Back in May, I linked a Wall Street Journal article which talked about a new trend: everyone, no matter how old, must be carded before drinking, since otherwise it's "discrimination" against younger people.
I had assumed that this silly trend died as quickly as it had appeared.
Not so.
Last weekend my wife ran a half marathon up in Rhode Island. They had set up a large tent at the finish where all the runners could gather for a post-race beer. My wife finished the race, and went to the tent, but was not allowed a beer because she didn't have a proper ID with her.
My wife is 57. While she looks good for her age, nobody would mistake her for a teenager.
The wonderful thing about political correctness is that it gives common sense a nice vacation. When political correctness takes over, common sense goes jetting off to some place like Fiji, where it's not even reachable by phone.
Carding 57-year-olds is the culmination of a non-discriminatory ethos which deems it evil to notice any human differences.
Another example might be how those TSA agents at the airports pay as much attention to little old ladies as they do to me.
Check out my picture on the right. I look vaguely like a guy who'd like to blow up a jet in order to get his 72 virgins. Okay, I admit it, I'm getting a little old for the virgins. But I still look kind of like I might have a soft spot for al Qaeda.
So please, frisk me -- and others who look like me. I'd far rather be the victim of racial profiling than the victim of a terrorist.
Let me put it this way: I'd prefer having to undergo a cavity search by a fat, ugly, old gay guy with warts on his fingers than having to sit on an airplane for several hours wondering when the bomb is going to detonate.
We need to send political correctness to Fiji, and invite common sense back home -- without asking it for an ID proving it's 21.
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13 comments:
I was in the grocery store last month with my 9 year old daughter. There was an older woman standing at a table, letting people sample different wines. This woman told me that my daughter could not stand next to me while I tasted some of the wine, but, that my daughter had to stand so many feet away from me. My daughter moved to another part of the store (where she stood, watching me) and I tasted some of the wine. I thought the whole practice was ridiculous, not understanding what was accomplished by having my daughter stand away from me, but, still being able to see me taste wine. How's that for common sense?
-birdie
Birdie --
That does seem pretty ridiculous. My guess is it wasn't the woman who devised that rule but some lawyer for the company (was it a big chain?) who felt he had to earn his keep by imposing new rules to keep the grocery from getting sued. Lawyers are always coming up with unnecessary rules to give the impression they're being thorough and doing a good job.
Here in the UK the supermarket giant Tesco once imposed a rule that no one could buy alcohol if they had anyone under 18 shopping with them, meaning that parents shopping with their kids wouldn't be served. I think alcohol sales plummeted by more than 50% so Tesco eventually scrapped that. It's against the law to sell knives or blades to anyone under 18 too, so once in a while you'll see a story in the newspaper about some kid who was refused a sale of a pencil sharpener or plastic cutlery. I understand the need for these retailers to obey the law, but they should be careful not to alienate potential customers through being over-zealous to the point of foolishness.
Gethin
Gethin --
I'm not sure what would be accomplished by prohibiting parents with kids from buying a bottle of wine. Is the idea that they're setting a bad example? That they might be buying for the kids? If the former, the kids will see the parents drinking at home anyway, with alcohol purchased sometime when they were alone at the store. And if the latter, it's an easy law to circumvent: you just tell your 15-year-old to wait outside the store. It's a little like the blue laws over here, which sometimes prevent alcohol from being sold in certain towns on Sundays. Does anyone seriously think that will prevent people from drinking on Sunday?
I rarely drink. Occasionally, I'll have some wine at home. My children know that their mother is not a drinker, doing most things in moderation. Also, I forgot that I had to show the woman my I.D., also being puzzled by having to do this (I'm in my 40's). The store was a Kroger's grocery store, here in VA. I ended up buying a bottle of wine that was not displayed by the woman at the table (I didn't like the taste of any of the wines that I sampled). Instead, I found a cheaper, better bottle of wine on a rack in the store, enjoying it's taste, immensely.
-birdie
-birdie
Birdie --
Well, glad to hear your story had a happy ending, anyway.
