Carding...Was I wrong?

[DSDash]

Hi everybody....First Post!!!!!!!

Anyway this happened about a week ago. I work at a popular gas station chain in PA. A woman comes in with her son to by cigarettes. No big deal, people bring their kids in for that kind of stuff all the time. Well she came up to the counter, said what cigarettes she wanted and all that fun stuff. When it came time to pay her son pulled money out of his wallet and handed it to his mother.

I asked to see his ID since, in my point of view, he was buying them. His mom threw a typical SC hissy fit and stormed out, only to send him in the car and attempt again. This was denied since I obviously knew her son was with her and he still did not have his ID.

Anyway, yesterday she mailed a letter to my manager with the typical SC rants. You know, I was rude, yelled at her, all that kind of typical stuff. I have yet to talk to him about it, but my assistant believes my side and said I did nothing wrong.

Heres my question. Would that have been considered a third-party sale? Since it was his money he handed to her, I assumed so, hence why it was denied. The carding laws for PA are near impossible to find and I do not want to get in trouble for doing my job.

What do you guys think?

[Kyree]

How old was the son?

[Jadedcarguy]

You did nothing wrong. Sounds like they're both kind of dumb, considering that anyone with half a brain would have done the money exchange before approaching the counter.......

[DarkCSR]

Customer is wrong...

Anyway, yesterday she mailed a letter to my manager with the typical SC rants. You know, I was rude, yelled at her, all that kind of typical stuff. I have yet to talk to him about it, but my assistant believes my side and said I did nothing wrong.

Heres my question. Would that have been considered a third-party sale? Since it was his money he handed to her, I assumed so, hence why it was denied. The carding laws for PA are near impossible to find and I do not want to get in trouble for doing my job.

What do you guys think?

I believe the answer to that question is that you were in the right, if the kid's say... 12 or older. I don't see the problem here and I probably would have done the same thing (Nearly six months in a truck stop. And I carded. When in doubt... card. It's your job on the line, not theirs. They don't like it? Not your problem.)

Reason is, how do I know that the mother isn't supplying the kid's habit?

That, and the customer making up something tells me that there's more to this than what's being said on the customers end. Sorry. I don't believe in benefit of the doubt much any more. I've had that come back to bite me one too many times.

[KhirasHY]

First off!

That said, I'd say you were in the right, seeing as it was the kid's money.

[powerboy]

How old was the kid?

It is tough to say anything because it it is - Damn if you do & Damn if you don't, type of thing.

[Monica]

I would of denied the sale as well. If the mother was going to buy the cigs, she should of done so, then the son could of given her the money either before they came in the store or after.

It's a save your butt sort of thing. You never know when someone could of been undercover and was seeing if you were paying attention.

[terana]

I get that problam from time to time at my work as well. I was told by a cop that if one person in the party asks the other person to by them cigs then you have to card both people, if one doesn't have ID then you deny the sale. Since it is illegal to buy minor cigs. I've only had to do that for one person and man was he pissed when he couldn't get his smokes. Going off about how he was 19 and he couldn't belive that I wouldn't sell him cigs.

[boringscreenname]

I don't see any problem with it. I'd rather lose one customer than risk losing my job.

[JustADude]

Lets check the scales here:


On the one side, you have a pissy, lying bitch.

On the other you have a massive fine, loss of job, and possibly jail time.


Yeah, you chose right.

[DSDash]

Thanks for the responses!

Yeah the kid was in the 14 -16 range...the funny thing is she said in her letter that she did not have time to go to the ATM before coming...yet, she went over to the ATM, took out money and gave to her son only to borrow it again later...

I'm still waiting to see how this ends up...haha

[Bramblerose]

Heres my question. Would that have been considered a third-party sale? Since it was his money he handed to her, I assumed so, hence why it was denied. The carding laws for PA are near impossible to find and I do not want to get in trouble for doing my job.

What do you guys think?

I think you need to move here. Nearly every shop that sells cigs here has 8,000,000 signs stating they will card anyone who doesn't look like a rode-hard-and-put-away-wet 30. That's not a direct quote, btw. The helpful ones have teh calender stating minimum birthday and year to buy said products on said day. Or am I too easily amused?

Liquor has to be bought in its own store, so it's kinda obvious (also the carding thing is on the door). I miss getting alcohol at the grocery store- stupid Puritan forefathers.......

[Plaidman]

First off: Welcome!
Second off: Your job was on the line. Would you want to lose it, so some bastard spawn can smoke?
Third off: If the management does yell, (Which I really really doubt) thats what cameras are for. I'm assuming you have one on you. They'll see the pass off.

Fourth: Simular story has happened to me. Woman comes up with her 14ish year old daughter. Flat out goes
Woman:"What cigs did you want hon?"
Woman's daughter: "Camels menthol"
Woman:"I want some camel menthols"
Me:".... I need to see her ID"
Woman:"They're for my husband"
Me:".....? I just heard you ask her!!"

[Emrld]

I say you did the right thing. Better safe than sorry in those situations.
As long as you are as polite as possible in denial of the sale. (not yelling, not cursing etc.) Your job should be secure. You where following the law and protecting the business.
I was at the store the other day and purchased some wine . . .the clerk was almost embarrased to ask for my ID . . .I have no problem with not looking old enough seeing as I am over 30 it is a compliment. He then asked his manager if she thought it was really me. Apparently I have lost enough weight that it doesn't actually look like me anymore. (woo hoo for that) He was really polite about it. Due to knowing full and well what could happen to an employee over selling to an underage person . . .and it being that he thought I wasn't as heavy as the person in the photo . . .why get offended.

[Phantomgrift]

Indeed, there was nothing wrong with asking for ID.

Shoot, most places I frequent around here and it's kind of a given that someone will ask for ID.

Heh- Even if I'm in Uniform at the Navy Exchange. I still get asked for ID, though most of the times it's because the person behind the counter is new. I don't complain though, they're there for our safety and to ensure that I don't have to purchase groceries outside the Base because everything in Virgina Beach is exspensive to the extreme........... Man, I can't wait until I get new orders....