Cashiers check IDs every day, so it’s easy to assume they know what they’re looking at.

But, as this customer recently found out, that’s not always the case.

After stopping at a neighborhood gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes, the customer handed over a perfectly valid passport card because a driver’s license had recently expired.

At first, it just seemed like the cashier wasn’t familiar with that type of identification.

But then he refused to give it back because he insisted it had to be fake.

Read on to see how he finally got it back.

The time my perfectly legal ID was declined because the cashier didn’t know what a passport is.

A few weeks ago, I stopped to get a pack of smokes at the gas station closest to my house, which I frequent pretty often. I’m on a first-name basis with most everyone who works there, but this guy was new, and I had never seen him before.

It was late, and he was working by himself, and there was a pretty significant line forming.

Apparently, his computer had frozen, and he had to do a whole system reboot, and it was going very slowly. No problem. I wasn’t in a big hurry, but some other people waiting didn’t have my patience.

He looked young, so getting carded was not unusual.

It finally got to be my turn, and he asked for my ID. No problem. I’m 31, but I look really young, and this guy didn’t know me yet.

My regular state ID is expired right now, and I haven’t been able to get it renewed just yet, but I have a passport card that’s still valid that I’ve been using in the meantime.

It’s different than the standard passport book. It’s an actual card and not valid for international flights. It’s mostly for cruises, which is why I got it in the first place. It was cheaper than the book, and I only needed it for the cruise, so I figured I’d save myself a few bucks and could just upgrade one day for a discount if I needed to.

I’ve definitely had cashiers and such look at it weird before since they’d never seen one, but once I explain what it is, it usually just ends with us having a conversation about cruises lol.

Unfortunately, the guy was not going to accept it.

So he asked for my ID, and I showed him the card. He stared at it for a minute, which is not unusual at this point. I told him my birthday is in the middle of the card because sometimes people have trouble finding it. I tried to point to it on the card, and he snatched his arm back and told me not to grab it back from him.

Ummm… okay. Whatever, man.

He stared at it for what felt like an incredibly long time and tried to scan it on his computer. It didn’t scan because those machines are only set up to scan state IDs. Then he told me he couldn’t accept it since it wasn’t a valid ID, and not only that, but he was going to have to keep it because it was clearly fake.

Umm… excuse me, what??

By this point, he just wanted his ID back.

No. No to both. It’s a valid ID and not at all fake. I tried to explain to him that it’s a passport card issued by the government, and actually it’s more of an ID than a state-issued ID. And he’s not keeping it. He just kept shaking his head and saying, “Well, I’ve never seen one like this before.”

OK, so that makes it fake??? Well, I’ve just never seen one before.

The customers behind me heard this all go down and started taking my side, explaining to him that it’s a passport card and totally legit. One guy pulled up the information page for passport cards off the official website and showed him the picture and kept telling him it was legit.

He still stuck to his guns. He kept saying he’d never seen one, so he couldn’t accept it, and he refused to give me back my ID. I figured at this point, forget it. I’ll just go somewhere else to get my smokes. But this dude was NOT keeping my passport.

Then, he threatened the police.

He kept insisting he had to keep it because they destroy all fake IDs. No, sir. You’re not keeping my passport. That isn’t at all fake.

I told him, “Look, you can deny the sale all you want. I don’t care at this point. But you have to give it back to me, or I’m calling the police, who will not only make you give it back to me but will prove that it is, in fact, real.”

He stuck to his guns for a minute, thinking I was bluffing. But when I took out my phone to start dialing the non-emergency number, he said fine, I could take it, but I “better not come back up in this store trying to pass off a bad fake ID.”

Oh really? That’s how you wanna play it? OK then. So I left and went somewhere else to get my smokes, and they had no issue with my passport card.

Fortunately, he knew the manager and was able to get it worked out.

The next day, I went back into that gas station, and since, again, I go there just about every day, I know most of the employees, including the manager. The manager happened to be working, so I asked him about the new guy and told him what happened.

He apologized profusely for what happened and promised me he would take care of it.

Apparently, the dude had to retake a bunch of tests about proper forms of ID, and it turns out he had already taken all of those quizzes before he was even allowed to work the register. So he had definitely seen pictures and been told what a passport card was and that it is valid.

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I saw him again a few nights later working, and he wouldn’t even look me in the eye. He didn’t ID me, though. lol

Wow! It seems like the cashier needs to learn how to research.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who works fast and helps her coworkers, but is met with disapproval from her supervisor because of this practice

Let’s check out what the readers over at Reddit think about it.

In Houston, this happened to an International student.

It’s funny how these things work.

Now, that just sounds funny lol.

It should’ve been like this.

Confidence is great, but it has to be backed up by a willingness to learn.

Sometimes the right answer is simply, “I’m not sure. Let me ask someone.”

That would’ve saved everyone a lot of time and frustration.

It’s a much better approach than assuming you’re right when you really don’t know.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who is irate after she gave a group leader money for her daughter’s lunch, only to have him pocket the cash and ask all of the kids to pay their own way.