Woman Required to Show I.D. to Buy a Six-Pack…of Teaspoons

Apparently British people sometimes buy six-packs of teaspoons at the grocery store. Who knew? Perhaps their spoons get worn out from stirring all that tea?

Anyway, a gal who happens to be a reporter for a grocery store trade publication called (unsurprisingly) The Grocer was innocently buying some teaspoons at Sainsbury's when beep, an I.D. check alert went off at the self-checkout scanner.

When she asked why the purchase had to be verified, she was told the spoons "could be used as drug paraphernalia".

Sainsbury's later changed its story, saying that the alert calling for age verification had been an error. Whew. Sanity restored, right? Wrong. 

"The self-scan system recognised the spoon's SKU as one for a knife," said a spokeswoman. This had now been rectified. 

Of course you have to be 18 to buy cheap cutlery with a dull blade. That makes perfect sense.

Read more Reason on the United Kingdom's crusade against knives.

Via BoingBoing

Comments

[Res Publica Americana]

Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Portugal -- these are countries that CAN be fixed, if somebody tries hard enough. But Limetree Island is Hell on Earth, and I hope it sinks into the ocean sometime this century.

[Pro Libertate]

If we somehow get straightened out here, I can imagine a day when we invade the UK to liberate them from themselves.

[Res Publica Americana]

I don't know whether you're joking or not, but it's LITERALLY getting THAT bad over there. It's fucking unbelievable.

[Pro Libertate]

Don't they have nukes?

[wylie]

the real question is if they have any orbit.

[Colonel_Angus]

I don't think orbit is strong enough for limey teeth. The spokeslady is a blatant lie.

[RedDragon6009]

Yes, but the licensing requirements to use them are so strict that no one in the country is legally capable of pushing the button.

[Pro Libertate]

I was thinking more casus belli.

[Colonel_Angus]

It greatly disturbs me the way British region people discuss shit like this in a condescending or cheery tone, when it sounds like they are really holding something in and are afraid to address it. Like when they talk about "the troubles".

[Res Publica Americana]

If it's the younger ones, it's probably because they're completely fucking clueless. These people make inner-city Detroit schools look like Duke.

[mad libertarian guy]

The one Ph D graduate I knew from Duke while in grad school studied scatological inferences in British Victorian literature. It's what her fucking dissertation was on.

That is not a good sign of an educational institution that is healthy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the United Kingdom's crusade against knives.

When they finally wrest all the blades from subjects' hands, they will turn their concern to various blunt objects. And then to fists. And then to, oh, I don't know, open windows?

[Killazontherun]

God bless the English. When I'm down about the stupidity on display on this side of the motherfuckin' nightmare called the Atlantic, I can always be brightened up by the faggery going on over there.

[LARRY]

I have a penis that makes me a potential rapist.

[STEVE SMITH]

Steve Smith like you already!!

[Ted S.]

The penis mighter than the sword.

[LarryA]

Western civilization will die, whimpering, when everything comes in plastic packages and no one is allowed to possess andything sharp enough to open them.

[Gus]

"Woman Required to Show I.D. to Buy a Six-Pack...of Teaspoons"

In France, they have to show their breasts.

[Killazontherun]

Good thing it isn't Spain, or you would never be able to tell the age by Double D's alone.

[Res Publica Americana]

I don't know about Spain, but there was this high school sophomore a friend of mine was tutoring (she's a teacher) who looked to be about a 34DD once, and it was pretty freaky precisely because she looked like a prepubescent, but had huge boobs. Freaky, as I said.

[Killazontherun]

As a pal put it, 15 or 35 or 55, all Spanish women look 35. But I know what you mean. Cousin's daughter is in the eighth grade with the exact disposition. Big eyes and a cute little chipmunk face straight out of a Disney cartoon and a body that should not be on anyone under eighteen.

[Res Publica Americana]

The movie-grade URGH element was that this girl also had a very high-pitched, wittle girl-esque voice. It topped it all off. I was officially freaked out.

[Coeus]

She could have been famous as hell in Japan.

[Res Publica Americana]

An intercontinental journey? Don't be ridiculous. I'm surprised she can handle walking with tits that big.

