Customers should GTFO

I had the honour of being a "green coat" at work today, so essentially when people didn't need things doing for them (which was, oddly, very sparingly) I floated around like a ghost. That also meant I got be bear witness to something which was not only unfair, but unnecessary and GOD DAMN STUPID.

At Tesco there is an "Under 25?" policy for age restricted goods, which includes, amongst other things, alcohol. One particular rule is that if a customer is purchasing an age restricted item, everyone they're with who looks under 25 must show their ID. It is the store's policy which we must oblige to. If we were to be caught out by trading standards' snitches then we could face a fine of up to FIVE-THOUSAND POUNDS. If someone asks you for ID, don't go off on one, accept it. We're just doing our jobs.

However, one particular Londoner, probably on holiday, pulled the dick move tactic. She was with a group of people who did look under 25, thus leading to a request for ID. They had none. FUCK. Rather than accepting it being store policy, they requested to see a manager, who obliged and told them the same thing as the checkout operator: No ID = no sale. I then tended to my duties.

Five minutes later, the same woman is giving the person at the checkout a blitz of insults. Totally unwarranted. I would have refused them service, but bless her, the checkout operator still completed the transaction...and then broke down in tears. It was a bloody travesty. You DO NOT treat people like shit, especially people who are just doing a job.

I could perhaps empathise if it were the person wholly believing in the policy with a closed mind, or perhaps if the asking for ID was not the prudent course of action, but it certainly was. My only regret is not stepping in while it was still going on, but to be honest, I did fear for my life. There are all kinds of legal constraints. If there were some kind of customer being correct policy we weren't told about (and trust me, there are a lot of things about the job Tesco doesn't tell you about) then I'd have been wrecked.

It's a sad day for civilisation when people think they can wreck havoc on others when they're actually WRONG but can't face it. Perhaps Serj is right, CIVILIZATION IS OVER.