From one year ago today.
Stupid is as stupid does
I had my ID checked at the ball game the other night to buy a watered-down beer. OK, I’m used to this stupidity by now, checking the ID of obvious AARP members.
But this a-hole vendor insisted I take my license out of the plastic. He gave it a once over, made sure the hologram was there, and so on. Like I was getting on a f***ing airplane bound for Syria. (I will remind you that it became legal for me to buy alcoholic beverages 43 years ago.)
So I took the beer and gave it to a teenager in the crowd.
Oh, Thank you Ken, now I have to clean all of my tea off of my screen!
After this sort of thing happened to me several times at different stores, I began to get kind of snarky with the clerks (in a joking way), and they explained what this is all about. Just about last year or so, a new state law took effect that requires those who sell liquor to check and make sure you have a VALID, UNEXPIRED, PICTURE ID proving without a shadow of a doubt that you are over 21.
You can look so old that you make Larry King look like Justin Bieber. It doesn’t matter. It’s one of those “zero tolerance” laws we all know and love so well. The cops lurk in the parking lots of these stores and grab people at random if it looks like they just bought booze. If you aren’t carrying the right ID, they proceed to confiscate your booze and cite the clerk and the store.
Clerk loses job, store pays a big fine, and gets a black mark on their record leading up to losing their liquor license. This is despite the fact that you’ve turned 21 THREE TIMES OVER! Welcome to the land of the mean and the home of the stupid.
Since I found out about this crazy shit, I gladly take my ID out of the wallet and hand it to the clerk with my sympathy.
Actually the law does not require identification. Having been shown identification is however, the only defense if the seller is cited for selling to a minor. It is the sellers who are being stupid, or treating their employees as if they are stupid, not the state liquor law. And frankly a lot of sellers violate the law, so the rest jump through silly hoops.
But I am usually not required to show ID at establishments that have longer-term, better paid staff.
And I have bought a couple of beers this year at the ballpark without being asked for ID.
What can I say, Ken? This is what I’ve been told by several different clerks in various establishments in the city. And just recently my wife saw an obviously middle aged man refused because his out of state license “didn’t look right”. Once, because I had laid my hand on the bottle of wine my wife was paying for, we BOTH had to whip out our IDs.
It could be that the city put an enhancement on the state law, maybe? It would be a real pisser if all this was being done unnecessarily, but they all are dead serious about it. And they invariably say they are following the law.
Indeed they like to blame the state, but I don’t believe that is right.
Have you ever been asked if you have ID but not asked to show it? That’s fairly common and is simply CYA.
Oh well, security theater is always the issue, not security.
We visited Las Vegas, NM and bought beer at the local Walgreen’s last week. The clerk there asked for my birthdate and entered it into the cash register. He said “You’re obviously old enough”, when I started to show him my ID. I related this to a local Walgreen’s clerk here in town. He shook his head and said “That’s his risk.”
The other day I bought cigarettes at Costco and had to be escorted to the “tobacco cage” by a manager. She would not let me touch them. She had to hand deliver them to the cashier. Now that’s a new store policy. They’re going to great lengths to prevent “Shrinkage”. Next they’ll have a guard with an AK-47 stationed outside “the cage”.
I’d show my Medicare card if it had a photo. 🙂
Simliarly, one can buy a $3000 camera online, but go to an Eegee’s (frozen lemonade) and be asked for ID for a $5 purchase.
Working retail is hard work yet retail management will make decisions that make the work even harder for the staff. And I work for Walgreens.