Good stuff, as usual. I've reprinted it and added a couple of appropriate gremes (graphic memes) here:
Political Correctness — Worse Than It Sounds
It wasn't even a law - this was just a silly rule that Tesco had imposed. A few others shops have done similar things - I've heard of some places where you need two forms of ID before they'll let you buy. Other places require that you be X number of years older than the minimum legal age before they'll sell to you. One club in Cardiff required people to log into their Facebook accounts on the bouncer's iPad so he could check whether the details on their account matched those on the ID. Presumably this was done to weed out fake IDs, but is also discrimination against those sensible enough not to reveal any personal details on Facebook, or to even have an account in the first place.
I think the whole idea of preventing parents from buying alcohol when with their kids makes the situation worse by giving alcohol that "forbidden fruit" allure. They are much more lax in Central and Southern Europe, where young teenagers are frequently permitted to drink in the home. They do ask for ID in some places in those countries, but generally only when there's a realistic chance that the customer could be underage. Resultingly, there seems to be much less binge drinking threre amongst youths than in Scandinavia and here in the UK. I guess being used to having regular access to alcohol makes it less exciting for teenagers, making them want to drink it less.
Gethin
Gethin --
I got at least something at Tesco every day when I was in London for two weeks this summer. Little did I know...
I wonder if sometimes stores like this don't impose rules like that to give the impression that they are "responsible," and "care" about their customers. That certainly seems the case here.
Your read on the psychology of drinking in southern Europe vs. the UK and Scandinavia rings true. I'd never thought of it before, but it's true, you don't hear of binge drinking as much in Spain and Italy
(BTW, hope you're going to take my advice regarding Mrs. B, if she's still alive.)
Yes, I think giving the impression that they're an 'ethical' business is probably the case, much the same way as petrol companies pretend to care for the environment more than their rivals. "Look at us - we're going the extra mile in preventing underage sales by imposing draconian and unnecessary rules. Think of the children!"
It's hardly a surprise that things like this end up happening: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7138410/Tesco-ask-shopper-to-provide-age-identification-to-buy-a-slice-of-quiche.html
- Gethin
P.S. Yes, I will definitely make the effort to contact Miss B. You're right in saying that she'd probably appreciate it.
Gethin --
Yes, the oil companies are a perfect example of that phenomenon.
Glad you're trying to contact her, thank you.
Whilst carding everyone is at least partially to do with preventing underage sales, do you think there's also a more sinister explanation - i.e. governments trying to get everyone to carry ID cards at all times? Tony Blair's government tried to introduce a compulsory ID card scheme back in 2005. People opposed it because of the sheer amount of details that would be on it - not just name, DOB, address, etc but also criminal convictions and medical history (there is currently no national ID in the UK - only drivers licences and passports which, although voluntary, most people have anyway).
I noticed that venues suddenly became strict with asking everyone for ID around 2006, the police constantly conducting sting operations on a nationwide basis to catch out retailers who failed to card. Before then, I could walk into most places and buy age-restricted goods without ID. Within a space of a few years, it became commonplace for people well into their twenties and thirties to be refused service without ID, and once in a while I'll see a story in the news about pensioners complaining that they couldn't get served. The solution to this is for everyone to always have their driving licences in their wallets. I wonder whether that, not underage drinking, is the real reason all along - to try and get people used to the idea of constantly carrying ID? Since people were so against the scheme at first, I guess it made sense for the government to increase the frequency of how often we'd need to show ID. A bit of a conspiracy theory, but I think it's quite a plausible one.
Gethin
Gethin --
When I was in London this summer I was surprised that they asked me -- at age 59 -- for an ID when I bought a bottle of liquor. But I didn't think much of it. Maybe I should be more paranoid, but I don't see any sort of conspiracy behind it, just sort of a generally increased officiousness and a certain form of political correctness (guarding, in this case, against "age discrimination").
What would the government -- yours or ours -- gain by having people carry their driving licenses around with them al the time? Personally, I would support that if it meant increased enforcement regarding illegal aliens; but nobody seems to use it for that purpose.
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