Well, he could have been a 16-year-old with that disease that makes you age prematurely. Or the manager could have been a twat who didn't have the balls to apply a policy based on the spirit and intent rather than the letter. I wouldn't blame the checkout operator - she would have likely been sacked by the aforementioned twat for not insisting on ID.

Which brings up another question - at what age does being asked for ID to prove you are over 21 stop being a compliment and start being an insult?

While visting almost two years ago, my mother was told she couldn't even be in the bar unless she had an ID - she was 59 at the time. She was visiting for the birth of my nephew so she said, "Are you serious? I just became a grandmonther!" They were serious. The boyfriend walked home to get her ID for her - he went because he didn't want my (old) mother to go all the way in the Chicago winter. Nice boyfriend, bad bartender.

He may have been carded but at least he could buy wine at a supermarket. It's easier to buy a gun in the state of PA than a bottle of Cabernet.

They do the same thing at the bars in the airport in Des Moines, Iowa.

But why is this a shock to anyone? For a very long time now ID has been required to step inside any bar or buy any alcohol - and if my boyfriend is buying a can of beer for beer battered halibut, I have to show my ID as well. It's been this way for years, at least here in Alaska.

Well because it may have been common in the US, but other places not so.

I find this difficult to believe happening in Australia, and would be amazed if it ever happened in Japan.

I actually have only been carded once in the last 15 years or so and that was in a college bar. The bouncer looked at my 1964 birth date and apologized.

Yeah, I would not expect this to happen here in Australia, although it would happen if the bouncer/bartender/checkout operator was suspicious. You are more likely to be asked for ID to buy cigarettes, I think. But then, we can't buy alcohol in supermarkets in most states here, so the problem is less widespread.

You have to be 21 to buy alcohol in the UK? Since when?
i always find being carded a hassle, as it never happened until the night i turned 21 and my license was stolen.

I turn 40 next year and I am STILL getting carded.

I still get carded regularly and I'm almost 40 and have a lot of grey hair, but I live in a college town and the authorities will close down a bar for not checking every single person. Like youngergirl 44 mentioned, folks often can't even get in the door without presenting ID at the door. There are frequent crackdowns at every grocery store (for tobacco products) and liquor store where ID is required, no matter how well they know you.

I generally chuckle and hand my ID over. And usually, the person has a sense of humor about it, unlike the scenario in the article.

(I have to tell you, though, having one of my college-aged lab kids ask me when I mention my kids at home, "Aren't they out of the house yet?" isn't nearly as amusing. That made me feel positively ancient.)

"The city of Alpharetta [Georgia] requires that ALL guests (regardless of age) consuming alcohol on property must show proof of age via a valid Drivers License, Passport or State-issued Identification card."

This must be posted at the door of every establishment selling or serving alcohol. You can't blame the bible belters for this one either; this was one of MADD's successes.

Yes, they card everyone, and yes, the cops run stings year round, not the underage variety either (that's a different police unit). The fines more than pay for the expenses.

Ten miles west of Alpharetta is Kennesaw, the city that mandated gun ownership to cut crime. I lived in the midst of this area, and it is the ultimate clash of the Old South and transplant Yankeedom.

There is no 'national ID' here in the UK (although it's a hotly contested subject/political football/wedge issue). The old fella probably didn't HAVE ID.

I get carded about 40% of the time when I go buy smokes for my mom. When I buy liquor for myself - I pretty much always get carded. They are supposed to card people who don't yet look 27. I'm 34. Now, I realize I may not look my age. However, there's no fucking way I look younger than 27.

Hey, I'm old enough that everything's starting to sag. Noticeably *sigh*
I've not been carded in recent/fossilized memory. And, I'm in the USA south.

Guess I really look old, but not olden enough to get carded yet! There must be a magic age between 40 and 60 where you don't look like you should be asked. *arches eyebrow in bemusement at checkout clerk who dares ask* (maybe they figure once you're over 60ish you're too senile to object?)

I got carded by a teenager at the grocery store, and he looked at the date (1964) and said, "hey, you're just a little bit younger than my mom, but she looks a lot older than you do." I smiled and said, "Well, I don't have kids."

Did this guy actually get carded? It sounds like they just asked him if he was over 21, and all he had to do was say "Yes," but he refused to do that.

Which I think is a bit different, and which I think puts the guy in a slightly different light. While it can be obnoxious to have to dig out an ID while juggling groceries and credit cards and whatever else, and while it's obnoxious in principle to need to prove that one is not lying, saying "Yes" doesn't seem like that much of a hassle and being trusted at one's word seems like a good thing.

Nevermind, I'm totally wrong.

The witchcraft article linked to on that page was really interesting too.