[Zeb]

I knew a girl like that. She had big tits from when she was like 10 years old. She is the same age as I am, though, so much less freaky and more exciting.

[shamalamadingdong]

With a "Sharpmaker" by spyderco you can make even a cheap knife sharp as a razor. Best knife sharpener I have ever seen!

[Binky]

Works on spoons, too, does it?

[Montani Semper Liberi]

When you ban guns, petty criminals will find other weapons to use. Who knew? At what point do they stop banning things and admit that bad people will do bad things and the best we can do is make sure that good people have the ability to defend themselves?

[Hugh Akston]

Never. Eventually, the whole island will be a prison, and they will keep the violent offenders separate from the petty offenders and the pre-criminals.

[Episiarch]

So England will become what they originally created Australia to be?

[Killazontherun]

Not going to happen. The Brits are so far in denial their courts have banned the right of self defense. It was a case where an elderly man killed an intruder with a sword cane after the thugs started pounding on him that the court declared the right of self defense a legal fiction, and the man was convicted of murder.

A swarm of uranium meteoroids can't hit that island fast enough.

[Karl Hungus]

It was a case where an elderly man killed an intruder with a sword cane after the thugs started pounding on him that the court declared the right of self defense a legal fiction, and the man was convicted of murder.

Wow, and I thought the Tony Martin case was bad . . .

[Suthenboy]

Oh no, that is just the tip of the iceberg. RPA is right, it is un-fucking-believable. I visited decades ago...it was bad then, but now...it takes your breath away. I have an english pen-pal from my visit and she is in complete denial about how things are there.

[Karl Hungus]

Oh no, that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Yeah, I guess so. The fact that a jury would actually convict the man in Killazontherun's anecdote (if the case was exactly as portrayed) is a pretty solid indicator of where they are as a society.

(I'm pretty sure juries over there can nullify)

[Zeb]

That is really the most fucked up of all of this. That you can't even use force to defend your life. If anything is a fundamental right, then defending your own life certainly is.

[Karl Hungus]

If anything is a fundamental right, then defending your own life certainly is.

But if you allow your subjects the right to self-defense, you're instilling a sense of autonomy; i.e., the notion that there are some instances where it's permissible not to have to rely on the state. And you can't have that.

[Zeb]

Sounds about right.

It's really fucking sad. England used to be a relative bright spot in the world as far as respect for rights and a reasonable legal system goes.

[zeroentitlement]

The Brickbat entries about yob culture alone are enough to make sure I will never, ever spend more than two weeks at a time in that madhouse. People who defend their properties and businesses against yob destruction, theft, and violence typically wind up in jail themselves.

The UK is over, AFAIC. The bleeding hearts have bled everyone else to death.

[Zeb]

"The UK is over"

If I lived in Scotland, I would probably hope that this were true.

[cynical]

Nah. The Muslims will impose Sharia law on them soon enough. It might actually be an improvement.

[Jeffersonian]

"In truth, a state that deprives its law-abiding citizens of the means to effectively defend themselves is not civilized but barbarous, becoming an accomplice of murderers, rapists, and thugs and revealing its totalitarian nature by its tacit admission that the disorganized, random havoc created by criminals is far less a threat than are men and women who believe themselves free and independent, and act accordingly."

- Jeffrey Snyder, "A Nation of Cowards"

[Res Publica Americana]

"At what point..."

No point. They'll create universal curfews, ban half the sorts of objects ever created, institute life sentences for petty crimes, and censor the shit out of media before they ever consider doing something so reasonable.

[el Commentariosa]

This is a logical next step in the UK

[Res Publica Americana]

Another example is their policy of mandatory sentencing and incarceration for carrying weapons (knives included).

[Suthenboy]

Any object can be considered an 'offensive weapon'. People have been thrown in prison for walking down the street with screwdrivers, walking sticks, etc.

[Res Publica Americana]

Better yet, builders have been prosecuted and imprisoned for carrying sharp construction tools.

[Colonel_Angus]

I have the right to purchase any kind of knife at any age and without being registered in a record. If it comes to it, I will proudly be an illegal knife owner and carrier, and if I need new steak knives I won't feel bad about stealing them. Fuckin stupid shit.

