Adventures at Walmart

Ken and I were at our local Walmart and when we got to the check out he went first and purchased his items, one of them was a bottle of alcohol. The cashier stares at his ID, then she stares at him as if she’s baffled, then back to the ID, back to him, back to the ID, she starts to hand it back, and just as he is about to take it she pulls it away to look at it one last time before telling him he looks really young. Trust me when I say that he looks old enough to buy alcohol, but OK whatever. As she hands back the ID (for real this time) she asks him how old he his (he’s 27), I got the impression she was testing him, I guess he passed because she let him buy the alcohol.

Then came my turn in line; she rings up all my stuff and I pay with a credit card, she asks me for my ID, so I hand it to her. She stares at it for what felt like an eternity, then she realizes my card did not go through (it should have) and she asks, “Is this your mama’s card?” I thought that was an odd question but I just smirked and replied, “Nope. It’s mine.”  She starts to insist that I use the card as debit and not credit, I refused because I always use it as credit and offered to use another card instead, that one went through. At this point I turn and say something to Ken, all of a sudden the cashier gets all wide-eyed and panicky, interrupting us to ask, “Are you together?!”, we tell her that we are. She pretty much freaks out and starts saying (a few times), “I’ll be right back, just wait here!”. When she dashes off Ken and I look at each other and can’t help but wonder what the hell that was all about. We thought about leaving cause, well, we already paid and didn’t see the point of waiting for the crazy lady who obviously had no reason to tell us to wait, but I was curious.

After a few minutes she came back with someone we assume to be her manager, they both stand there just glaring at me and Ken for a good minute (it felt more like 5), I got the impression the other employee was trying to intimidate us. This was weirding us out, so I shrugged at them as if to say, ‘well? What do you want?’. That’s when the manager asks, “What’s the problem here?” and looks at me and Ken expectantly (like we knew?). I started to reply that I had no idea, then the cashier speaks up; angry look on her face, jabbing her finger at us, “Well they’re together and I’m uncomfortable about that!”. She pauses long enough for me to wonder why the crazy bitch has a problem with me and my boyfriend being together, then she said something about how she sold him alcohol. I started to ask what the big deal was, and the cashier interrupted me to say that my ID said I was a minor, and that she was uncomfortable with all of this. The whole time she is acting freaked out, and looking at us as if we are up to something. Feeling stunned, I blurted out, “I’m 38!” (yes. that’s right, I’m 38) she replies, one hand on her hip and the other jabbing a disbelieving finger at me, “Your ID said you are a minor!” So I pull out my ID and proceed to call the woman an idiot (sometimes things like that slip out. Meh. screw being nice). The other employee comes to the cashiers defense and says, “She’s not an idiot, she’s just doing her job.” I said, “No. She is an idiot, who has no clue what she is doing. She analyzed my ID, and somehow thinks it says I’m a minor?”. The cashier was babbling something stupid during this, so out of frustration I started to raise my voice over her. And because of that, and the fact they didn’t want to hear what an idiot the cashier was, the other employee asked us to leave, which we were more than happy to do (and we will never return to that loony bin).

Normally if someone thinks I’m too young to buy alcohol I would be flattered/amused, but because of the way it was done this time I was pretty much just annoyed (but still a bit amused).

Bottom line: This should not have been an issue. She clearly saw my ID, it does not in any way say that I am a minor, and my year of birth is very clear on it. Also, I get that people think that I look younger than I actually am, but I do not pass for a “minor”, I really don’t. But OK, for whatever reason she makes those mistakes and thinks I am underage, am I wrong in thinking that when the cashier realized Ken and I were together she simply could have asked to see my ID again (to double check)? Instead she freaks out, doesn’t tell us anything but to “wait”, and holds up the line so she can run off and get her manager (or whoever she was). Plus, the whole time she acted like a paranoid nut. /facepalm