YOUR OPPIONIONS PLEASE

ponyirl · 09-04-2009 2:09pm #1

My girl friend and i went to LIDL last saturday to do our weeks shopping,we bundled up our stuff and headed for the counter on the way i picked up a slab of beer .
So the girl at the check out scanned all the grocerys coming to a total of 117 euro then she came to the slab of beer she said to my girl friend do you have ID and my girlfriend did not.
So i said i do and took out my age card the girl then said i have to see hers aswell i said why... she said because you are buying the beer for her, so i said leave the beer to one side and i'll buy it in a few mins my self she still said NO . she went on that if the garda stop me she could loose her job and the shop could be closed for 3 days
I then finding it hard to keep my cool said get the manager. she rang the bell up comes the so called manager who never spoke to me or my girl friend about the situation , but instead the two LIDL staff started gibber gabbing in their own language and she stormed off. leaving us back to square one . in the end she accepted my girl friends driving licence as ID and we left .

what i'd like to know is had she any right to do this? when i had a valid age card and was the one paying.

should i have stood my ground? should i be compensated for the embarrassment?

what would other people do?

( i am 23 by the way and my girlfriend is 20 and i fully agree with being asked for ID but not in the manner described above)

Paulw · 09-04-2009 2:16pm

ponyirl wrote: »

what i'd like to know is had she any right to do this? when i had a valid age card and was the one paying.

should i have stood my ground? should i be compensated for the embarrassment?

Yes, they are well within their rights to ask for ID. If your girlfriend looks under 18 (in their opinion, not yours), then they are within their right not to sell you the alcohol.

As for you being compensated - why? They are doing what they are supposed to do - ensure that alcohol is not sold to or for those under age.

Nody · 09-04-2009 2:22pm

1) Stop using all caps thread titles
2) Well with in their rights
3) No, if anything you should go back and apologize for being a git

Tom Dunne · 09-04-2009 2:40pm

ponyirl wrote: »

should i be compensated for the embarrassment?

WTF kind of mentality is that? Compensated? Get a grip, will you?

However rude or abrupt the person was, she was upholding the law. Ok, she could have been nicer about it, but she was well within her rights.

It's a pity more shop assistants wouldn't do that, might stop the idiot kids getting their hands on drink.

ponyirl · 09-04-2009 2:40pm

Paulw wrote: »

Yes, they are well within their rights to ask for ID. If your girlfriend looks under 18 (in their opinion, not yours), then they are within their right not to sell you the alcohol.

As for you being compensated - why? They are doing what they are supposed to do - ensure that alcohol is not sold to or for those under age.

i know they are with in their rights to ask for id but my point is if i were to say bring my 15 year old neice shopping with me .that they have the right to refuse me alcohol on the grounds that it might be for my neice???

(sorry about the caps on the title)

compensation for me would be an appoligie by the lidl staff too nothing else

Paulw · 09-04-2009 2:50pm

ponyirl wrote: »

i know they are with in their rights to ask for id but my point is if i were to say bring my 15 year old neice shopping with me .that they have the right to refuse me alcohol on the grounds that it might be for my neice???

compensation for me would be an appoligie by the lidl staff too nothing else

Yes, if you had your 15yr old niece with you, then they could stop you, if they are under the impression that you are buying the drink for her.

But, your situation, as you posted, you were shopping with your girlfriend, so the assumption would be that you were sharing the drink. So, in that specific case, they are well within their rights to refuse you.

As for compensation - maybe you should go back and apologise to them?? They were doing exactly what they should do.

ponyirl · 09-04-2009 2:56pm

i am happy to say now that i.ve seen the bigger picture i didn't know you could be refused alcohol on those grounds in future i will purchase and alcoholic beverages on my own and will duely apologise to the girl if she remembers

dahamsta · 09-04-2009 3:13pm

ponyirl wrote: »

she said to my girl friend do you have ID and my girlfriend did not.

ponyirl wrote: »

in the end she accepted my girl friends driving licence as ID and we left .

Errrr...

Horsefumbler · 09-04-2009 3:19pm

dahamsta wrote: »

Errrr...

My thoughts exaclty...

jor el · 09-04-2009 4:23pm

Was there a reason she didn't show the driving licence in the first place, or did they refuse to accept it?

the_syco · 09-04-2009 4:38pm

jor el wrote: »

Was there a reason she didn't show the driving licence in the first place, or did they refuse to accept it?

Some places have a "Garda ID" only policy.

I know other driving licences (such as the old Polish one) were laminated, so the policy may exclude all driving licences, to avoid discrimination against the dodgy looking ones.

foggy_lad · 09-04-2009 4:49pm

they do not have to sell you anything at all so be thankful they let you do your shopping and after checking id they accepted a driving licence which they do not have to do as they have signs at all the tills saying the only id accepted is garda id.

Lollipops23 · 09-04-2009 6:30pm

OP i wouldn't be annoyed about the ID policy, as irritating as it is to me or you, if more places implemented it there might be less 14 year olds getting twisted every weekend.

however, it is incredibly rude of the manager and staff member to have a conversation concerning you in a different language. there's several polish girls where i work and they would never dream of excluding someone like that, it's just not mannerly.

Paulw · 09-04-2009 6:40pm

Lollipops23 wrote: »

however, it is incredibly rude of the manager and staff member to have a conversation concerning you in a different language. there's several polish girls where i work and they would never dream of excluding someone like that, it's just not mannerly.

What if they spoke in Irish?

What if the OP had only poor English ?

Come on, they can communicate in any language they need. The important thing is the communication between the manager and the person involved, not the inter-staff communication.

