Wednesday 4 September 2013

“Computer Says….”

The 33-year-old said: “The person at the till asked me if I had any ID as it had come up as an offensive weapon.
“I just laughed – I couldn’t believe it. To be fair the person behind the till was also laughing but I had to get my driving licence out to show her.
“How can an innocent plastic fly swat be an offensive weapon? It’s ridiculous, what is the world coming to when you can’t buy a fly swat without producing ID for it.”
The manageress had a rather novel excuse:
Lindsey Waude, assistant manager at the store said: “We think it might be an error on our till system.
“Sometimes it flashes up that something is an offensive weapon, but our guy who does the computers has been on his honeymoon for three weeks.
I’m sure the member of staff asked for it in jest.”
No, I’m quite sure she didn’t...

12 comments:

NickM said...

I once say an "over 18s" sticker on a set of fish knives in the Newcastle TK Maxx. I think I posted about this tomfoolery at Counting Cats.

It amused and disturbed me. A fish knife is hardly a lethal weapon for starters. Also of course, for example, all the stuff you need to build and paint a model aeroplane is also only for the over 18s. For shame!

BTW, I have a few designs for paper-aeroplanes that when I was a first year UG stunned a visiting aerospace engineer from Bristol Uni (apparently it's big down there - the aerospace). Anyway he was genuinely staggered that a mere physics UG at Nottingham could make such a thing from a sheet of A4.

Let's just stop kids doing anything. I mean you could put someone's eye out with that piece of Lego. Quite how I know not but actually a fly-swat is a lethal weapon. If you attempted to mug me with such a device there is a reasonable chance I'd die laughing. A knife or gun I could take but a fly-swat would be like the Goon Show.

Lynne at Counting Cats said...

Or, when the original fly swat broke, she could have sent for the spider police and kept a dustpan and brush handy to deal with the corpses.

Joe Public said...

@ NickM

"A fish knife is hardly a lethal weapon for starters."

Agreed, but it might be lethal for the main course.

--------------------

Perhaps the shop's Computer "Expert" mistook the purely passive swat, for one of those presumably- dangerous mini-taser type zappers that electrocutes the victim from the power of 2 x AA batteries? ;-)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battery-Powered-Handheld-Electric-Mosquito/dp/B00E2YLU0E/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1378289604&sr=1-2&keywords=fly+swatter

Anonymous said...

My mother succeeded in intimidating her offspring into obedience with a fly swatter: not so much the pain but the indignity involved.

Bucko said...

I'm sure too, and as long as the public continue to produce ID, the jobsworths will continue to ask for it.

Longrider said...

No, she didn't. If she hadn't she could have been on the receiving end of a sting operation carried out by trading standards. Those arseholes do not have a sense of humour. Prosecution, a fine and probably losing her job would have resulted.

Budvar said...

This is the bane of my daughters life, being asked for id for practically everything she buys. She's nearly 25, but admittedly does look young for her age.

One of the local stores has a girl (Well actually a woman now) on the chechout who was in my daughters class at school. I take it they didn't get on as she always has to play the twat by asking for id.

I've told her to get a load of shopping, and when they start being the twat, tell them to stick it and walk out saying I'll buy it elsewhere.

They'll get sick of it before I would.

As for trading standards stings, sending in a 17 year old in to buy beer and fags when the gobshite looks 30 if he's a day and is sporting a moustache like a mexican bandit, there's this thing in law of "The man on the Clapham omnibus", all this "Statutory" bollox needs kicking into touch. so if the average person on the street would perceive them to be over 18, then it should be kicked out of court and costs applied to trading standards. They'd soon knock that shit on the head.

Anonymous said...

Don't blame the shops nor the shop assistants!
I have just started a part-time job and have been 'trained' in this 'over-18' lark. The n*gg*r in the woodpile is Trading Standards. They are the ones who are pushing this to extreme limits and forcing shops into ludicrous policies.The level of vindictiveness of the local TS officials is hard to believe.

JuliaM said...

"Also of course, for example, all the stuff you need to build and paint a model aeroplane is also only for the over 18s."

Because of glue-sniffing & graffiti, I presume?

"...for one of those presumably- dangerous mini-taser type zappers..."

I tried one of those. It tickles!

"Prosecution, a fine and probably losing her job would have resulted."

Indeed. Oh, how I wish the manageress had had the guts to say that.

"...all this "Statutory" bollox needs kicking into touch..."

Amen! We need to start pushing back against this, and sort out Trading Standards.

Bucko said...

Anon - I prefer to blame everyone who gets involved in these schemes. Only by the shops and the staff agreeing to it can it be passed on to the customer.

Budvar said...

"Because of the glue sniffing & graffiti I suppose?".

That's the problem Joolz, we already have laws in place to deal with all this crap. All we needed to do was enforce the laws already on the statute books, but no, bring out a raft of all new laws as it's so much easier to nick some old dear working behind the counter of a shop than actually deal with the true source of the problem.

John Pickworth said...

Because of glue-sniffing & graffiti, I presume?

Yeah... but not really.

Spray paints are age restricted (16+) but solvents/glues/adhesives can be sold to anyone for their intended use.

They only become age restricted products when the retailer BELIEVES they might be inhaled by an under 18 year old (either the purchaser or someone they are buying it for). And that's the law.

I'd urge anyone challenged on these items to resist proving your age but instead insist the retailer demonstrates their belief you (or another) intends to inhale them.