You seem to be under the impression I made a scene. In reality they refused to answer any questions and were extremely rude for no apparent reason. Perhaps they had a bad experience earlier that day, but that's not my fault.

It was your mention of the word "protest" which is usually used to mean an adversarially stated objection, rather than an attempt at working out a common problem together.

> the word "protest" which is usually used to mean an adversarially stated objection

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/protest :

> the act of objecting or a gesture of disapproval

> a complaint, objection, or display of unwillingness usually to an idea or a course of action

I don’t think you are generally in a state of mind to symphatize with someone that just refused to sell you a perfectly legal product regardless of your age.

Well, then my advice would be to practise entering that state of mind when a person deserves it the least (because then you are likely to benefit from it the most.)

Nonsense, getting angry and salty is always the way to go.

On a more serious note, I wonder just how people end up with unpleasantness being the standard go-to behaviour when people behind the counter aren't just giving them what they want.

Surely at some point in their lives they must have noticed that being polite and pleasant is far more likely to get you what you want than acting like a dick?

Usually the guy behind the counter has no say on company policy, and going against it is very much not in their interest. They'll be even less inclined to breaking policy over someone that acts like an asshole

Yeah, I won't say it's always the case but if you're asking some low-paid worker to bend a rule for you the way to guarantee they won't is to be rude, no matter how ridiculously inflexible they seem to be being.

Patience and forbearance are great virtues, but if those are your only virtues you'll end being treated as a doormat.

In the UK, once someone's asked you for ID for an age-restricted item, they're not allowed (by law) to back down. You show ID, or you leave without the item.

In general, I think it's unfair to ask a probably-underpaid cashier to break policy in this way -- they almost certainly have no control over the policy, and quite possibly face severe consequences if they acquiesce.

I was not aware that was the law in the U.K. I would probably have found out by being nice. Less likely to find out by being abrasive.

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The probably-underpaid people who break policy make the world go around. We'd get nothing real done if people just followed policy all day long.

It might sound like I'm joking, but I don't. I have huge amounts of respect for those people, and obviously if they help me out I will do what I can to help them out. (Even if it's just paying it forward and breaking policy when necessary myself.)

I'm not anti-policy. I love good policy, and I rarely have reason to break it. The policy that often needs breaking is the bad policy.