unfair entrapment

clarkbar

A grocery store cashier was cited for selling cigarettes to a minor. The minor came into the store, bought a pack of cigarettes and left. Immediately the cashier was cited. The cashier was told that she sold cigarettes to a minor however, no proof was given to the cashier that this person was in fact a minor. Subsequently the cashier was terminated from employment and did have to appear in court. The cashier pled no-contest because she did not know that the young lady was under age. The cashier was fined and had to pay court costs. This obviously was a set-up for entrapment. My question to the forum is: If it is illegal for minors to purchase cigarettes, how could this minor purchase these cigarettes and get away with it? Any comments on this scenario would be appreciated. Thank you.

Balloonman

Ahhhh same way the check that you are proofing for underage liquor purchases. It is the responsibility of the person who is ringing them up to verify they are of age, does not matter if it is cigarettes or alcohol. It is not entrapment, it is an employee not following policy and doing their job, exposing the company to liability.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Hunter1

Don't know the legalities of it, but this is a fairly regular practice in WI. Police send in a minor to purchase cigarettes or beer and cite the owner and/or the cashier.

Rockie

In South Carolina, the onus is on the retailer to check IDs on those individuals who they feel may be underage. I believe they now check on those 21 and under for cigarettes (some of these "minors" look much older than they really are, these days, so I guess this is a safety net).

LeeR

I couldn't agree more with what has already been said. The clerk could have avoided the entire problem by carding the buyer. Clerk should have done their JOB.

Don D

It's not 'unfair entrapment'. As already stated, this is a very common practice. In our state, this is handled by the Attorney General's office. We have a very aggressive program of checking stores for underage purchases of alcohol and tobacco. The narcotics agencies do the same every day of our lives with sham purchases of drugs and the sting that results. As with hookers. The federal food stamp program has done this for years, hiring people to go into grocery stores to see if the proprietor would exchange the stamps for cash or prohibited items. If they do, it gets them a fine and one year suspension from the USDA program.

Whatever

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-08-03 AT 08:33AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Most states have a law making it illegal to sell alcohol or cigarettes to a minor. NY, as well as many other states, send minors into stores to buy cigarettes and alcohol. The clerk broke the law. Life may not be fair, but that's life.
As an aside, in NY, minors are issued special drivers license that boldly indicate that the individual is under 21.

System

I believe Hunter1 works for a local government, as do I. Our Police Department has the same practice: sending a minor into a store to make a purchase of tobacco or alcohol. Our City gets state grant money for this program. Call it "quality assurance," "integrity checks," but it's not unfair.

rad

Mass is the same, they regularly send in minors to buy cigarettes. The proof that cashier needed was an ID- not saying the person was a minor, but to say she was NOT. I am curious, though, how was it determined that this particular person is actually a minor. Was she carded after the fact?

mushroomHR

The minor was working undercover for the agency.

San Francisco

My company employs people to "shop" our employees not only for customer service quality checks, but also for alcohol and tobacco violations. As with the enforcement agencies that shop various retailers, the minor is accompanied by an adult who immediately takes possession of the tobacco or alcohol. The cashier who sold to the minor knows whether is was one of our shoppers or an agency - it's not a secret. Our employees know, when hired, that they will be shopped. These types of violations could shut down a store plus once alcohol or tobacco is sold to a minor in one store, they usually race around to all our surrounding stores.

Elizabeth

mwild31

Clarkbar - I worked for two years as a HR Manager for a retail environment that among other things, sold cigarettes & alcohol to the public. The cashier was wrong not to check the ID, pure, plain and simple. The former employee is claiming entrapment now because they disregarded the law and are looking for a way out of the serious consequences of their actions.

As to the underage person who assisted the enforcement officials, they work for the enforcement officials & the officials wait outside for the underage folks to return. Once the underage folks return, they give the receipt, the product and the name/description of the clerk to the official and the official goes in to speak with the clerk. The underage person never takes permanent possession of the substances, as they have to turn the products over as evidence. As an HR person, presumably working in retail, you should research the educational materials available through your state & train your people accordingly.

cthr

I agree wholeheartedly that the clerk should have checked for ID. However, I used to work for a national pharmacy chain, whose policy was clearly posted that we would check for id, I had a person come in, who appeared to be about 14 or 15years old. I asked for ID, the person could not provide, I didn't sell. The person went home, told her mother, who the cigarettes were for. THe mother called my boss, I was told that I should have sold her the cigarettes. I was the store manager. I still stand by my decision, however, the employee that didn't check could have been in a similar situation.

System

You were right. Your boss was wrong.

rad

If I were in your position, I would absolutely refuse to sell them to a minor, losing my job is nothing compared to ending up in court. Minors can not buy cigarettes, period, it does not matter who they are for. Whoever told you you should have sold them was dead wrong.

In Mass, I'm pretty sure there is a fine involved as well. I don't know if it is for the clerk or the store, I'll check on my way home.

I've been smoking since I was 14- thats 20 years. I bought plenty of cigarettes "for my mother". I wish someone had carded me all those years ago.

JM in ATL

Thankfully that employee WAS caught. And will receive any due punishment. Selling cigarettes to minors is a serious offense in my book. I am all for these agencies who set up cashiers for breaking the law, b/c it's a good law. If just one kid is kept from smoking b/c of this law, then I agree with punishing those who break it.

It was sooo easy when I was a kid to buy cigarettes. I was never carded and if every place on earth did card, well then I would just buy them from a vending machine.

I hope that this employee is used as an example and that the employer emphasizes that it will terminate anyone immediately who sells to a minor. What were they thinking??!!

System

Just to let you know, I deleted the 11 messages about condoms because the discussion had sprinted past the boundaries of good taste.

I really hate being the heavy all of the time, and I'm no prude. But I ask myself what would happen if I printed out those messages and stuck them on the wall outside of my office. HR probably would rip them down.

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marc

Thanks for the explanation James. I miss all the good ones!

Seriously, this situation is more than just what was part of the job. Yes, it is not worth losing a job over, but what about the accountability with respect to selling cigarettes to underaged kids? There is a point when we are responsible for our decisions, right or wrong, the laws have set some age limits for those decisions. It is not up to us to arbitrarily think a stranger walking into a store has thought through the consequences of smoking and the long term and short term effects on his/her health.

It was wrong to do, stand up for your actions and learn from them.

Dutch2

I must agree with the above, it was the clerks job to check ID before making the sell. However, my questions is; are their any laws pretaining to once the under age kids have the cigarettes and are standing around outside the 7-11 after school smoking them? Can the police or anyone other than a parent do anything once they have them. Is this treated the same as a minor in posession of an alcoholic beverage?
Just curious,
Dutch2

cebudragonlady

Dutch2~
The son of our company receptionist, a 16-year old- was caught by police smoking on the sidewalk. The boy's parents had to go to juvenile court with him during a work day, and the judge
sentenced the boy to a fine of $160 - to be earned by the boy and paid out of his own pockets during last summer.The judge admonished the parents not to help the boy pay the fine. According to the receeptionist, the judge went easy onl;y becasue the boy was a first-time offender, others were sentenced to community service.

Chari