Defeating The Guardian Of The Wine-Coolers  

(I am 25 years old and am a legal guardian to my 17-year-old younger brother. We are shopping at a wholesale store for a get-together I am having with a couple of friends. I decide I want to buy some wine coolers for the get-together since all my friends are over the age of 21. I usually like doing this by myself but I am already running late and figure since I am already at the store I buy my wine coolers from, I might as well buy them then and there, completely forgetting about my younger brother’s age and the law — my bad. We are finally checking out. When they get to the wine coolers, I show my ID as per usual. This conversation happens while I’m adjusting everything in our cart.)

Cashier: *to my brother* “May I see your ID, please?”

Brother: “What for?”

Cashier: “I need to see your ID for the wine coolers.”

Brother: “They are for him, not me.”

Cashier: “Since both of you are together, I have to see your ID; otherwise, I can’t sell you this.”

(I finally get back to them and hear the last part of her sentence.)

Me: “Can’t sell us what?”

Cashier: “The wine coolers.”

(At that point, I finally remember about his age and the law.)

Me: “Oh, I completely forgot about the law. Well, he is still a minor and I am his legal guardian; since these are for me you won’t need to see his ID.”

Cashier: “Since he is a minor I can’t sell you the wine coolers; it’s against the law.”

Me: “Normally, it’s against the law, but in this case, it is different since I’m his legal guardian. If you want, we can show you our IDs to confirm that we are related and living in the same address.”

(We proceed to show her our IDs.)

Cashier: “You are indeed related and under the same address but he is still a minor and I can’t sell to someone with a minor.”

Me: “So you don’t sell to parents that come with their kids?”

Cashier: “Well, that’s different since they are parent and child and the parents are responsible for the child.”

Me: “Well, I am responsible for him, since that is what legal guardianship is, so it shouldn’t be any different.”

(This goes on for a bit until a manager overhears our conversation and comes over to see what is going on.)

Manager: “What seems to be the problem?”

Cashier: “They are wanting to buy the wine coolers while one of them is still a minor.”

Me: “Yes, he is a minor, but I am his legal guardian. We are brothers and live under the same address; we already showed her our IDs to confirm the relationship and address.”

Manager: “Did they show you their IDs with the same address?”

Cashier: “Yeah, but he is still a minor. It’s against the law.”

Manager: “Okay.” *proceeded to clear the flag on the register* “Your total will be [total].”

(I proceed to pay when I hear this.)

Cashier: “Hey, you can’t do that; it’s against the law.”

Manager: “Normally, yes, but since he stated that he is a legal guardian, he is like a stand-in parent.” *to me* “Here is your receipt.”

Me: “Thank you.”

(We started leaving while still hearing the cashier and manager “arguing” about what had happened.)