Saturday, February 02, 2013

Balding 47-year-old man deemed too young to buy beer

A 47-year-old New Zealand man was refused service when he tried to buy beer in a Christchurch supermarket because he was mistaken for being too young.  Sunny Narran, a contractor with four grown sons, popped in to the Wainoni Rd Pak'n Save at 3pm on Sunday to buy beer and bread.

He said that when he got to the checkout, the supervisor said he would not be taking home the beer because he was under 25. Narran, who is "going bald" and sports a "heavy moustache", was not carrying identification to prove his age. "I said, ‘You must be kidding'," he said. "I'm 47. I will be 48 next month."



While being mistaken for a teenager was amusing, the way the supervisor acted left him feeling "ashamed" and "embarrassed". "She said, ‘I'm not serving you, you're [under 25]', and then she just walked off," he said. "I was stunned. There were customers behind me staring at me and I was so ashamed."

He complained and eventually the supervisor relented and sold him the beer. Foodstuffs communications director Antoinette Shallue said store staff "were mistaken in thinking that the customer was under 25 and have since apologised to the customer involved". "While mistakes can occur on rare occasions, such instances are dealt with on a case-by-case basis," she said.

5 comments:

Elena said...

I can't see how u can mistake the man in the picture to be under 25. The supervisor was high or something. On another hand, maybe he should feel flattered. lol.

Miss Cellania said...

Where I live, you cannot buy alcohol without an ID, period. The rule protects the sales clerk, whatever the age of the buyer. They don't even have to mention how old the buyer looks.

Candy said...

Somebody needs glasses.

TimO said...

We have that here in the US occasionally. It's called "the guy behind the counter being an ass..."

Brixter said...

Wow, it the rules are applied THIS strictly, then sales clerks don't need to have a brain to do their job. Brains not required. hahaha