Posted on 05/14/2008 10:28:03 PM PDT by oioiman
Tesco is refusing to sell alcohol to parents shopping with their children under rules designed to tackle underage drinking. The supermarket has told cashiers not to supply alcohol if they suspect an adult is buying the drink for an underage youth.
Staff have been told to err on the side of caution when interpreting the policy, leading to cases of parents out shopping with their children being told to put alcohol back on the shelves.
Tesco says it believes parents will support the policy and it would rather apologise where it has misjudged the situation than sell to underage drinkers.
However parents who have been refused alcohol have described the rule as humiliating and daft.
Debbie Bell, 39, a housewife from York, was told she could not buy a crate of lager at a Tesco Extra in the city with her stepson Michael Bruce, 18.
Mr Bruce, a student, was unable to show the cashier any proof of his age and his mother was told to put the 24 cans of Fosters and a bottle of cider back on the shelf.
She said: You cant do that just because somebody has kids with them.
I was in there the day before with a 17-year-old lass and there were no problems.
Michael wasnt even carrying the beer, he was just standing next to me.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
That’s when you leave it ALL at the till and tell them “Take it back yourselves!”
Stupid. Just embarrassingly stupid.
And to think you once had an empire.
Are you kidding? What happen to the pro business conservatives I know and love?
A business has EVERY right to decide how and to whom it will sell it’s products.
This is how they want to play the game then guess what... YOU LIVE IN A FREE SOCIETY.. go shop somewhere else.
Good thing in a free society we can criticize anyone we want; including a business that happens to do something very, very stupid.
I hope she at least refused to put them anywhere other than the floor in front of her.
Yep. I'd tell them where to put it, and "back yourselves" would not be where.
Obviously, the thought of a parent telling their child “you wait here in the car, I’ll be right back with your booze” hasn’t occurred to them yet.
Meanwhile, Mr. Average Parent who happens to want to buy some wine for his wife and he to enjoy that night; but made the mistake of bringing their daughter/son into the store may be deprived of a simple pleasure.
Yup, whether you can buy wine/beer at the store is dependent upon the telepathic skills of a minimum wage earner. Nice.
I learned a lesson from my little brother on this one.
After getting lousy service at a bar, my brother commented to the bartender that he certainly expected better. The barkeep responded “So, what are you going to do about it” and proceeded to show us who was boss.
My brother ordered a tap beer, then ‘accidentally’ knocked it to the tile floor, breaking the glass mug, and pouring beer across the bar, several stools and the floor. “Ooops, Sorry, didn’t mean to do that” was all he said, and we left. The barkeep got to spend the next bit of time picking up broken glass and mopping the floor, stools and bar.
I think the point was made, even though it cost him $1.25.
Sometimes businesses give stupid people the ability to make poor decisions. That doesn’t mean that the customer has to take the stupidity without recourse.
These aren’t free enterprise businesses. These are multi-national corporate bureaucracies whose only morality is political correctness.
” Britain’s descent to an all-encompassing public/private nannystate continues... “
Yup .
And at the other end of the spectrum , would you believe there are still liquor shops here in the Japanese countryside that sell beer in vending machines ?
Beer in vending machines.
Ft Sam Houston, BAMC, guest hotel, third floor, 1976.
Oh yes, I remember that.
When shopping in a store like this always remember to put in your cart lots of cold and frozen food. By law, these can’t be returned to the cooler and must be thrown away. This means when you refuse to pay and just walk off, the store loses big bucks.
Teach the bastards well that their holier than thou attitude should be stuck where the sun don’t shine.
101 ways of how to go out of business.
Mark
Hey, I just wondered about something... Why is it that alcohol and cigarettes must have warning labels about how bad that stuff is for a fetus, but Planned Parenthood clinics don't?
Mark
- in the Japanese countryside that sell beer in vending machines
Wow! I did not see that in Tokyo or Osaka.
By a strange twist of fate, I was in Puerto Rico back in April of 1972, and there were beer machines all over.
I wonder if they still have them.
BTW, that beer was terrible stuff. Thanks - bill
I’m sure that muslims approve...
Beer , sake , whiskey and sho chu were sold in vending machines in front of liquor shops all over Japan until a couple of years ago . One can still walk down Ginza quaffing a beer or a glass cup of sake without a hassle . I was back home on Long Island a couple of years ago with a foot in the road in front of my parents’ place sipping a brew and a cop stopped to give me a warning . Land of the free ?
> I learned a lesson from my little brother on this one.
LOL! Bloody CLASSIC!
I learned something from your little brother tonite, too. Thanks for sharing that technique: I shall add it to my kit.
I’ve never seen vending machines with beer in PR in the many times I’ve been there from 1984 through last year.
I did see one in Tokyo last fall - took a picture of it since I was so astounded by it. Thought to myself, boy they must have much better behaved children here than we do in the states to be able to do that. That was before I realized that there aren’t any children in Tokyo...
“Tesco” is not the government, folks. There are other options to purchase item to imbibe.
I nearly died when I found out.
I stumbled across one walking from the Okura hotel to the Mori tower outside what looked to be a car repair stall. Blew me away.
some people are more "free" than others.
To be this "free" you have to bag it.

philadelphia, 52nd street
Although I haven’t been to Japan since 1999 I remember the beer and cigarette machines well. Just don’t use 500 won (South Korean) coins in them. It pisses the Japanese off.
“and his mother was told to put the 24 cans of Fosters and a bottle of cider back on the shelf. “
FU put it back on the shelf yourself J**k off! Hope everyone boycotts these stores.
In South Eastern LA. you can drink in public, parks included. I can not imagine watching Mardi Gras floats go by without a cooler of beer at hand. You bring back memories of Japan (Okinawa) for me. I remember buying Saki in those neat little sealed cups(200ml) or beer and going down and drinking it by the water front. Sometimes with a bentos box I shared with my toddler daughter. She’s a blond also (kawaii ne).
A couple summers ago I was with my parents in NY State, picking up groceries. They were buying a couple bottles of wine, and since I was standing nearby, the cashier demanded my ID. Since I wasn’t buying, I’d left my purse in the car. They absolutely would not complete the transaction unless I went back out, dug my purse out of the hot car, and showed them my license. Now, I’m not some pimply youngster, I was 34 and pregnant at the time!!! The sheeple at the register insisted that it was state law that EVERYONE in line be carded, no matter how old they looked, but she wouldn’t answer why she didn’t card my 71 year old father as well.
The irony of this is that you can VOTE in Wisconsin with virtually NO ID needed!
Looks like another Super Delegate to me...but, hey, I could be wrong.
My mother just returned from Japan a couple of weeks ago and said they sell just about everything in vending machines there. I can’t recall if she mentioned beer or sake though. A little googling seems to show they still have the machines although apparently many companies voluntarily stopped beer vending a few years ago.
Apparently you didn’t read the whole thing.. I said “go shop somewhere else...”
So if you are multi national then you aren’t allowed to have the same rights as small businesses?
Heck, they have the right to never answer their phones with a human person, LOL.
” My mother just returned from Japan a couple of weeks ago and said they sell just about everything in vending machines there. I cant recall if she mentioned beer or sake though. A little googling seems to show they still have the machines although apparently many companies voluntarily stopped beer vending a few years ago. “
Vending machines are ubiquitous over here , even in the countryside , and one can buy myriad products in them : booze , cigs , pantyhose , porno mags , batteries , condoms ...etc...I’ve heard there were machines in Tokyo selling soiled women’s panties but have never seen one with my own two eyes .
My mother loves Japan, having made a few trips and currently learning Japanese. She’s remarked about the machines several times, finding them both amusing and useful.
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