Is There A Time Warp In Here Or Are You Just Messing With Me?

I'm 44 years old.  On a good day, I look 43½ .  On a bad day, maybe 50 or 55, I'm not sure.  One thing is for certain, though, the only time I look under 21 is in pictures that were taken when I was under 21.  Why am I telling you this?  Because there is a cashier at our local supermarket that insists on carding me every time I buy beer or wine.  Every. Time.

When I go shopping, I like to use the self check-out lanes (we call them U-Scan).  If I'm buying a few bottles of wine or a 12 pack of Landshark (I'm not much of a beer drinker, but Landshark just tastes like summer to me) the routine normally goes like this: I scan the product, look over to the cashier and wave, she waves back, overrides the age requirement and I put the beer or wine in a bag.  Easy, peasey.   Unless "Carol" (I don't know if that's her name) is working the U-Scan station.

The first time I came up against "Carol" I was buying a few bottles of wine.  I scanned the first one, looked over at her and waved, then waited for the screen to show that the age requirement had been waived.  I was still facing the U-Scan monitor when I saw her approach out of the corner of my eye.  She walked right up to me and stared without saying a word.  When I turned in her direction she said "I need to see your whole face."  She had already seen my whole face, but I guess I look 20 years younger in profile, who'd have thunk it?  Weird.

I gotta be honest, that sort of irritated me.  There are dozens of different cashiers in that store and no one had ever behaved that way whether I was going through the U-Scan or a full service lane.

A week or so ago, I found myself once again checking out in the U-Scan with "Carol" running the station.  I scanned all of my other groceries first and saved the wine to the end.  I dragged the bottle over the scanner and waved to her (making sure she could see my whole face) so that she could see I was "of age" to purchase alcohol.  Still, she came over and stared at me.  I asked if she wanted my birth date and she said she did.  "Three eighteen sixty-eight," I said.  She just stood there and continued to stare, so next I asked if she wanted to see my ID.  Yes, it turned out, she did.  "Do I look under 21 to you?" I asked her.  "Maybe," she said, "but that could be because I'm so old."  Using that logic, she could mistake my 12 year old daughter for a toddler.  I had no idea what she meant but I showed her my ID through the window in my wallet.  I was just waiting for her to insist I take it out so she could hold it up to the light.    

So what's the deal with this woman?  Could she be against the purchase of alcohol in general or is it just me she has a problem with?  Does she know that Prohibition was repealed in 1933?  I know that stores have to protect themselves from selling to underage customers, but come on, do I look anywhere close to 21 to you?

Willoughby