I'm a Police Officer. I'm allowed to break the law.

[Plaidman]

After dealing with much stupidity this week, after a month or so of non-suckiness, this one shut my brain down.

Its 4 in the morning. I'm sstocking, when I hear the bell ring. So I run up front. There is some dirty, dirty diiiiiirty man staring at the beer coolers.

Now keep in mind that Oregon law states no beer can be bought between 2:30 and 7:00 am; and company policy states that we cannot sell beer/near beer to homeless people.

I proceed to tell him beer sales are over. He turns, and I can start to smell him from 40 feet away.

He comes stumbling over. I hold my breath.

"Its ok, I'm a off-duty police offiicer. You won't be arrested. Sell me the beer.

After snorting. (And gettting the smell stuck in my nose), I proceed to ask him to show me his badge.

He proceeds to pull out one of those cheap plastic badge things you get from the police toys.

He points at it to me. "See?? Sell me the beeR".

After nodding, because the whole thing is funny,
"Well, tell you what... come in with your uniform and squad car, I'll seel you the beer...."

"I can't... its against the law for me to wear the uniform out of duty, and the car is in a shop...."

ME: No beer for you then....
SC: .... *starts to stumble out, but he had to do a last remark: "You just made a enemy of the entire police department... watch your back or we'll shoot you!".

I have to be honest though. The middle schoolers and preschoolers sounded more threatening when we raised the sucker prices to .30 cents.

[TwoScoopsSciath]

I don't why people complain about prices in Oregon. You guys don't have sales tax. VA does and we used to catch merry h*ll for our prices, even though we were as cheap as we could get without going broke.

[protege]

SC: .... *starts to stumble out, but he had to do a last remark: "You just made a enemy of the entire police department... watch your back or we'll shoot you!".

Now, right there...I would have called the *real* police, and let them deal with him. They just love dealing with idiots making threats and impersonating officers.

[Plaidman]

Oregon isn't really cheap cheap. We got good minimial wages. Most kids are just broke and usually only have a quarter on them.

5 dollars and up is our prices for cigs.

Add a nickle for every bottle you pay. Its the little things that add up.

I should have called the police, but it was such a empty weak sounded threat from some homeless guy. Like I said, children are more threatening with there "I'm telling daddy your taking my cash!!" threats.

[Hobgoblin]

I proceed to tell him beer sales are over. He turns, and I can start to smell him from 40 feet away.

Could you smell body odor or alcohol on him? Smelling alcohol doesn't really mean anything, but body odor is more of an indication of homeless vs non-homeless than the alcohol thing.

[Plaidman]

Like rotting egs, sweat and piss. No beer breath though. Green teeth though.

[Hobgoblin]

Ahh. Sounds homeless.

How is it legal to not sell beer to homeless people? Sounds like discrimination to me. After all, the law simply says that you have to have ID and be over 21 to purchase it. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a lawsuit over that yet (and yes, I've heard of homeless people suing companies over practices like this and winning).

[Plaidman]

Not sure if its legal. 99 percent of the time Homless people don't have a ID, and if they do, their address is listed under "ADDRESS WE DO NOT SELL BEER to list. From what I heard, a few years back, the area had a horrible homeless population that was drinking and destroying homes, breaking into them, shitting and pissing anywhere. Its amazing how far it cut down when they said "stop selling to them".

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

Now, right there...I would have called the *real* police, and let them deal with him. They just love dealing with idiots making threats and impersonating officers.

Uh, yeah ditto on this one. It's a FELONY to impersonate an officer... homeless or not.

[Banrion]

Ahh. Sounds homeless.

How is it legal to not sell beer to homeless people? Sounds like discrimination to me. After all, the law simply says that you have to have ID and be over 21 to purchase it. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a lawsuit over that yet (and yes, I've heard of homeless people suing companies over practices like this and winning).

Most places, however, also have open container & public drunkenness laws. These laws make it easy to refuse sale to someone without an address.

[Monica]

It's good you didn't sell to him.

I work in a grocery store, and luckily we don't see any type of alcohol here. If you want some you have to go to a state store or to a beerhouse.

I think Pennslyvania is one of the few places that has state stores.

[chainedbarista]

washington did when i lived there; i'm not sure if that still holds, though.

i'd have also called the cops, or gotten a hose. *gags*

[Imogene]

How is it legal to not sell beer to homeless people?

Had nothing to do with him being homeless, by the sound of the OP. She did explicitly state no beer sales between 2:30 and 7:00 am, and it was around 4:00.

He was there at just the wrong time.

[Hobgoblin]

Had nothing to do with him being homeless, by the sound of the OP. She did explicitly state no beer sales between 2:30 and 7:00 am, and it was around 4:00.

True, the sale was refused on the basis of time. However, it does state that company policy is that beer and near beer can't be sold to homeless people. That's what I was wondering about.

And to clarify how I feel about it, I think that's a good thing. I used to work in a homeless shelter in downtown St Louis. I know exactly what a lot of homeless men think (it was a male-only shelter) and what a difference alcohol makes. A lot of them are alcoholics, and when they drink, a large number of them become belligerent (just like most alcoholics). However, I just don't see how it is legal. But a good thing, none the less. Oh, and to defend my generalization, I present this:

Ever had a drunk man who smelled like a bar mat threaten you with his lead pipe? And you weren't in the conservatory and he wasn't named Colonel Mustard? Yeah, you call the cops. And he runs, and the cops tell you they can't do a thing. Which is all what you knew would happen, since they couldn't do anything last time either.

[AFpheonix]

Ahh. Sounds homeless.

How is it legal to not sell beer to homeless people? Sounds like discrimination to me. After all, the law simply says that you have to have ID and be over 21 to purchase it. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a lawsuit over that yet (and yes, I've heard of homeless people suing companies over practices like this and winning).

Well, there is that little "we have the right to refuse service to anyone" clause that all private businesses have.

Portland has enough stinky drunk old guys running around without the Plaid making them more hosed up.