Every once in awhile doesn’t something happen to you – something that bothers you, something that gets you upset, something that gets you a little bit pissed?

Well, that happened to me the other day as I was going through the check out line at a QFC grocery store in Seattle.

I had just collected a bunch of food items including some celery, avocados, cottage cheese, LaCroix, blackberries, strawberries, to name a few.  In addition, I had a six pack of beer too.  Not for myself – I don’t drink.  But for some guests I expected.

I push the grocery cart up to the counter for the checker, a man in his 50’s, I am guessing.  I am expecting him to scan each item and ring up the total.  i move myself quickly to the end of the aisle where the machine exists to plug in my credit card so that I can pay the bill, whatever it eventually comes to after the checker has scanned each item.

Before he scans one item, the checker looks at me and asks to see my identification.

“My what!” I respond.  “Your identification”, he repeats.

I am dumbfounded.  “Why?” I ask.  His response, “It is company policy”.

At this point, I just can’t let this go.  I am steamed.  Why?  Why would someone ask me for my ID in a grocery store?

I feel like it is an invasion of my privacy.  I don’t hand my drivers license to anybody unless there is a really good reason.  My Scandinavian heritage, which values privacy, pops up every once in a while.

Why?  I keep asking myself.  I have not even begun to search for my drivers license.  No sir.

Maybe it is because I am purchasing some beer, I think to myself.  I ask him, “do you want proof that I am over 21?”.   His response again is that it is company policy.

This gets me further steamed.  It is one thing to have a company policy, it is another thing to have some idea of why you have the policy.

In frustration I bark out to the checker “do you think that I am under 21 years old?”  For the record, I am 78 years old, and while I think I look young for my age, I will admit that I do not look anywhere close to 21 or less.  Here is a picture of a 92 year old being carded!

At this point the checker asks if I would like to talk to the manager.  I nod my head yes.

The manager comes over and I ask him why do you want to see my identification.  He says it is company policy.  I ask him what is the reason for the company policy.

He says that one nearby store in the Kroger family of stores had a “problem” and now all the Kroger owned stores in this part of the City has adopted a policy of asking each person who purchases alcohol of any kind to see their ID.

Needless to say, if a grocery store sells alcohol to a minor it can lose its license to sell alcohol which will have a significant impact on their bottom line.  While alcohol only makes up 5% or so of a grocery store’s sales, it has a very high profit percentage.

In researching Washington State alcohol laws and recommended practices, it continually suggests that grocery stores and other establishments that sell alcohol ask for identification from anyone appearing to be 30 years or younger.  Why then would QFC ask a 78 year old man for his ID?

The only rationale that I can think of is that the store and its parent company have so little confidence in its own employees to make good decisions on who appears to be 30 and younger, that the company requires their employees to card everyone.   What a statement about how a company views its own employees.  Wow!

According to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association there is only one state – Tennessee – that has made universal carding mandatory.  Tennessee has done it for beer only and not for wine or liquor.  It also exempts beer and alcohol purchased in restaurants and bars.

This whole experience bothers me.  Why?

• It feels to me like an invasion of my privacy.
• It is using a sledge hammer to solve a problem that could be solved with a scalpel.
• It treats me as an object rather than a living, breathing human being.
• It reflects so poorly on the company and its management that they don’t have enough trust in their own employees to use some discretion in when to ask for proof of age,
• it bugs me that employees are not trained in the “why” of certain in-store policies.
• It potentially creates a conflict or a confrontation that is not necessary.

I know that my children are just dying reading this.  They are squirming and are so embarrassed to have me as their DAD in these situations.  They are asking why DAD don’t you just show them your drivers license and be done with it.  Why create a scene.  Why get upset about something so small.

I know they are probably right, but I also know how I feel.  I was bothered by this.  I am sorry, but this bugs me.