High School Job to Consider: Being a Narc
‘Does it matter which brand?’ I asked.
‘No, just act like you’ve done this before,’ she said.If asked for my ID, I should say these exact words: ‘I don’t have it with me.’
‘Don’t tell them you’re 18, or say anything like ‘C’mon, just this once’ or ‘Give me a break’ in there,’ Kelly told me. ‘Then they can claim entrapment if the case goes to court.’
If I was turned down, we logged the inspection as ‘compliant’.
If the buy was successful, I should come back to the Caprice, give Kelly the pack, the receipt and a description of the clerk, then wait while she went inside and issued a $500 fine to the clerk, plus another $500 to the owner of the store.
When he was 16, the blogger behind Rottin’ in Denmark called up the Seattle Police Department and asked if it was true that they hired teenagers to help cops bust stores who sold cigarettes and alcohol to minors. He discovered that, yes, it was true, and also they were looking for a new kid, and asked him if he looked older for his age, which was true. He got paid $8.50 an hour, plus overtime, which was pretty awesome for a kid in high school during the mid-’90s.
I, unfortunately, would not be up for this job because I looked very young for my age when I was in high school, and even last summer, when a security guard questioned the validity of my driver’s license while I was waiting in a line to get a wristband to buy beer. I remember my response being: “But I’m almost 30, and I have a 401(k)!” The security guard laughed and said, “You have convinced me!” But this is besides the point.
The most fascinating part of this story is when the teenage narc does a 180, and begins to sympathize with the clerks he’s busting after one of them loses her job, and the agent he’s with cold-heartedly tells him that she may not be able to pay the fine, and: “If the state takes away her kids, that’s your fault.” Harsh.
It’s a must-read. And if you’ve got a kid brother or sister in high school who is looking for a part-time job, it’s something they might consider!
Photo: Guy Schmidt
What a fascinating story!! That one guy was a complete dick. I would’ve never been able to do this either, between looking too young and lacking the confidence. I still get nervous buying alcohol, and I’m legal 3 years. I feel judged.
I always get carded when I buy alcohol in glasses and sweats. I basically got a congratulations last time!
Oddly enough I probably could have done this in high school, I looked like a freaking 30 year old woman.
“But I’m almost 30, and I have a 401(k)!” — this is my exact feeling about my obligation to participate in a “traditional” bachelorette party this weekend.
my theory is i’ll worry when they STOP carding me.
I actually had a narc buy beer from me at the store that I worked at and got charged and had to go to court. However, at court the judge threw the case out because she looked so old. I told the judge she had wrinkles in her forehead and I didn’t and I was 23. The Alcohol Bureau people even admitted that she looked so old they were going to stop using her.
Also, fuck people who are narcs.
@olivia “Also, fuck people who are narcs.”
I’m over 30 and this is my first reaction as well. I don’t know why, I know that there are reasons for the age restriction laws, and letting high schoolers buy beer and cigarettes is not a good idea, and that without consequences there would be no compliance, but who DOES this? I can’t help feeling that narcs are horrible people.
@Brunhilde Your suspicions are correct.
I had this job for three years! I only did it for cigarettes, though. (PA might not even have alcohol compliance, since most non-state alcohol stores only sell by the case.) It wasn’t just about enforcing the law locally–if the state’s numbers weren’t good, they’d lose certain federal funding. I’ve always been tall and therefore looked older than I am, so I sometimes got really high sale percentages. They actually sent me home early on my first day because too many stores were selling to me, even though I was only 14.
Also, my experience was much less dramatic. During the times I got sold to a lot, I just filled out a form and they would fine the store later. Towards the end of my time, I either rode in an unmarked cop car or was followed by one, but most stores were compliant by then and I never witnessed a bust. I did, however, constantly get locked in the backseat of the cop cars. I also once slipped up and asked for Newtons instead of Newports (I was afraid of trying to pronounce Marlboro). The cashier did not sell me cigarettes.
Later in high school, my friend convinced me to write about it for our school’s paper. An asshole kid I already disliked came up to me and accused me of making it hard for him to buy rolling papers, and actually demanded I apologize for having the job. (I didn’t.)
Your thoughtless usage of the derogatory term “narc” really shows your anti-informant bias, Mike.
@stuffisthings except the actual article the guy wrote calls himself a narc… so..
This was superbly entertaining. It totally reminded me of the time that I got “secret shopped” when I had first started waiting tables. I got a good score but one of the comments my manager said they made about my service was that when I was checking ID’s it looked like I was “memorizing” it instead of just establishing validity. On another shift he told me that when I looked at the IDs I would squint and started laughing because it made me look like I was constipated.
I never went without glasses on my shift again.
This theatre I go to sometimes has a policy of carding people for R-rated movies. The first time it happened to me (I was 23) I must have looked bewildered because the girl said, “Sorry, we have to ask if you look under 25.” I don’t even think I look under 25, really, but I especially don’t believe I could pass for 17. I try not to be too weird about it to the clerk, because I know they’re just doing their job, but every time, I want to say, “Seriously? You think there is a CHANCE that I was born after 1995?”
I have a friend who did a version of this in FL when he was 22. He was hired as a secret shopper for a big chain, and his job was to look exactly his age, purchase two bottles of beer and a snack item, and note if he was carded or not. He got to keep the beer, but he doesn’t like beer, so he gave it away. He was quite popular.