Comments on: High School Job to Consider: Being a Narc

By: Jenna Quaranta@facebook

Jenna Quaranta@facebook — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 19:23:08 +0000

@stuffisthings except the actual article the guy wrote calls himself a narc… so..

By: Faintly Macabre

Faintly Macabre — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:27:54 +0000

@Brunhilde Your suspicions are correct.

By: Brunhilde

Brunhilde — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 23:07:25 +0000

@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.

By: sony_b

sony_b — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:55:49 +0000

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.

By: BananaPeel

BananaPeel — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 19:09:21 +0000

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?”

By: thecoffeestain

thecoffeestain — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:21:18 +0000

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.

By: stuffisthings

stuffisthings — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:10:11 +0000

Your thoughtless usage of the derogatory term “narc” really shows your anti-informant bias, Mike.

By: Faintly Macabre

Faintly Macabre — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:06:17 +0000

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.)

By: olivia

olivia — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:53:06 +0000

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.

By: wearitcounts

wearitcounts — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:15:00 +0000

“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.