Wow. Didn't think I'd be talking about Wal-Mart here!
Walmart wouldnt sell me a box of beer bacause i couldnt prove i was over 21 and i'm 53.
My partner showed her U.K licence to sell alcohol and they wouldnt accept that either until we called for the manager
Having worked there for about a year myself, and my wife working there in a supervisory role for over five years, I can assure you that it's Wal-Mart policy to card everyone. Every
single person buying anything that requires age verification, even if the law doesn't demand it (i.e.; in Alabama, they only
have to be carded if they appear under the age of twenty-eight).
This does cause a great deal of angst from people in their fifties and higher who, for whatever reason, did not have their ID card on them at the point of sale.
As for not accepting the UK license to sell alcohol... that actually makes a fair bit of sense to me, assuming the cards work there like they do here. Does the card have any kind of identifying information on it, such as a birthdate? The one I had didn't. It was basically just my name and saying that I was licensed to sell booze.
Also, interestingly, you don't have to meet the minimum drinking age to have a license to
sell liquor. Backwards as that sounds. Obviously the drinking age here is 21, but I had the license at 18. Legally and officially. Just having the license itself didn't prove that I was old enough to purchase or drink alcohol.
It's also usually Wal-Mart policy to give the customer whatever they want to get them to shut up and go home, regardless of who's actually "right" in any given situation.
That's why I'm convinced that one of my former supervisors (who's retired now) was a manager at Wal-Mart prior to coming to work for the TSA. I think I've mentioned him before - he's the one who would apologize to the passenger for a screener's face hurting their hand right after the passenger punched them, and would promise to give the screener a good talking-to regarding skin softeners and such.
That's an exaggeration, obviously, but the fact remains. He did the "anything they want, just get them out the door" approach of extremism to customer service.