It’s not fun having to ID people all the time, but that kind of comes with the territory of a liquor store!

While some people may think it’s obvious that they’re of drinking age, it’s still policy in most places to ask for IDs or more information.

For this cashier, a customer didn’t like the requirements in Alaska while trying to buy beer.

Let’s see what happened…

He’s on vacation, he’s not signing anything!

So, I work at a big-box liquor store in Alaska.

I used to be a cashier, but then I was promoted to be a beer sales associate, at which point my job got a little bit less awful.

This is a story from when I was a cashier. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Alaska has some pretty draconian liquor laws.

And that list doesn’t even begin to cover exactly how screwed someone would be if they served a minor or someone with an alcohol-restricted license.

Seems complicated…

But there are some CYA procedures that help protect both employees and businesses if they aren’t sure about a customer but decide to serve them.

Another thing to note about Alaska is that tourism is big, mostly in the summer.

And I’m willing to bet most people know how awful tourists can get (I’m so glad I don’t work in hospitality).

To set the scene, imagine a large liquor store with 5 registers, no defined lines (we have to leave it up to customers to maintain order, which mostly works), and an afternoon rush.

It’s about 5 pm in the middle of summer, which is when we’re busiest, and there are probably 20-30 people in line (abnormally large).

Being a liquor store, we check almost everyone’s ID (some people are obviously old enough, others are regulars).

More people are upset with us telling them about the customer survey than they are with that. But sometimes you get tourists who have no idea our laws are so strict.

Most understand if you explain, but some get mad. This guy was the latter case.

Enter the antagonist…

A man and his son come up with a 12-pack of Bud Light (a small purchase for our store), and per usual, I ask for their IDs.

His ID is good (I immediately notice they’re tourists when they both have out of state IDs), and his son is newly 21, within a couple of months, so his vertical license is still valid.

Another note about Alaska: we’re one of those states where you have a vertically oriented ID/license until you turn 21, at which point it’s changed over to be horizontally oriented.

By store policy, we have customers with vertical IDs fill out a form that includes their ID number, address, and name, plus they sign it.

It’s a CYA tool that essentially says they provided you with that ID that appeared to be genuine, and it takes all of 2 minutes to fill out.

So I say that because his son’s ID is vertical, I’ll need him to fill out that form. And his dad instantly gets mad.

“Why does he need to fill that out?”

“It’s just a form saying that he is who he says he is, and that he provided that ID to me, should there be an issue. It’s store policy that anyone with a vertical ID fi-”

At this point, the son seems to understand, but remains silent. The dad, however, is only infuriated more.

“HE’S ON VACATION; HE’S NOT SIGNING ANYTHING!”

This escalated quickly!

Mind you, this is happening in front of easily 20 people. I feel terrible for his son, who is probably mortified by his dad’s behavior.

“I’m sorry, but it’s store policy. If he’s not who this ID says he is and I sell to you without having him fill out the form, I can get sent to jail and fined thousands of dollars.”

“I DON’T CARE. HE’S ON VACATION, HE’S NOT FILLING OUT ANYTHING.”

[Insert several more apologies and explanations followed by more angry remarks along the same lines.]

“Well, I’m not selling this to you unless he fills out the form. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to jail for you.”

“FINE, I’LL TAKE MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE! [SON], LET’S GO!”

“Sorry I couldn’t help you, have a nice day!” (I didn’t say that exactly, but I was all polite because I was still new and not worn to my last thread of patience yet.)

And he storms out the door. The head cashier, busy with other customers, gives me a sad, sympathetic look.

I wish I could have told him how little his purchase meant to me.

His $16 (or whatever) pack of Bud Light would have been but a drop in the pond of the at least $9,000 that went through my register that shift (between cash and credit/debit purchases), and thus his business meant nothing to me.

I feel really bad for his son though.

Nobody deserves to have their father throw a hissy fit over something stupid in front of them and a captive audience of 20 people.

How embarrassing…

In the back of my mind, I wondered how he’d react when the next store he went to with his son had him do the exact same thing.

When the crowd finally died down 2 hours later, I spoke with the head cashier about it.

She told me that if a parent comes in with their vertically-licensed 21-year old kid, the kid doesn’t have to fill out the form unless they’re buying instead of their parent.

She said I did nothing wrong, though, and appreciated my efforts in actually checking IDs.

This was the first time I was yelled at by a customer for something that I had no control over (seriously, I am not going to jail so a dad can buy his son Bud Light, of all things), and certainly wasn’t my last.

But I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t been at least a little bit excited to have finally had my first undeserved verbal assault be over something so stupid.

You’d actually be amazed how angry people get with you for having the audacity to not serve them because they forgot their ID at home.

Let’s see what the comments said.

Many Reddit users could relate.

And others thought the form wasn’t a big deal.

Fellow Alaskans shared in his sentiments!

It’s always best to just do as the cashier says and save yourself the headache!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.