# Can I see your ID card, young lady? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444 "2011-08-12T11:56:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 13, 2011, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/21 "2011-08-13T11:54:01Z")
I did some fundraising work at Comerica park a few years back. We were required to card _anyone_ who ordered a beer. I’m talking about 70+ year old grandpas walking up to the counter and me saying, “can I see your ID?” I quit asking after about a half-dozen geezers. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/22 "2011-08-13T12:45:08Z")
About a year ago I was in a bar and the PLCB came and carded everyone, including me. It was clear that this was a case of: _we are not discriminating, we are carding everyone._ (Look at my profile and you’ll see why this is clear.) ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/24 "2011-08-14T01:03:47Z")
The cranky curmudgeon in me HATES when a clerk asks me if I’m 21. “No.” “Then I can’t sell to you.” “Really? I thought one only needs to be over 21, not 21 exactly.” ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/25 "2011-08-14T01:14:34Z")
I’m 35 and was last carded for buying a bottle of wine a couple of months or so ago. I must admit, it kinda makes my day, because around here they don’t have the “card everyone” rule except for a few days after the preannounced (WHY? If you really want to catch them selling to minors, don’t tell them…of course, when they do that, they still catch a few places, what morons!) “sting” ops. Then I get carded again and after that unless it’s somebody who doesn’t know me it doesn’t happen often. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/26 "2011-08-14T01:37:51Z")
I got carded a couple of weeks ago for the first time ever! I was quite pleased - I’m 35. In the US on holiday I didn’t get asked for ID even once. ☹ I frequently had to provide ID for my daughter, though, to prove she was young enough for child rates. This was even for buying the Newark-NYC bus ticket, where the youth rate is up to 18, getting her passport out required digging through all our stuff, and the ticket agent was really surprised to see that she actually was entitled to the youth rate after all; she was _12_ at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Waldelfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Waldelfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waldelfe)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/27 "2011-08-14T10:43:58Z")
It’s good to see I’m not the only one. We don’t have a “check everybody who looks younger than 30 law” in Germany so maybe they were controlled, too. And I didn’t win anything with this lottery ticket. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/28 "2011-08-14T14:58:17Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > the ticket agent was really surprised to see that she actually was entitled to the youth rate after all; she was _12_ at the time. That reminds me of a day I was waiting tables at Pappisito’s in Dallas(Richardson) Texas. A young looking female ordered a pina colada. She was sitting facing away from the window and I was facing the window. The sun was shining right in my face and casting a shadow over hers. I carded her. Her mom, surprised asked “Did you just card her.?” Yes. _ **She’s 13 years old!!!** _ She was obviously ordering a virgin pina colada and assumed I would know. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/29 "2011-08-15T04:20:01Z")
I’m almost completely grey now, and while I don’t get carded for buying booze, cashiers will frequently give me the senior discount without asking me. I’m “only” 58, and most discounts are for 60 and above. I think it’s hilarious. I remember when I was in college (back in the Stone Age, of course) and I had JUST turned 21. I went to a liquor store that was inches outside the 3-mile limit of the college boundary, and the clerk DID NOT card me. I was heartbroken! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/30 "2011-08-15T07:03:04Z")
If you want validation that you look young, being carded is not a good one. Like others have mentioned, some places will pretty much card anyone including your great-grandmother while other places have policies that have them carding anyone who might possibly younger than 40 or some other arbitrary age (far cry from 18/21). ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/31 "2011-08-15T10:10:42Z")
I got carded a couple of years ago, but that was only because the grocers in that town had a joint policy to card everyone regardless of age when buying alcohol. The last time I had to show an ID because I looked young I was around 35. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/32 "2011-08-15T13:48:09Z")
43, but I get carded every now and then at bars in NY if I’m in jeans. Never if I’m in business attire. My wife is 7 years younger; when she keeps her hair short she could easily pass for mid/late 20s. Two years ago, my wife & I went out for a quick bite to eat after work; I was still in my suit & tie monkey suit, she was ultra-casual. Wife was pregnant so she ordered a pepsi or something while I had a beer. The waitress was making small talk, and it was clear that she thought my wife was my daughter. My wife thought it was hilarious. I didn’t find it quite so hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/33 "2011-08-15T14:00:38Z")
Times have changed. When I was 18 years old I knew what bars were happy to sell six packs to anyone, so I never got carded until I was over 21. I also remember when I was twenty something, and stopped for a case of cold beer on the way home. The bottles were not twist offs and the guy would always ask how many bottles I wanted opened for the drive home. I am 53 now and would be shocked by the question. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/34 "2011-08-15T14:28:33Z")
> [@Bri2k](#): > > I has not been carded since the Reagan administration. > ☹ > Bri2k > (geezer) Bush 41, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Bosstrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstrain)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/35 "2011-08-15T14:45:53Z")
