I avoid Sainsbury’s for the purchase of alcohol as inevitably I get asked for ID. Now I have recently been diagnosed epileptic and so don’t drive, am divorced and lost my passport in the custody battle, (I rarely travel so don’t intend to get one either). I have no real problem with this as the -generally- aged staff are polite and can’t be expected to recognise a lightly bearded thirteen and a half stone former soldier who is after all only thirty two, to be of legal drinking age. Now only photo ID is accepted so I just let it slide, UNTIL NOW. As it was pouring with rain I thought -along with some food- I would take up the very good offer of two bottles of double drop bitter for £3. I approached the self service, awoke the daydreaming assistant and informed her that i’d need permission for the ale, without glancing at me she asked for id then brought another girl along to discuss how I was obviously not 32. I would hazard a guess that the second girl was 27-32 and the initial ‘luv’ mid fifties. I mention this only to display the fact that judging age is not rocket science, I have often worked in my uncles pub and realise it can be awkward, yet the fact that I buy alcohol and tobacco from many places and never get asked for id yet when I walk into Sittingbourne sainsburys, (and not at their cigarette counter they have a girl who has apparently impeccable vision) I get asked for ID. In this instant it was the incredulity of your staff that offended me and the intonation that implied I was a barefaced liar. Offended, yes but not surprised maybe if the staff were trained to be human (they must have been once anyway) and if the employment of a younger generation of staff were brought in this would help the fact. I say this as young people never ask me for ID because they can judge that I am their senior whereas the elderly that you employ seem to see anyone below fortyfive as a mere whippersnapper who simply swapped his short trousers for chinos in an attempt to appear older.So to finish, I want to state being called a liar is not a compliment regardless of whether they are calling me young, ageism works both ways so I hope ive offended some of the doddery, myopic old staff that haunt the Sittingbourne sainsburys. And remember, looking after younger customers, (I don’t include myself here) is imperative to the survival of the store as they will be the family shoppers of tomorrow.