My son got carded.

[IndianInlaw]

Not at a bar or club, but at the grocery store!  The sample lady wanted to make sure he was old enough to eat the samples without parental supervision.

Uh..he's 23. 

He was very gracious about it and we all had a good laugh.

[Reika]

O.o?

What kind of samples were these?

[IndianInlaw]

cookied (baked in a toaster oven) and chocolate candy.

I can't think of anything (short of Geritol) that would be inappropriate for him.

[Reika]

!

Wow, just, wow. First time I've ever heard of someone getting carded. Almost as bad as in the bad old days when I worked in a supermarket and carded some poor lady for a case of beer and she was 30, but looked 10 years younger. My manager was mortified, but I made the woman's day.

[Sandi Papaya]

O.o?

What kind of samples were these?

They always want to make sure that a kid has parental permission to eat samples because of potential liability issues with food allergies (nuts, shellfish, wheat, soy, etc). If you're lucky enough to look really young, it happens all the time.

In fact, it happened to me when I was about 23-24, which was when I still looked about 16. I was with my mom at Costco, I think, and of course they always have all kinds of samples out. So I go to get one - I don't even remember what it was anymore, but the lady asked my mom (who was with me) if I was old enough to have a sample. My mom said, "Why don't you ask her? She's 23 (or was it 24?)."

Fortunately I didn't have to pull out ID, but the sample lady was pretty embarrassed. Funnily enough, I hardly ever get carded when I purchase alcohol or something like that, but when I win at lotto, even if it's just 2 bucks (which is usually what I get), I ALWAYS get carded. Come on. I'm 31; there's NO way I can look under 18 anymore!!!

[Reika]

They always want to make sure that a kid has parental permission to eat samples because of potential liability issues with food allergies (nuts, shellfish, wheat, soy, etc). If you're lucky enough to look really young, it happens all the time.

It makes sense, I've just never seen it done before even with teenagers.

[Clara Bow]

I got carded buying a Stephen King book...and aerosol bathroom air freshner. The kids have gotten weirder...

[IndianInlaw]

Sorry, I didn't mean he actually was asked to show ID, she asked his age.

I think you have to be 12 to eat the samples, without parental permission.

[jfulle5]

haha well.. I've never heard it before but it's really funny.

[Reika]

IndianInlaw it still comes out to the same. That's still better than being carded, but wow. And it is amusing.

Auntie Venom - Sadly I know why about the aerosol cans because kids were sniffing them. That's a new one also with the Stephen King book, I know reading his stuff as a kid horrified adults but I can't imagine bookstores getting that bad.

[Brentwood]

Some of these stories have reminded me of stories about my parents.

1. In 1968, my dad took us on a family vacation to Glacier Nat'l Park in Montana. At the time, he was 29 years old and had three children ranging in age from 7 years old to 2 years old. On the way back to Minnesota, my dad decided to pick up some Coors (which was not available east of Montana back then). He stopped at the liquor store and got a case. The clerk asked for ID, which my dad had left in the car. Ours was the only car in the lot. The clerk looked out the window, saw the station wagon, tent trailer, wife and three kids, and shook his head. He didn't make my dad go back to the car for the ID.

2. My mother had gone to a department store to buy a bra. The saleslady in the lingerie department looked at her and told her she was in the wrong place, that teen training bras were on another floor. My mother was a married 22-year-old with a baby.

3. At about the same age as the bra incident, Mom took her young SIL and BIL to the movies. The ticket lady asked if Mom qualified for a student ticket (under age 12).

4. When Mom and Dad were both 65, the neighbor asked my dad if my mom was HIS mom!

[Sirius]

Well, when I was a clerk at a store that sold beer, I carded a man who was shorter than me and who had a beard.  I really couldn't tell how old he was.  Anyway, it turned out that he was 37 and was depressed about it (as he told me) and me asking him for an ID really made his day.  The best part, however, was when he went out to his truck and told a passenger about it; all of a sudden his passenger starts laughing hysterically. 

[Pixie]

Not only did I get carded for cigarettes on my 42nd birthday, a young man (25 or so)  had held the door open for me, and when I thanked him for being so nice he replied, "I only did it because you're so cute!"


Made my YEAR!

[VorFemme]

At 27 just coming out of the hospital with a bout of flu, I got carded going out to dinner and dance with DH's former roommate (who has been posted to Etiquette Hell for several events).  That time the DH and dJ (de Jerk) decided that we needed to go out to dinner to celebrate something.

Right - just what a woman coming out of the hospital for four days needs - dinner, drinks, and dancing until midnight.  I went to make sure that someone was sober when it came time to drive home.  dJ wouldn't be and I wasn't too sure about DH.

I did feel better after being carded - but I still was accused of being a party pooper for wanting to go home before midnight.  It's not like the restaurant hadn't shut down already and only the bar and dance floor were still open...........and they would be closing in thirty minutes or so.  And there was a babysitter at home with the 12 month old...........

dJ showed his true colors to DH AGAIN the next year later - this time the relationship finally died, was staked, the head cut off, garlic stuffed in the mouth, and buried at a crossroads.  We only heard from him one more time after that...............

[Clara Bow]

Reika, as children my brother and I got our adult library cards when we were about twelve, as we had pretty much outgrown the kiddie section. I was reading King when I was in seventh grade. The librarian who did my brother's card kept quizzing my mother on whether she was sure he was old enough, that there was material in the adult library intended for grownups, lalala. My parents had a simple policy. We could read whatever we wanted, mature material or not, because if it just went over our heads we'd put it down and that would be that.
I was appalled at being carded for a book, the air spray I kind of understood (and who wants to huff anti-poop spray?? Bleccchhh!) but a BOOK??? The kids are illiterate enough without us discouraging them from reading!