Legal, but it shouldn't be!

[cheezMcNASTY]

Legal, but it shouldn't be!

writing from work, and angry.

I just walked down to the local grocery store to get some cigarettes.
I'm a returning customer...i go to this place several times a week.
i walked in, and some old guy i'd never seen before was working. i asked for a pack, he asked for my ID. after i showed it to him, he straight up said that he did not want to sell them to me. My ID clearly shows i'm 19, and if the place put down money for a swiper, it would have shown that my ID isn't fake.
After he said he didn't care what my ID said, and i was getting ready to leave, he said quote "it doesn't matter, you shouldn't be smoking anyway". I told him that's none of his goddamn business and left ****ed off as all hell.

I look like i could be 20, should a store have the right to refuse business to people, so long as they meet legal requirements?

 

[Tiamatria]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

It's in nearly all stores' terms of service that they can refuse service for no reason.

:/

 

[Tyloric]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

I agree with the old man.

You souldn't be smoking anyway. :X

Also, the right to refuse business is a fair right. We are a free nation, yes? Yes.

 

[ScareCrowReturn]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

Smokings BADDDDD Haha.

But yeah, I guess he owns the place, or whoever does, Can say what they like and dont have to sell it to you.

But then again, It clearly shows that you're 19, so its pretty bullsh*t.

 

[Wonderfoole WINO]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

Wow, I'm surprised they even care. When I was a clerk, I would sell you anthrax and dynamite if you met the legal requirements. Just buy your stuff and get the hell out so I can get paid.

 

[Mandaly]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

Next time, ask for the store manager and tell them what happened. Usually its the owner or the managers of the store who have the right to refuse you service, most likely, they will be upset with the person that refused you and say something to him. I mean, it doesn't get you your smokes, but perhaps personal satisfaction? The owner would apologize and maybe give you a coupon or something...I don't know.

 

[Arseface]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

It's about balancing the rights. What's more important, the old man using the right of the store (to refuse service) as a way to force his own views on the customers, or cheez getting to do what he want's within the confines of the law?

I would have taken them and just walked off, unless they were behind the counter or something. I would have taken something else in that case.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

^ just to clarify...it sounded like he was a co-owner i hadn't met. i know who i thought was the owner, but he said he was also the owner...

i'm also having second thoughts on how legal it really was. they have sold them to be before, so they do not have a policy...his excuse was "you're too young". tell me if i'm wrong but isn't that discrimination of age?

 

[Arseface]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

Sure it does. If the manager is even there to begin with. In the case of most stores here, the manager shows up for inventory and to pick up the cash for deposits and is gone again as quickly as he arrived.Yea but see, that's illegal.
A real trick is to do something equally annoying while equally legal.

Car bomb the place?

^ just to clarify...it sounded like he was a co-owner i hadn't met. i know who i thought was the owner, but he said he was also the owner...

i'm also having second thoughts on how legal it really was. they have sold them to be before, so they do not have a policy...his excuse was "you're too young". tell me if i'm wrong but isn't that discrimination of age?

If that was his excuse then there may be a legal issue there. I dunno.

 

[Necromancer]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

I personally don't think you should be smoking cigarettes, but you're right. It's your own goddamn business. I believe in the right to refuse service to someone for a legitimate reason, but I think what happened to you was just wrong, regardless of the legality.

 

[Another Spartan]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

The worlds full of dickwads, and there's little we can legally do about it. So, you should've searched through the blackmarket, bought some C4, and kamikazed the place. Then again, you'd be dead... So you shoulda blown it up from a safe distance!

 

[TheJJMax]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

Maybe he wanted you to actually live longer to by some more of those deathsticks.

 

[Firis]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

^I don't wanan sell you any deathsticks, I wanna go hoem and rethink my life.

I do not promote smoking, but I enjoy it soooooo. He can **** off, it is your right, it doesn't harm anyone other than you unless they are stupid enough not to move away from you (Unlike Cocaine, Meth and Alcohol) and it is addictive and deadly yeah, but your gonna die sometime.

 

[Hermit]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

I agree with his right to deny, I disagree with his reasons for doing so.

I'd be somewhat dissapointed that ANOTHER person is now smoking, but would not refuse service. Now if Cheez had acted like a tosser then yes I would have refused service.

 

[Wonderfoole WINO]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

Well, whether your 19 or 90, nobody should be smoking, and age doesn't make a whole helluva lot of difference. If your 19+ then you have the legal right to buy and smoke cigarettes all you want. I believe the right to refuse service is a legitimate right, provided you have legitimate reasons. But a clerks moral issues aren't really legitimate, its their job to sell things to people, not to council them. If this guy actually was the manager, that makes it a bit different, but in that case he should make it a known store policy that that particular store does not sell tobacco to younger people, even if they are of legal age.

But its really a double standard, I mean, if he has a problem selling tobacco to a 19 year old, why not a 25 year old? They are no less dangerous to humans, regardless of age. If he has a problem selling such things to people, then hes got no business being a store clerk at all.

What it comes down to is that a clerks "moral issues" are a load of crap, but its also their right. Just take your business elsewhere.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

I think it's sad that people don't really care about the important part of the original post.
Your opinions on whether or not he should be smoking is irrelevant. And downright pointless.
However, your thoughts on whether or not it should be legal for a store employee to refuse service whether it is because he feels someone shouldn't be smoking or because the person looks too young regardless of what a valid ID says would probably be appreciated.

That said - I side with the store employee. Not for any of the mentioned reasons of why he did it, but because it is his right. Just as it is your right to take your patronage elsewhere.

but other people at the store have sold them to me...they don't have a specific store policy regarding cigarettes (which is legal). it was one guy, that doesn't break any laws of discriminating by age, sex, or race?

 

[sassy]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

I don't think it breaks the law that he refused to sell them to you because of your age, it's just frustrating. I have worked in several different stores, and I think that it is his legal right to refuse to sell anything to anyone for any reason. Not that I think he was right in doing so, I just don't think that any discrimination law covers that.

 

[Another Spartan]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

but other people at the store have sold them to me...they don't have a specific store policy regarding cigarettes (which is legal). it was one guy, that doesn't break any laws of discriminating by age, sex, or race?

Do you look like a preteen black girl?

 

[Firis]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

^I know tghat was sarcastic buuuuut, he is descriminating that he LOOKS too young to smoke the Ciggs.

 

[sassy]

Re: Legal, but it shouldn't be!

But if that's the case it's not discrimination. If someone LOOKS too young to be smoking then the ID should be checked because there are heavy fines against selling tobacco to minors for both the company and the person actually doing the selling. If he thought the ID was fake and they get fake ID's a lot, then the company should spring for the scanner to prevent selling to minors. The guy might have been an a**, but he could have been trying to protect himself and his business. There may not be a store policy about tobacco, but there are laws they have to follow. I don't agree with the stated reasons for refusal either, but he had a right to refuse.