I get carded at the gas station for smokes or something, then go down the street and buy a bottle of whisky and no one even bats an eye, and the people in both places know me…go figure. I was 22 before I even bought my first drink out someplace, and there I am, all proud and happy, ready to flash that ID, even had a wallet with a little flip open thingy where the card was, I could have flashed that thing and claimed I was FBI if I did it right…but the jerk behind the counter took my cash, passed the receipt and told me to have a nice day…bastard. It’s a wonder anyone lets me walk out the door with anything, actually, in the photo on my ID I have long hair down to my shoulders (don’t ask, I thought I was a hippie I guess), now I look like I got run over by a lawn mower. Still they let me have whatever it is I’m buying, I must have a distinctive face or something, cause I can’t tell it’s me in the picture from all that foliage growing out of my head :). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/36 "2011-08-17T14:21:50Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > About a year ago I was at the liquor store buying a case of beer and a couple bottles of wine. At checkout, the guy rung it all up and I handed him my credit card. He looked at it and said “can I see your ID?” > > Wow! Heh heh, sure. Very flattering. Feeling good about myself (I was 43 at the time). I handed it to him and said “I haven’t been carded in years, but thanks!” > > He pointed to the back of the card where I had written on the signature line “Ask for ID” as a safety precaution. “I’m required to ask, by law”. > > Oh yeah. Duh. LOL - way to take the wind out of your sails!! :p. I haven’t been carded in years. The funny thing is, people keep reacting with surprise when I tell them my age: early 50s, apparently I look a few years younger (but unfortunately not THAT much younger :mad::p). ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/37 "2011-08-17T15:57:34Z")
I haven’t been carded since maybe sometime around '02. I was buying several bottles of liquor while wearing a hoodie over a ball cap. I was 33 at the time. I am very large and generally “pissed-off looking”, I don’t get carded anymore. As I am a bouncer/doorman, I can see the point of ID’ing everyone. I’ve been checking ID’s for over 10 years on a near-daily basis and am, IMHO pretty damn good at guessing a persons age. I’ll still do it to people who I am near certain are over 21. Generally because a: I want to be seen doing so, both as “proof” I’m doing my job and as a deterrent to anyone who’d try and slip by, b: because my boss has told me to be a hardass, c: because I’m bored and checking ID’s gives me something to do other than watch the crowd or the 5th soundless repeat of SportsCenter on the bars TVs. I get attitude all the time. Both from underage folk trying to bluff their way in with a false, expired or someone else’s ID and from “older” people who didn’t think to brink it with them. It’s a bar, fool, bring your damn ID! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/38 "2011-08-17T16:13:22Z")
> [@ryan](#): > > underage folk trying to bluff their way in with a false, expired or someone else’s ID See any really good fakes? A friend found a fake PA driver’s license in her 18 year old daughter’s room. The license showed her being 21. My friend showed it to me and I couldn’t tell it was a fake. I showed it to a bartender/bar owner friend of mine. He held it under a black light, used a magnifying loupe, and declared it totally acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/39 "2011-08-17T16:21:59Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Most places I buy liquor have a sign that says they card anyone who looks under 30. I still get carded. I just turned 41 on the first. I’ve never had a problem about getting carded. Once in a while a bartender will look up from the ID and say, “good job!” That just happened to my husband (Chicago suburbs here); he’ll be 41 next month. He balked at getting out his ID at first - he thought it was a joke, they thought he was annoyed, so the clerk told him, “you’re probably 25 but we have to card if you look under 30.” He laughed, realized the clerk and bagger (who agreed with the age range) weren’t joking, and told them as he handed over his DL that if this was a tip-wage position, he’d assume they were just sucking up for a good tip. They were floored at seeing he’s 40. He did experience the “buy booze on 21st birthday, don’t get carded” syndrome, as did I, and in the same card-hard college city that has tons of stings on those who sell to the underage. I don’t get carded nearly as often as he does. I keep telling him it’s because he’s more immature… ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/40 "2011-08-17T16:22:50Z")
> [@Bosstrain](#): > > I was 22 before I even bought my first drink out someplace, and there I am, all proud and happy, ready to flash that ID, even had a wallet with a little flip open thingy where the card was, I could have flashed that thing and claimed I was FBI if I did it right…but the jerk behind the counter took my cash, passed the receipt and told me to have a nice day…bastard. That was my experience on my 21st birthday. Talk about taking the wind out of your sails … “You mean, I could have been stopping by here and buying alcohol months ago? :smack:” ---
**Author:** ![Bosstrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Bosstrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstrain)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444/41 "2011-08-17T17:17:17Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > That was my experience on my 21st birthday. Talk about taking the wind out of your sails … “You mean, I could have been stopping by here and buying alcohol months ago? :smack:” I have a little insight as to why you couldn’t have. It’s how you carry yourself, if you know you can buy the stuff, you’re gonna’ walk up to the counter like you own the place. If you know you can’t, however, you’re gonna’ be that much more timid, and they’re always going to smell your fear…always, no matter how much after shave you’ve slapped on. 😃 Plus, no one says anything to the guy who asks for a double shot of Vodka…straight. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-see-your-id-card-young-lady/592444.md?page=3)