My wife was recently reduced to tears, something that's hard to do, over a silly ID policy.The Annoyed Man wrote:I've also noticed that restaurants seem to have adopted a zero tolerance policy. You know... ...one of those policies that removes intelligence from the social transaction? They card everybody. My son is just a few months shy of 21, and I was in my late 30s when he was born. I have white hair, a white beard, a white mustache, glasses, and I walk with a slight limp. Only an absolute 'tard would be unable to tell if I'm over 21 or not... ...and I still get asked for ID on occasion.
She had finally worked up the nerve to get her first tattoo (after eight years of trying to talk herself into it). It was a small thing, very simple, an emblem that has special meaning for us because of the funny way I wound up proposing to her. Once she finally made the appointment, she was very excited to go through with it. Our daughter (age 20) had a good experience getting her first tattoo at the same shop, and was going at the same time to get her second.
Mind you, our daughter is 20, and my wife is 41, and hasn't been mistaken for "under anything" in quite some time now. She's not one to be flattered by a clerk demanding ID for cigarettes because she might look under 27... she doesn't, and she justifiably gets the creepy vibe for an unreasonable demand to see her ID.
So... after she had talked to the artist, agreed on a design, agreed on the price, and filled out the paperwork, the parlor owner asked for her ID. She hadn't brought any; I was driving, and she brought cash for payment. He insisted: "Sorry, but that's just our policy to require ID from everyone."
"Our" policy? Sorry, dude: you're the owner. The sole proprietor. There is no "us", there is only you, and this is your policy, which you're free to waive at any time that it doesn't seem to make sense. And did you notice that in order to be under 18, she would have had to give birth to that daughter two years before she herself was born? Do you think the Texas health department has sting operations looking for 40+ women getting tattoos while looking like they're under 18?
To avoid a scene, even though she was really upset, she went outside to wait on the sidewalk. The owner compounded the problem by following her out a few minutes later and asking, "So, you don't have any at all?" Thinking he meant ID, she said that, no, she left it at home. "Oh no, sweetheart, I meant tattoos. Oh, well, maybe you just weren't meant to have any."
At this point, his condescension had reached the point that she inferred she wasn't cool enough, was too "mom" to get a tattoo in his trendy little shop.
I don't know which is luckier for him: that I had dropped them off and was running an errand while all this transpired, or that I was less than five minutes away when they called me to come get them. If he'd had another 10 minutes to make things worse, I'd have needed to stop for a grain scoop to scrape his bony greasy little remains off the sidewalk. My wife doesn't carry a gun, but she wouldn't have needed one.
