Becoming an adult can feel like a glorious thing for many reasons, but one thing is prominent for most: being of age to buy restricted items. Whether it’s alcohol you’ve got your eye on or tobacco, lottery tickets or other adult products, the freedom to make that purchase is exciting – albeit something that quickly becomes a mundane part of adult life.

So it goes without saying that those final months or years of being seventeen (or twenty, if you’re in the US) can really feel like they drag. For those whose birthdays are late in the academic year, and thus whose friends have mostly come of age already, the wait can be particularly gruelling, especially if it means being left out.

Understandably, kids have been concocting plans and schemes to get their hands on age-restricted products since those age restrictions actually became widespread policies. And those plans usually centre around an older friend – usually the eldest in the group, or someone’s big brother or sister – being the ones to make the purchase.

It’s something that has been going on for generations, and therefore something that those operating the point of sale – like the gas station attendant in this story – are quite aware of. But so long as there is just one overage patron purchasing the items (or a whole group who can produce valid IDs) there’s no reason to suspect that they are being purchased for someone younger.

If there are younger people hanging around the store however – well, that’s a different story altogether.

Read on to find out what happened here.

Hey, eighteen-year-olds, leave friends in cars…

I work at a VERY busy gas station in MA. Oh and lucky us, we are one of the last few remaining towns in which you only have to be over eighteen, not over twenty-one, to buy tobacco products.

Because of this, we get these kids from all over.

This week has been just utterly horrible for me with personal issues (leave home life at home, leave work life at work, trust me I know).

And today, I had three kids come in, and they didn’t think I saw them all walk towards store together.

Let’s see what happened when the kids entered the store.

I asked, “Hi, what can I get for you tonight?” to which one kid replied, “I’d like this and that oh and this too”.

I said, “sure when I see yours and your other two friends’ IDs.”

The kid said, “um what are you talking about?” To which I replied, “UMMM, do you see this big huge window that’s to the left of me? I had watched all of you get out of the same car and head in here.”

The kid insisted, ” Well I am buying them. They don’t matter.”

But this gas station attendant wasn’t about to be taken for a fool.

I had my poker face on by now, since I had a line of regulars.

I said, “Oh, your friends don’t matter? Well kiddo, they do to me with certain laws, if a police officer saw you walk in with them, then you walking out with the products and your friends not having an ID, I would be personally fined $1000.00, we would loose tobacco selling license, oh and to top it off, I’d be out of a job, so yes your friends do matter. No ID’s, No sale…”

The kid shrugged, “Oh never mind.”

And the other customers couldn’t have been happier with the response.

One regular came up and asked me, “do you remember the times that we would tell everyone to stay in the car?” While other regulars commented how awesome of a job I did, they themselves had no idea about the fines etc.

I love my regulars, I get to vent, with me having a pretty good sense of humor, with them having one as well, I can just let it roll off my shoulders.

Then I had four come in, they all scattered upon entering, and a girl came up a little too “confident” asking for this and that, I ask for everyone’s IDs which they all provided (am I a babysitter?)

Hers was out of state. I looked at it and I was not seeing holograms, so I went right to the scanner, guess what?! Wow it doesn’t read it!!! SHOCKING!!!

But this girl wasn’t going to take the rejection so easy.

The girl was trying to be nice but being ****** at the same time, and she asked, “Does this happen all the time?” to which I replied, “No, it doesn’t.” I refused the sale to all of them.

The last kid came up (yes he gave ID) – he was staying away trying to find a drink or whatever. He came up and told me he wasn’t even with them, didn’t drive here with them.

I said, “Don’t lie to me, I saw you get out of the back seat of the truck that had everyone else in it. By the way, thank you for not being the driver (drunk).”

Then he was begging me to sell said tobacco and again I told him exactly what I told kids above. He actually said “OK I’m sorry.” I said “Hey, I really appreciate your apology.” Then another pair of friends, one with no ID, FACEPALM!

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This must be a really frustrating situation to be in, especially if you’re having a bad day anyway.

Because these kids all think they can get away with it, when let’s be honest, these adults have seen it all before.

Good for this gas station attendant for holding firm.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person thought it was a tale as old as time.

While others thought the kids who thought they were smart were as naive as it gets.

Meanwhile, this Redditor spoke for all the ‘eldest friends’.

For the kids who want to buy something underage – whether it’s alcohol or tobacco – getting carded is understandably an infuriating experience. After all, you’ve plucked up the courage to go buy the things you want, actually followed through on your plans to get there, and your cunning scheme has fallen at the last hurdle: the cashier.

But there’s one thing that kids forget. As adults, we’ve all been there. For the majority of us, finding ways to access alcohol without getting into trouble for being underage was something of a rite of passage. So when kids are acting all sneaky but being smart, they don’t realise that we’re onto them right away. Because we’ve been those kids, and we’ve learned from those mistakes.

And in that disappointing moment when the sale is rejected, it’s understandable that the kids are disappointed – so kudos to those who apologise and move on. But for those who get annoyed with the cashier, or even try to guilt-trip them into making the sale? That’s totally unacceptable, and they need to learn that no means no. Because if they get what they want, the consequences for the cashier could be dire.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a dad who is using the credit card companies own envelopes against them.