[Res Publica Americana]

"And when thy children gaze into their past, they will despise your wretched soul -- for you destroyed the inheritance of your forefathers, and they shall have nothing to give their own posterity. Such is the self-obliteration of mankind."

[RedDragon6009]

I wonder what the requirements are for purchasing Sporks in the UK.

[Suthenboy]

In keeping with the leftist goal as the law cracked down more and more on citizens, violent crime has shot through the roof. Every one of my friends over there have had robbers break into their homes while they are home. They tell me now that they are no longer allowed to put up burglar bars or hardware cloth over their windows.

[Res Publica Americana]

Here's an interesting "tidbit" for you:

The violent crime rate in Britain is around 2,000 per 100,000 people. For comparison, note the United States' 400 or so, and Canada's 900 or so.

[Killazontherun]

What is a poor legislature to do when someone pays him some serious quid to ban objects on windows that make it difficult to get through them? It is their own damn fault for not offering the officials bigger bribes than the criminals.

[Coeus]

I was reading about that. It's so the burglers don't accidently get hurt.

Christ.

[Res Publica Americana]

Here's another nut-punch: British cops stopping people for no reason (I'm being literal here), asking to see documents, wasting time and throwing petty insults at the driver from a point of RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH that would utterly shock even the most detestable Chicago cop, and then arrest the driver for obstruction of a police investigation when he asks you questions like "what law allows you to do this?", or "why did you stop me, for Christ's sake?"

[Colonel_Angus]

New York pigs are not so shocked by that.

[Coeus]

That's not so different from here. "Burglaries in the area" no time frame, no suspects is considered reasonable suspicion in Texas. And they throw around obstruction like it's going out of style.

[Zeb]

Link? Not that I doubt you. Nothing surprises me about the UK anymore. But I would be interested to know more.

[Karl Hungus]

Every one of my friends over there have had robbers break into their homes while they are home.

I've read that the rate of "hot" burglaries (those committed while the residents are home) is three times in the UK what it is in the US. Over there, burglars don't have to worry about being shot - or being met with any sort of force, for that matter. Any intruder harmed by a homeowner during the course of a home invasion is likely to be out of prison before his "attacker" (and is then likely to be given state money to pursue a lawsuit against his "assailant").

[Jeffersonian]

Next up: A requirement that one leave his doors unlocked to prevent any possibly disruption in the activities of the thief. Maybe a mandate to have things stacked nicely for him comes after?

[Suthenboy]

Oh....and my pen-pal sued her neighbor for 'disrupting the community'. He had complained about her crossing over his property. Apparently over there you can be sued for being an asshole. ( I would be in deep shit )

[Coeus]

Yeah, but can he sue her back for being a cunt?

[Suthenboy]

Apparently not. She is the personification of the old english country lady. She is well liked in the community and belongs to a plethora of greenie organizations. I am sure he could sue, but would be laughed out of court.

[Coeus]

It appears that they've turned an entire country into a small town high school. May god have mercy on their souls.

[Sainsbury Spokesman]

Alright, alright. You win. I see you have played knifey-spoony before.

[Bob_R]

"It's a knife. It's not safe."

"It's educational."

"She could cut herself."

"That would be an important lesson."

[Rich]

I bought some Robitussin? the other day. The cashier asked me to state my birthdate "for entry into the computer". After I stopped laughing, having realized the cashier was serious, I gave her, um, a date and asked what the store did with the entries. "Nothing."

[Common Sense]

Don't laugh so hard, it happens here too. My son, who is 19, is a merchandiser for a soft drink company here in CO. He was in Safeway a few months ago when they were giving away a knife set with purchase. He thought that was a good deal, but they told him he had to be 21 to get the knives.

He pointed out that he legally carries a shotgun in his truck.

[Res Publica Americana]

Did they call the National Guard to subdue that Redneck Teabagger Gun-toter (tm)?

[Tulpa]

That's probably a store policy rather than a government one.

[Colonel_Angus]

Merchandiser. Is that what they call delivery guys?

[Tulpa]

Seriously...they just gave me a free paring knife at Walmart yesterday for listening to a guy talk about Forever Sharp knives for 20 minutes.

God bless the USA!