Power Policy Gone Astray

Some shopping trips are smooth sailing. Others just don’t flow as expected from the start. I hit a local Kroger late yesterday afternoon to buy sub fixin’s for movie night. It started with no French bread. Or was there? I saw the empty shelves but asked anyway in case there was someplace else to look. The reply was no and confirmation was that there was no more coming out of the oven.  Finally I picked up a loaf of Italian and headed over to the deli.

My next quest was to find salami with the peppercorns imbedded throughout. The guy behind the counter said Genoa. He sliced me some but when I looked, there were no peppercorns. I inquired why that might be. He didn’t know that there weren’t any peppercorns because he wasn’t paying any attention. Startled at this response, I decided he had pulled his answer out of thin air, though I did look on-line later to find he was actually correct. Since his Genoa salami was without, I walked away wondering if this was what I really wanted for dinner tonight when, lo and behold, I came upon a random table with several loaves of French bread. Okay…back on the menu.

I wanted to be done and out of there but it turned out I picked up an item that was buy 5, get an even bigger savings off of each of the 5 items. Most of the time I rationalize that I’ll spend a lot more on the other 4 items than I will save, but I had already passed a few products that I could use with that same offer. That being the case there was no need to leave money on the table. Retracing my steps through the store I now found too many buy 5 items which meant I either needed to find more items or prioritize my top 5 needs. It turned out more loss time was not one of my needs so I chucked the overage.

Mission finally accomplished and I was ready to check out. I went through the self-check-out minding my own business when a bit of an argument ensued behind me. I looked and saw a woman, probably around 30-35 and a clerk 50 plus years telling her she couldn’t buy the wine in her hand because she did not have her driver’s license with her. After a short exchange, he conceded to check with his supervisor who was within hearing and viewing range. The supervisor glanced up and shook her head ‘no’. I had to do a double take thinking I was mistaken on my original assessment of the woman’s age. Seriously? This woman was well over 21. The man shrugged his shoulders and had the audacity to tell her he believed he had seen her in the store before. Without saying it, the implication in my mind was that he had sold her or seen her buy alcohol before.

That was it. I told her to give me the bottle. I have my license and would be happy to make the purchase. I rang it up and the clerk came over. He refused…refused to sell the wine to a 64 year old woman because he was suspicious that she might give it to a 35 year old. Honestly….am I wrong to still be shaking my head?

I considered sending a complaint to the store but the last thing I want is to be bored with how it is protective policy and their associate was right in assuming the woman wasn’t old enough to buy liquor because he is not allowed the use of his own mind. Plus, I would not want to be the one responsible for this clerk and his supervisor attaining associate of the year awards for saving the store from the criminal activities of two plotting, mischievous women who have been able to drink alcohol well within their rights for years.

Sigh….