A liquor store worker wouldn’t sell this couple an item because one of them didn’t have ID—they were trying to buy olive juice. AKA a completely nonalcoholic ingredient.
Across the United States, people generally need to show their ID when buying alcohol at a bar, grocery store, corner shop, or liquor store to prove they’re over 21 and of legal drinking age.
However, the enforcement of the law can vary based on the state and store, especially if it’s a private business.
For example, while in Texas there is no law requiring that liquor store workers ID everyone in a group, businesses are well within their rights to do so. Some insist that everyone in a group show proof that they are 21 or older when anyone in the group is attempting to purchase alcoholic beverages. This is an attempt to prevent adults from illegally providing alcohol to minors, per the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
This seems to be what happened to Julia (@juliac00lia) on a recent liquor store run.
“I’m never gonna go back to Total Wine ever again in my entire life because of what happened to me there last night. And I need to know if I’m being dramatic or not,” Julia says in a viral clip.
In the video, Julia explains that she went to Total Wine & More (which has over 240 stores across more than 25 states) with her boyfriend to buy olive juice.
As they headed to the cash register to pay, they realized that her boyfriend left his wallet at home and didn’t have his ID on him.
“It shouldn’t be a problem, like, we’re buying olive juice. Like, again, no alcohol, olive juice,” Julia says.
But it was a problem. The cashier said she couldn’t sell Julia the non-alcoholic item because it’s store policy that everyone in the group must show ID.
“I love store policy. Like, I’m all about following the rules. Like, I’m not trying to, like, break rules here, but, like, we were not buying alcohol,” Julia says, unable to wrap her head around a policy that requires ID for a non-alcoholic item.
They end up calling the manager over, and the manager confirms that it is, in fact, store policy and they can’t sell to the duo.
The couple then ran a few more errands, and at that point, it was 7 p.m., and Total Wine was the only liquor store still open, so Julia decided to go into the store alone to make the purchase.
“What are they gonna do? Not sell it to you?” her boyfriend says.
Turns out the store manager was posted up at the store door and told Julia that unless her boyfriend came back with his ID, they would still refuse to sell her anything.
While Julia understood that there are rules in place for a reason, she pointed out that there are literal children in the store and questioned whether they would get ID’d too.
@juliac00lia story time on why ill not be returning to total wine for the foreseeable future🫠🥴
♬ original sound – juliac00lia
Julia was so irked by the situation that she’s considering never buying from Total Wine again.
“Just a little PSA, um, if you’re going to Total Wine with your friends and they don’t have their ID, leave them in the car,” Julia says.
The video has garnered thousands of views and over a hundred comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
“I would black out into a blind rage,” a top comment read.
“U R VALID. ITS FRKN OLIVE BRINE ?!!!” a person wrote.
“Honestly yeah that would bring out the Karen in me and make me want to email corporate,” another said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Julia via Instagram direct message.
