[Redway]

Because it’s been days since I created a thread and I need a reason. And this policy (even ’though it’s been here no less than 15 years) seems to trip up a lot of people.

So here’s the thang/hypothetical scenario: a 31-year-old’s doing a bit of shopping at Asda and picks up some Lambrini, paracetamol and vodka. S/he’s so very-obviously 18 but has the sort of face where you can’t really be sure if they’re 24 or 34. What do/would you do? Go off-of what most pubs (including ’spoons) and sort of run-o.-t’mill milk-bars/newsagents do and roughly ascertain by riding with challenge 21 (if that) or ask for ID because you can’t be definitely sure of them being 25+?

[Kate!]

I'd ask and say it's a compliment.

[Quantum Boy]

Ask because all of the big companies use random ID compliance testing and if you have a think 25 policy and fail to ID a 24 year old - even if they're clearly over 18 - you'll be marked as a "fail" and (depending on company) get a staged disciplinary.

It's just not worth it. No matter what the official policy is - if you're front line staff selling age-restricted products, in your own head "think 30" and ID anyone who isn't blatantly a full-full adult. Preferably with a few wrinkles and a grey hair or three.

Yes this means you'll end up IDing a few clean-shaven/skinny 35 year olds... but it's better than the alternative.

[Redway]

It does baffle me the way some people seem to think challenge 25 means challenge 18 because you only have to be 18 (sometimes 16) to buy these things. A 15-year-old girl in high heels and caked with make-up or a tall 17-year-old lad with a deep, low voice can easily pass for 19 or 22 so you can’t just use “oh well they looked 20-odd to me” as an excuse if it turns out to be a test and you fail (and admittedly it’s more likely than not to not be one of those tests, but they do happen). I’d probably cap it off at challenge 21 if it was down to me but I understand the logic behind challenge 25 and where it comes from. In America you ain’t authorised to buy anything like liquor or wine until you’re 21 so everyone who doesn’t look middle-aged or older gets carded at least once. So compared to that we’re even somewhat lenient.

[Quantum Boy]

The issue is that you'll always get some extreme outliers - I knew a guy at school who had long bushy hair and a full (and I mean FULL, like bloody Hagrid) beard at 17. There's NO WAY I would ever have age-checked him in a shop... but he wouldn't even be just under 25 or under 21, he was full on underage.

That's the sort of person that they like to use for the actual council/government ID compliance checks, too. Authorities can use people who genuinely shouldn't be making the purchase (usually 16 - 18 year olds). Internal ID compliance tests (by the employer) can only use "legal but under the testing age" people, so 18 - 20 year olds on an 18+ legal/Think-21 sale for example.

[Redway]

Yup. They sometimes roll in the most mature-looking 17-year-olds who almost look like fully-developed women and men and are inclined to fail you if you don’t card them. I remember a certain Dexter kicking off at a certain Nancy (Eastenders) for being carded (he would’ve been about 20/21 at that time) but it’s literally been strictly challenge 25 at big shops since 2008/2009 so. It’s just one of them. A mature-looking 16/17-year-old can easily look 21/22 but if you think 25 they’re way more likely to be at least 18 even if they’re not quite in their mid-twenties. It does make sense. 18/19-year-olds are the ones who are going to be asked for ID the most so it shouldn’t ever be a case of “do you still get ID’d?” from one 19-year-old to another. Unless you fully look like you’re in your mid.-twenties or older, of course you do. It’s about not just being 18+ but being able to prove it.

The issue is with the disrespectful/patronising way some shop-workers ask certain people. Unless they blatantly look about 12 in the first place, no-one should ever be asking someone how old they are (that’s a personal question that a lot of people won’t want to answer anyway, especially ladies) or anything other than whether they have any ID or not. You don’t need to patronisingly probe into something you’re going to see for yourself anyway if you just ask the question you’re supposed to ask. Some 17-year-olds can pass for 22 but it goes the other way or can be either. Some people naturally pass for a broader range of angles than others (what’s 17 to one person can be 26 to another) so it’s just about respectfully holding space for that and not asking them their age before ID unless they barely look up to 15 to begin with and they’re blatantly actually a child.

And sometimes the same one person will keep asking someone for ID just because they “don’t like 25 yet”. Individual store policies might be different but I do feel like common sense means that you ask for it once (maybe more until you remember them) and then keep it pushing. You shouldn’t really need to keep asking the same person if you’ve already seen their ID quite a few times already if you remember them. Their age is set in stone and print and that’s not going to change no matter how many times you ask.

[Redway]

https://youtu.be/bLaNJo93h6I?si=EawepLsgv2wTHNL0

02.05: if this ain’t the guy from My Parents are Aliens. I loved him.