I decline that invitation and instead invite you not to be such a nitpicky stick-in-the-mud over a minor point, because what I’m saying is equally applicable to a 21yo cashier dealing with someone in their 40s, and you know it perfectly well.
Also, the people in this thread seem to genuinely have a lot of trouble wrapping their head around the difference between actual law (“No selling booze to anyone under 21, no exceptions”) and store policies (“we’re going to ID everyone, even if you’ve known them for decades or they’re obviously in their 40s+”).
Probably? Both Reddit and the SDMB, and probably most other general interest discussion boards, run on people moaning about life’s trivial inconveniences. I’m fine with that, we all need a place to vent.
The irony is in insulting somebody for supposed ignorance over a nitpicky technicality, but blowing it herself in the same post. Kind of like Gaudère’s law. (Which also means there’s going to be an error in this post somewhere)
I still think it’s ironic to complain that she needs caffeine, then is burned by coffee.
Martini’s ignorance in this thread isn’t confined to one mistake in one post… There is a fundamental misunderstanding about the laws in question made clear over multiple posts.
Maybe in your state but in Iowa:
“You must be 21 years of age to drink alcohol in Iowa, but you can work as a server in a restaurant, as a bartender, or in a state-owned package store at age 18. You can be 16 and sell alcohol in any other situation.”
So a 16 year old cashier at a gas station or grocery store can legally sell alcohol.
And in NY, while you generally have to be 18 to sell alcohol, supermarkets and grocery stores can employ under 18-year olds and have them sell (cashiers) or handle (deliveries/stocking) alcohol * as long as they are directly supervised and in the presence of a person 18 years old or older. There is no minimum age to sell certain products for off-premises consumption - if I owned a deli , my 14 year old kid could legally sell beer.** Rules for restaurants are different .
* Beer and and some wine/coolers in those stores - which I just discovered is why I can only find HIgh Noon in liquor stores.
** Which doesn’t mean it would be smart, just that the law doesn’t prohibit it.
I can’t quite figure out “hard seltzers.” I think some of them (like High Noon) are actually seltzer with added hard liquor, and thus can only be sold in liquor stores, and some other brands are some sort of sugar-based fermented stuff, perhaps diluted with seltzer, and so can be sold, like beer. in supermarkets.
But they’re all called “hard seltzer,” even though they’re not all the same thing. It looks like they all have similar amounts of alcohol (in the same range as beer), but nonetheless are subject to different rules covering retail sales.
The difference apparently is that some of them are malt beverages (White Claw is one) and can be sold in stores licensed to sell beer such as supermarkets and grocery stores. Others contain spirits such as rum or vodka ( Cutwater canned cocktails, High Noon ) and can only be sold in liquor stores. I’m not actually sure where you can buy the sugar- fermented brands
Welcome to the world of regulations. Here is a 15-minute Legal Eagle YouTube on Federal regulations including whether the USDA or FDA has jurisdiction over a sandwich depending on whether it’s open-faced or between two slices of bread (7:25).
Get fifty different states’ opinions and you get total chaos.
I’ve just started selling stuff off in anticipation of moving. I am constantly getting those messages: “I’ll come pick it up. Text me your cell number.” There are so many of these, I’m convinced it’s either some sort of data phishing or some other nefarious reason. Nobody needs to have my cell number to respond to an ad. I’ve had people say it’s to make sure my ad is not a scam. Really? How is that going to prove it’s not a scam? Serious people just say “I’ll take it and I can come by at namesatime.” And I respond “Here’s the address.” I can tell the others are phishing because when I accuse them of it, they never respond indignantly.
US carding rules are stupid. A friend, in his 40s, was at a restaurant with his mother. They asked for her id when she ordered a drink. She didn’t have it. They refused to serve her
I’m willing to bet she didn’t look remotely like she could be under 21.
I was once carded when i ordered French onion soup in a bar. It was in Utah, and i wasn’t allowed in the bar unless i was over 21. I was in my fifties. As one of the other people there said, “puzzlegal, you look young, but not THAT young.”
My favorite story, it happened when I was about 50.
I’m buying beer at the grocery store, and the clerk asks for my ID, even though the beer was non-alcoholic. I get it, it’s keyed into their system as beer and they’re required to ask - just like the register wouldn’t ring it up if I tried to buy it before noon on Sunday.
So I hand him my ID. The clerk looks at it (my DOB is in the 1950’s), reaches into the drawer of the register and pulls out a calculator. He actually did the math. I was all I could do not to fall on the floor laughing.
I got carded at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store when I had a CO2 paintball canister refilled. The cashier asked me for my date of birth. Instead of 1958 I gave 1908 for the year.
The cash register wouldn’t accept the date, and the cashier couldn’t figure out why. A manager eventually bypassed the age requirement, giving me some stink eye.
Back to the op: my state has created a sort of vaccine passport, but it doesn’t work if they don’t have your cell phone number. And i don’t know how to give that to them.
