# Asked to I.D. to see 14A movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 28, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111 "2012-10-28T05:15:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/21 "2012-10-29T11:30:14Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I assume the OP is from Canada or the UK maybe? Because what the heck is a \*\*\*14A movie?! \*\*\*Would the MPAA equivalent be **PG-13**? For Ontario, which uses that rating (not sure how many other certification boards use it)…sorta. It holds the same position in the list (G, PG, 14A, 18A, R), and has the same general concept behind it (‘this is a film that shouldn’t be watched by anyone under 14’) but… They don’t really _map_ that well - An MPAA PG13 might get an OFRB PG or 14A, an MPAA R could get anything from 14A to R (or, very occasionally, be banned outright). [Edit - it just occurred to me to check…Cloud Atlas is one of those movies that got an MPAA R and an OFRB 14A.] ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/22 "2012-10-29T11:52:44Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > If you can walk into a polling place and elect the leader of the free world without any ID, who the hell do these jokers think they are demanding ID to do something so frivolous and unimportant as seeing a movie? Is that even a fair comparison? One’s for age verification, the other’s for identity verification. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/23 "2012-10-29T14:58:48Z")
Moved Cafe Society --\> MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/24 "2012-10-29T23:10:16Z")
I got my first ID when I turned 18. Why the hell does a 14 kid require ID? (well aside from the OP’s example where even asking for ID is bloody stupid - if kid looks \<13 tell them to come back with mum if they look over let em in. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/25 "2012-10-30T03:32:28Z")
> [@Cinemamad](#): > > How can you tell if someone is 12, 13, 14, 15 By asking for ID. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/26 "2012-11-03T06:16:42Z")
> [@Wheeljack](#): > > By asking for ID. :smack: And the point of the OP is that tells you nothing since none of those kids will have ID. That’s what the kid is upset about. He could have just as easily be 14 and he still wouldn’t have gotten to see the movie and would have not gotten his money back. I’m very glad our country only has an ID requirement for the one age where you are actually likely to have an ID. And, even then, if you don’t have an ID, all you need is an adult to accompany you or for your parent to give permission (something the OP’s mom could have done, since she was there). Heck, some theaters have a special card your parents can buy for you that indicates that they always have permission. The Canadian thing is just that “thing of the children” bullshit that is normally decried here. I would be surprised if any 13-year-old, even amongst Christian parents, hadn’t seen at least one rated R movie. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/27 "2012-11-03T07:42:53Z")
Did you buy the tickets online? If you bought them in person it would be really odd to ask for ID after you bought them. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/28 "2012-11-03T11:56:14Z")
> [@](#): > > And, even then, if you don’t have an ID, all you need is an adult to accompany you Nope, it can’t be just any random adult, it needs to be the parent or LEGAL guardian. Or at least, that’s the way it was when I was working the box office. If I’d sold tickets to an R rated movie to a 13 year old kid and his/her 18 year old sibling, because the sibling was an adult, I’d have been suspended or fired. Only parents or guardians counted. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/29 "2012-11-03T12:12:17Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Wear a fake mustache next time. And then hop up on your buddy’s shoulders and cover yourselves with a long trench coat. Wear a fedora. No one’s the wiser. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/30 "2012-11-03T12:28:10Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Nope, it can’t be just any random adult, it needs to be the parent or LEGAL guardian. Or at least, that’s the way it was when I was working the box office. If I’d sold tickets to an R rated movie to a 13 year old kid and his/her 18 year old sibling, because the sibling was an adult, I’d have been suspended or fired. Only parents or guardians counted. And how did you determine that? Ask everyone for an ID? What if they had different names? How does one determine a “guardian” status? A letter from the court? Did you really hold up the ticket line while you quizzed them on their family relationships? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/31 "2012-11-03T12:45:37Z")
No, I didn’t quiz everyone…but if it was apparent that it was one 17 year old who was buying tickets for a bunch of underage kids, then I called the manager and let HIM handle it. In the meantime, I sold tickets to everyone else. If someone in his/her late 30s or older is buying tickets to an R rated movie, it’s a pretty good bet that this person is, in fact, a parent or guardian. If the person buying the tickets for a group of younger teens is in his/her late teens or early 20s, it’s far more likely to be an older sib or friend, and if the parents find out about it, they might very well come down to the theater and raise holy hell about it. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/32 "2012-11-04T21:52:47Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > But what if the OP is on a fixed income, and $4 to get an ID would be an insurmountable financial hardship? What if the OP lives in east Bumblefuck and the closest MVD is in outer west Bumblefuck, requiring hundreds of miles of travel and 4 or 5 days of transfers on the Bumblefuck Transit Authority bus lines? What if the OP was born in a barn in the hills and never had a birth certificate? What if the OP lives in a shack without water, gas, or electricity and thus can’t prove residency to the MVD? I’m 100% certain the theater is racist. If they can’t prove rampant cinema ID fraud (not just auditorium stuffing and NO wikipedia cites) they are. How can you really ask someone to just _have_ identification? This is the first time I’ve ever wished this board had “like this post” buttons. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/33 "2012-11-04T23:10:14Z")
Y’all realize he’s never coming back, right? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/34 "2012-11-04T23:42:41Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Y’all realize he’s never coming back, right? He’s trying to make an ID. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/35 "2012-11-05T02:31:12Z")
How do we know he’s really 13? Maybe he’s 12 and too young to make an account ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111/36 "2012-11-05T05:06:30Z")
> [@Cinemamad](#): > > I lied and said 14 and he said have any I.D. …So he just said no and we had non refundable tickets. This does not add up. He sold you the tickets, THEN asked for ID? He should have asked for the ID before the financial transaction was conducted, and not sold you the tickets if he thought you were too young. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asked-to-i-d-to-see-14a-movie/639111.md?page=1)