Lollipops23 · 09-04-2009 7:26pm

Paulw wrote: »

Come on, they can communicate in any language they need. The important thing is the communication between the manager and the person involved, not the inter-staff communication.

there was no communication between the manager and OP!it's just not manners to exclude someone from a conversation(especially one about them!) like that.

Walkman · 09-04-2009 7:54pm

While I fully agree with the staff member asking for ID I do 100% disagree with the checkout girl and her manager having a conversation in their native tongue. This is bad manners and not very good customer relations. If this happened to me I would have no problem politely asking them to please speak in english when they were discussing me or mrs walkman :-)

amdublin · 09-04-2009 10:31pm

Why would you be entitled to compensation?

Did you suffer any loss? Would compensation have put you back in the position that you previously enjoyed?

Cabaal · 09-04-2009 11:31pm

compensation...your kidding me right?
move on with your life is your compensation.

They are well within their rights to ask for ID, also in the end they don't have to sell you something if they don't want to...nothing illegal about this.

Mr.David · 10-04-2009 8:04am

What the hell are "OPPIONIONS"? Some cheapo LIDL onion?

albert-bundy · 10-04-2009 8:22am

yeah that was the part i did not like i find that so rude and its quite common i know one emoployer who was sued over asking polish to stop talking polisgh on front of his costomers we runs a restaurant .this kind of behaviour would and does drive me mad

Lollipops23 wrote: »

OP i wouldn't be annoyed about the ID policy, as irritating as it is to me or you, if more places implemented it there might be less 14 year olds getting twisted every weekend.

however, it is incredibly rude of the manager and staff member to have a conversation concerning you in a different language. there's several polish girls where i work and they would never dream of excluding someone like that, it's just not mannerly.

cgarvey · 10-04-2009 1:57pm

How many "i got asked for ID when buying alcohol; am I entitled to compensation" threads is that now? This is at least the third, isn't it?

albert-bundy · 10-04-2009 2:38pm

whos counting its recession remember compo will be everywhere now

cgarvey wrote: »

How many "i got asked for ID when buying alcohol; am I entitled to compensation" threads is that now? This is at least the third, isn't it?

ponyirl · 10-04-2009 5:28pm

compensation dosen't have to be in the form of money thats not what was ment as said before an apologie was all i ment bad wording on my behalf

wmpdd3 · 10-04-2009 8:12pm

I really think you should go back and apologise.

This is the law were talking about not just your credit card being refused..

Darragh29 · 11-04-2009 11:39pm

Tom Dunne wrote: »

WTF kind of mentality is that? Compensated? Get a grip, will you?

However rude or abrupt the person was, she was upholding the law. Ok, she could have been nicer about it, but she was well within her rights.

It's a pity more shop assistants wouldn't do that, might stop the idiot kids getting their hands on drink.

+1.

That C word is popping up a lot in Consumer Issues lately, people wanting to be compensated for outrageously insignificant issues if they are even issues at all.

dudara · 12-04-2009 11:37am

Mr.David wrote: »

What the hell are "OPPIONIONS"? Some cheapo LIDL onion?

Please do not make attacks like this. It is not appreciated.

dudara

snappieT · 12-04-2009 2:03pm

Paulw wrote: »

Come on, they can communicate in any language they need.

I don't think this is acceptable. In Ireland, English & Irish can be used, and should be used, for business purposes. It'd be unfair on another member of staff if they didn't understand the language the manager was speaking - that member of staff wouldn't have been able to chime in on the situation just as the other workers did.

MysticalSoul · 12-04-2009 2:11pm

So, you are saying she had ID in the end - ie her driving license? Was this refused, or did she not offer it in the first instance? Is it a full license or a provisional one, as I know only full licenses are generally accepted as ID.

I know a friend in the UK, who was refused alcohol, as she had her 2 year old daughter with her :eek:. It is the law, if you have someone with you who is underage/has no ID, they are under no obligation to sell it to you.

Random · 12-04-2009 2:18pm

This whole "Garda ID Only" policy is complete sh!te. It's Ireland. Nearly everyone has a driving license of some form and it wouldn't take much to educate staff in what it looks like. Refusing a passport is even more retarded a policy IMO. If you're gonna have a "one ID only" policy then it should be a passport.

Compensation - are you for real? Get over yourself. If you do feel strongly about how you were treated I would suggest you ask for a meeting with the manager or else send in a letter to them with some constructive feedback. They may send you out some vouchers or something as a "good will gesture" as it seems to be policy in a lot of places to just give out vouchers and ignore problems (in my experience).

I disagree with a manager being called over, ignoring you, and then walking away. The language they spoke is irellevant. If the shop assistant can convey my problem to her manager better in a language other than English then so be it. The manager should have turned around though after and addressed you on the issue (and in English).

I know a friend in the UK, who was refused alcohol, as she had her 2 year old daughter with her . It is the law, if you have someone with you who is underage/has no ID, they are under no obligation to sell it to you.

This is also a retarded policy. Discretion really needs to be applied and in this case .. well.. that says it all.

At the end of the day though the shop didn't have to sell you the beer regardless though.

5uspect · 12-04-2009 2:20pm

Aldi and Lidl are both very strict regarding the sale of alcohol. I've seen it a several times with college students buying drink in both large and small quantities. They're consistent with this and I applaude them.

As regards the manager and the employee speaking in a language other than english; it's a bit annoying but hardly warrents anything more than a grumble.

the groutch · 12-04-2009 2:37pm

I don't agree with this whole "GARDA ID ONLY" thing
I understand them not taking student id because there's so many fakes knocking about, but for someone to present their passport, a symbol of their identity as an irish citizen, and then be told that the shop doesnt acknowledge it

YOUR OPPIONIONS PLEASE

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