Tony Ralls is 72 years old, a retired insurance firm regional manager, and a grandfather. He went recently to Morrisons Supermarket in West Kirby, Wirral, to buy two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon.
The member of staff at the checkout demanded to see Tony's ID to prove that he was over 21.
Does this look like a 21-year-old to you?
Tony refused. He said it was a stupid question and asked to see the manager. Instead of apologising, the manager repeated the demand for ID and when it was refused, put the bottles back in the shelf. Tony left the store feeling highly embarrassed and has filed a complaint with Morrisons head office.
Morrisons' have issued a statement: "We take our responsibility with regard to selling alcohol very seriously and all our stores operate the Task 21 scheme, which addresses the difficulties our staff face in being able to determine if a customer is legally old enough to buy alcohol. To further limit any element of doubt staff at the West Kirby store are required to ask anyone buying alcohol to confirm that they are over 21."
Most of us will recognise this mealy-mouthed type of response, so frequently trotted out by large organisations: "We are responsible and this gives us the right to act in any way we see fit." Sadly this is a gross misuse of the word "responsible" - in fact, sheltering behind a rigid policy gives managers and staff the excuse for not taking any responsibility at all. What the checkout girl and the manager ought to have done was take responsibility for making the obvious decision that here was a customer evidently well over 21, and that to question him was stupid and offensive. But no, they found it much easier to bury their heads in the rule book.
So, Morrisons Supermarket, for misusing the English language, for calmly insulting and alienating your customers, for hiding behind Political Correctness, for assuming that having a "policy" automatically means that the policy is right when clearly it isn't, and for failing to exercise the least vestige of common sense, you are our Wankers of the Week.
Congratulations, you useless jobsworths. The GOS's shares in Sainsbury's are looking a bit healthier already.
The GOS says: I'd just like to point out that this website has a responsibility to publicise stupidity and pillory jobsworth officialdom wherever it is found, and that we have a policy of doing so without fear or favour and regardless of any hurt or offense we may cause.
And of course, because we have a policy, that means we are right to do so and there's nothing you can do about it. You can't fight a policy.
So s*d off.
either on this site or on the World Wide Web.
This site created and maintained by PlainSite