The store I work at happens to be near a Native American Reservation, and most of the people that live there are amazing and wonderful people. Others… not so much.

At our store, we are not allowed to accept Tribe ID cards for purchases of alcohol and tobacco products. This can cause issues, and I (a white woman) have been called a racist more than once because I would not sell to them with just the Tribe ID. What most of the argumentative ones don’t know is that we’ve reached out to the elders of the tribe before about this issue. This will be important in a moment.

The other night, I was training as a backup for the customer service manager, and the lady working the self-checkout asked me to explain the policy to a woman who was refusing to accept what my coworker was telling her.

I went over, and the first thing out of this woman’s mouth was:

Customer: “What’s the real reason you won’t accept my Tribal ID?!”

I decided that since she was being somewhat aggressive, I wasn’t gonna pull any punches.

Me: “Your chief has told us that we should not accept any Tribal IDs because the Tribe is supposed to be dry.”

That means no alcohol or tobacco products are allowed. This is true, though it’s also store policy.

She gaped like a fish for a moment before grumbling that she didn’t even live on the reservation before leaving the store, thankfully leaving the beer behind.

I will admit that she did look old enough to purchase it, but once the ID check is initiated, we have to be presented a valid ID. We can get in a lot of trouble if we don’t.

And I don’t care if you live on the reservation or not; we don’t accept them. I’m seriously debating asking if we can put a sign up by the beer stating that we don’t take them, but the sign probably wouldn’t be read anyway.

I work at a very well-known retail chain in the USA. We also sell beer, wine, and tobacco products. The company policy is that we must see an ID/driver’s license every single time someone wants to purchase these products. There is no exception to this policy. We will get fired if we do not check ID.

I have a regular customer come to my register with a bag of chips and a bottle of wine, and she also asks for a pack of cigarettes. It’s the beginning of summer in Florida, it is already upwards of eighty degrees (almost 27C) outside, and she doesn’t look like she walked to the store in this heat.

Me: “Can I see your ID?”

She proceeds to show me her medical marijuana card.

Me: “I need to see the other one, ma’am.”

She then pulls out her concealed carry permit.

Me: “No, I mean that I need to see your state-issued ID or driver’s license.”

Customer: “I don’t have it.”

Me: “Those are not accepted forms of ID to purchase alcohol and tobacco. I have to have an ID or driver’s license issued by the state.”

Customer: “I just don’t understand. I come in here all the time.”

Me: “And every time, you are told that we need your ID.”

Customer: “Well, I just won’t be coming back here anymore.”

As she is walking out the door, I add:

Me: “And you are supposed to have your driver’s license considering you are, you know, driving.”

I work in a restaurant. One of my servers comes to and asks which of our beers are gluten-free. I know there are specially brewed gluten-free beers, but we certainly don’t carry any. I explain this to the server, and she goes back to relay it to her guest.

He approaches me.

Customer: “I want a gluten-free beer. I have a severe allergy.”

Me: “I’m so sorry, sir, but we unfortunately don’t carry any gluten-free beers. We have a few ciders with no gluten, or we could make you a cocktail if you’d like.”

Customer: “No, I want a beer. You telling me you don’t have Corona?”

Me: “No, we have Corona. Corona isn’t gluten-free, sir.”

Customer: “Stella, then.”

Me: “Sir… Stella isn’t gluten-free, either.”

Customer: *Visibly pissed* “I drink those beers all the time, and I have a severe allergy, so I think I would know. What do you have that’s gluten-free?”

I’m sure you could see me dying inside at this point.

Me: “Cider or cocktails, sir.”

In the end, he bought a Corona, although I cautioned him many times that there is gluten in Corona. I’m sure he said the phrase “severe allergy” about fifty times.

I work in the curbside pickup department of a grocery store. If a customer orders alcohol, I am required by law to check their ID before giving them the product. My little computer device will not even proceed to show me the order’s substitutions, let alone actually dispense the order, until I have entered in the driver’s birthdate, and I have to actually see the ID to confirm it’s valid first. My only options on the handheld device are to enter the birthdate or scan the barcodes on the alcohol to remove them from the order. No ID = no alcohol.

A customer who appears to be in her thirties comes to collect her order.

Me: “Hello, ma’am. Can I get the name for the order?”

Customer: “Yes, it’s [Customer].”

Me: “Great! I see you have some alcohol in your order today. Can I see your ID?”

Customer: “Shoot! I left my driver’s license at home. Can I just tell you my birthdate?”

Me: “No, ma’am, I’m sorry. I’m going to need to see your ID.”

Customer: “Can I text my husband and have him send a picture of my license?”

Me: “No, the ID has to be with you.”

Customer: “Fine. Just remove the alcohol. I’ll come back later to get it.”

I scanned her drinks and confirmed that they were removed from the order so she wouldn’t be charged for them. Then, I loaded everything else into her trunk and she drove off.

The next day, a coworker told me a man had come storming into our department the night before yelling about how he and his wife were charged for alcohol they did not receive when the dumb employee couldn’t just see that the wife was clearly over twenty-one! He needed a refund, or he would just take the alcohol off the shelf.

My coworker checked the status of their order on our computer and confirmed that everything was paid for except for the alcohol, which was listed as refunded. The coworker explained this to the man, who kept yelling and referring to the “dumb employee”, so a manager was called.

The manager asked to see the man’s receipt. The email “receipt” he had been reading was just the list of products the wife had ordered, not the actual receipt of items received. He sheepishly found the correct email and, lo and behold, there was no alcohol listed.

According to my coworker, as soon as the man saw that, he just turned and walked away without another word, presumably to buy his alcohol.

Related:
No ID, No Idea, Part 52
No ID, No Idea, Part 51
No ID, No Idea, Part 50
No ID, No Idea, Part 49
No ID, No Idea, Part 48

I’m a manager in a casino, called to a dispute with a customer. That’s not uncommon, so I make my way over to the service desk to sort out whatever issue is happening.

When I get there, there is a mildly drunk man there who is claiming the ATM gave him casino gift cards. He suggests that perhaps the ATM is out of money.

We stand there for about ten minutes discussing this. And when I say “discussing”, I mean that I repeatedly try to explain that in no way, ever, would an ATM stock “casino gift cards” as a backup to cold hard cash.

Eventually, I get him to take me to the offending ATM, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s a vending machine for purchasing gift cards. It has a HUGE sign above it that actually says, “NOT AN ATM: GIFT CARDS ONLY!”

He tries to show me what happened when he put his card in, and I swear to God, the machine alerts him at every page that this is for buying gift cards — gift cards that are non-refundable in every situation.

Despite going through this whole process, at no point does he realise his mistake.

He doesn’t get a refund and allegedly can’t afford a taxi home. I hope he enjoyed his $400 stay at the hotel… using the gift cards. 

Related:
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 28
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 27
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 26
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 25
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 24