refused four cans of lager at a Co-op supermarket after cracking a joke at the checkout telling his 12-year-old daughter, “that’s your beer sorted.”, as reported by The Argus.
A cashier overheard the remark and demanded to see both his and the young girl’s ID.
Mr O’Sullivan, a teacher, told the paper: “I asked if she was kidding, but then she asked to see my daughter’s ID, which made me laugh.
“She said that by law, if you make a comment about purchasing alcohol for a child then they had to see both our IDs.
“I asked to speak to the manager but instead of using his judgement, he backed his employee up and said it was the law.
“I told them I was clearly not getting alcohol for my daughter and the law was all about judgement and about circumstances. But they refused.”
A spokesperson for The Co-operative Food said: “All our stores operate a Challenge 25 policy, where potential purchasers of age-restricted products who appear to be under the age of 25 years are asked to provide proof that they are 18 or over.
“This policy also applies to anyone who is with the purchaser at the time, if there is any possibility that the alcohol could be for consumption by a minor. If no proof of age can be provided, then the sale must be refused.
“On this occasion the young person accompanying the customer was unable to provide proof of being aged 18 or over, and so the sale was refused.”
I have to say that I take offence about your “over zealous” comment.
The law regarding underage and sale by proxy is quite specific and not only doesn’t leave grounds for interpretation but also puts all the wait of enforcement and potential punishment on the shoulders of the hapless sales assistant.
So I would say well done to him and next time Mr O’sulivan should be more careful.
Oh, for heaven’s sake! Nannystatism gone mad. May we be saved from these jobsworths with no sense of humour.
The scanner equipped computer check out systems both preclude and prevent a cashier of the need to think. This incident clearly shows the brain had gone into sleep mode, incapable of simple logical thought, let alone being devoid of humour; no doubt through boredom.
The manager technologically prevented of the need to manage, over zealously took the opportunity to express himself in an attempt to play at being a manager. The whole incident was embarrassingly ridiculous for the Co-op, an institution that has consistently failed to progress with the times.
A sensible law taken to extremes becomes nonsensical!
Totally agree AJ. Where’s that misnomer ‘common’ sense gone agin.!! TG that I don’t live in the UK!!
As a person who works in a wine shop in the states. I have to side with the clerk on this one. If the next customer in line had been a alcohol and tobacco enforcement officer you can be assured that the clerk would have been ticketed for allowing a proxy sale, also the dad would have been ticketed for providing alcohol to a minor. This isn’t to say that I agree with the draconian enforcement regime but it is truth. Hell if I take the method of payment from you then ask for proof of age I can be ticketed for sale even if I don’t complete the sale the order of operations matters quite a bit to those cops.
The cashier was 100% right and I am glad that the manager stuck with him or her. Parents should lead by example. The customer was lucky that he was not joking with a custom officer as they can be as well as fair play quite sharp at enforcing the law. In this instance the customer was wrong. Well done Co-op supermarket.