Happened to me last year. I’m 40, and my ID was worn to the point where the date of birth was illegible. Sale refused.
Being an adult and all, I simply went out and got a new license. No rant on the internet required.
If you feel that strongly about being entitled to order a beer just because you’re carrying an overabundance of personal indentification, then it seems that the onus of having the required documentation to be served in the first place is on you.
In your case, that would include a driver’s license with a picture that would have stood up to scrutiny.
I got my 18-year-old license in 1997 (or was it a 21-year-old license in 2000?) and I had to roll up to the DMV to get a replacement once because my card got all munged up from just sitting in my wallet. With my replacement I also got a plastic card cover from the lady at the counter who told me that the cards did indeed tend to get messed up when they rubbed against other stuff in your wallet.
Could have been that there wasn’t a big stink in the papers about it because only a small percentage of the population got these new “digital” cards only because they had to renew their licenses that year.
Ultimately it’s the restaurant’s call to decide to serve you or not based on an arguably inadequate ID. Still, I’d say that singling out one person in a group, then being dismissive and rude about turning them down, is a pretty shabby way to treat customers. I wouldn’t want to give them my business either.
About two years ago, my BF was turned away trying to buy cigarettes. He was 24 at the time. He actually did have a valid license (clear picture, not expired and all that) but the clerk refused to sell him cigarettes because he thought my BF looked 14 and that clearly meant the license was a fake.
Well no. Let’s assume you’re a seventy-something hoary old dog with wrinkles a-plenty, a senior citizen’s club card, and a walking stick, but your driver’s license is a bit worn. And they still refuse you.
That’s just ridiculous jobsworthism, it’s not a decent application of the law.
Finally!!, I had to read through 28 posts before I found someone who shared my thoughts on this.
The whole point of the excersize can be boiled down to “They couldn’t prove you were dnooman”. End of story. If your picture on your ID is messed up then that’s your problem, not theirs.
And I don’t see why you can’t envision this as a sting operation. 
NOBODY brings forth these many forms of documents and then presents a subpar drivers license ID (the only one that really matters).
Maybe they thought the sting was to get them to accept something other than a drivers license as ID.
You keep saying that they knew that you were 23. No they didn’t. If they couldn’t prove you were even dnooman how could they know who was what age?
You don’t know what they were thinking (as far as stings) and they didn’t know you from Adam.
Seems like a closed case.
But what about late onset progeria?
Uh, no what? It wasn’t a bit worn, it was worn to the point of being illegible.
Depends on what state you are in, I suppose. Here in NM, the law changed about a year or so ago, and while a server can still use their judgement on whether or not to ask for ID, once they do ask for it they have to be shown an ID. They can’t look up and say “Oh, sorry, I can see you are a seventy-something hoary old dog with wrinkles a-plenty. Never mind.” Once it’s requested, the server has to see it.
I got over it. Some folks may not believe it, but not getting a drink is only a minor inconvenience.
In ohio the server (or bartender) risks 6 months in jail, a thousand dollar fine, and all the legal bills that entails:
www.liquorcontrol.ohio.gov/servertraining.pdf
I’m not sure how risk averse you are, but in my case I would not feel comfortable making the sale if there was even a shadow of a doubt. It is not just what the job is worth, it is a risk that could severly harm someone’s future.
Try putting yourself in the server’s place.
Exactly, it’s become part of corporate risk management at many establishments - particularly the larger national chains - to card 100% of customers… that’s the only way you can guarantee that you’ll not break the law by serving someone underage.
It sucks but it’s not “jobsworthy” if you risk the sack for not carding every customer.
Such is modern life, I fear.
I get IDed at Yankee Stadium about 1 out of every 4 times. The stated policy is “We Card Anyone Under 40”, which makes me feel happy as I’m not. 
ETA: Had the manager overridden the bartender, we’d all be commenting on what a dick the manager was in a Pit thread right now.
I don’t think so. I have no idea what that means either, and I live in the same country as he does. It sounds like a regionalism.
dnooman, I can understand that you were annoyed, but I don’t think they were wrong. People are not good at judging ages. In the past week I’ve had one of my brother’s friends guess my age to be 25, and a new coworker thought I was 22. I’m 30. I realize I look young, but their guesses were farther apart from each other than you were from legal age at the time of this incident.
And by 23 you should have known that a soc card and student ID weren’t going to help your case at all because neither are allowed as legal ID (for proof of age) for other things, either.
Read for detail, here let me help
Unclear photo = doubt. Is this clear enough for you? :rolleyes:
Yes the amount of time does have something to do with it. If you are still obsessing a year or two later, you are a jerk or a drunk. You choose. If being refused a beer is the worst thing that ever happens to you, you are without a doubt the luckiest son of a bitch in the state of Ohio.
Ya know except for the Part about Ohio, I would swear that you are this lady’s son
i think 12 top is actually server jargon.
I worked at a liquor store for a while and my manager was a stickler for ID’s. She made a co-worker ID her cousin. Everybody knew this person, we knew full well that they were legal, but we still needed to ask for ID. Why, because the authority checking on alcohol sales had been known to stand outside a business, watch to see if someone was ID’d or not and then when the customer left with the alcohol, they would ask to see ID. If the customer did not have adequate ID we would be charged. Simple as that.
I was yelled at many times at that job, I didn’t care, I just told them to go down the street to the next store and try their luck there. If you look drunk, no sale. No ID, no sale, if I see you talking to groups of teenagers that have been hanging out in front of the store and it looks like you might possibly be buying booze for them, no sale. There is no law saying that I have to sell you booze, but a crap ton of them saying that I can’t.
You were in the wrong to make such a fuss, just get a soda while you friends finish their beer and then go somewhere else.
Oh yea and when I was underage and trying to get into bars (shh don’t tell 
) I would just act like I owned the place, got indignant, acted like they were in the wrong. Your behavior meant nothing in proving your age.
Carding everyone might not be the law, but when done properly it’s a VERY good store policy.
And what’s this about jobsworth. Sorry, I think that’s just stupid. Of course my job is worth more then you getting a drink. If you think I should put my job on the line so you can have a beer, go somewhere else.
Let me see if I got the facts straight:
You go into a restaurant with your illegible, raggety-ass up drivers license.
You get carded because even though people can “peg your age” at 23, the staff does not feel comfortible in guessing your age within an error factor of ± 3 years.
Rather than risk the possiblity that you are an underage kid using your older brothers license, the bartender does not serve you.
The manager, trusting in the judgement of his staff, concurs with the bartenders decisions.
You are unable to persuade them to change their mind with non-valid forms of ID, the word of your friends or the fat $15 wad you roll with.
And so the restaurant people are dicks because:
a) they didn’t put their business and livelihoods at risk for some perfect stranger?
b) they are under a legal obligation to ensure that every 21+ year old gets all the beer they need?
c) they were following the rules when they could have been “cool” with you?
d) you didn’t get your way?
What a bunch of jobsworths :rolleyes:
There used to be a bar in Venice California called the Oar House. They had two of the biggest bouncers I have ever seen at the front door (I think they hired college football players, and linemen at that). The policy at this bar was everyone got their ID checked at the door by the two resident gorillas. I did see people turned away, and yes I saw a 65+ year old guy get carded.
And this was 30+ years ago when people were much more liberal about underage drinking.