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TIFU by unnecessarily trying to ID someone at work.

I am a white person who works the register at a gas station in a tight-knit, predominantly African-American neighborhood (yes, this is relevant to the story). Everyone knows everyone.

Yesterday, while I was checking out a customer's items, my manager came up and let me know that someone under 21 had been sold cigarettes, so we would need to crack down on ID'ing anyone who looks under 40.

The customer I was serving looked under 40, so I fell into my script without thinking and asked for an ID.

He got very upset, and it took me a couple of seconds to realize what I'd done; he was only buying soda and chips.

I apologized profusely, told him he didn't need an ID, and explained what happened. He still didn't look pleased (understandable) but seemed to accept my apology, paid, and left.

This morning, I woke up to a "wtf" text from one of my friends. It was a screenshot of a Facebook post, which was a picture of me, my name, and the gas station I work at. The post accused me of racism and it's gaining traction, with quite a few comments and a lot of likes.

This will be an interesting day at work.

TL;DR: Thoughtlessly asked for an ID from someone who wasn't buying alcohol or cigarettes. Accidentally became the local Racist Cashier.

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