Carded

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I was carded yesterday. That hasn’t happened in more than twenty years.
I was at Office M@x yesterday to buy cans of compressed gas. I use them to clean out my keyboards. Number-Three-Son was coming to work on the computers, so I needed to clean out the cat fur.
At check out, the clerk asked me for my identification. I handed it over. He muttered something about a birth date, and I finally realized that he was carding me for age. It seems the company had just instituted a requirement that purchasers of compressed gas dusters needed to be a certain age. I don’t know just what age. I muttered (loudly) that I was OLD ENOUGH! He finally got the computer running the cash register to agree.
I picked up one of the cans just now to be sure I had the product name right, and on the label it says “Contains a bitterant to help discourage inhalant abuse.” Good God. What the heck are kids doing with this stuff? It’s not like it’s going to make you talk like Donald Duck!
And, what the heck is a “bitterant”? Does that sound like a made up word to you? (As far as www.dictionary.com is concerned, it isn’t a word. Some PR person probably came up with that to save room on the label.)

8 thoughts on “Carded”

  1. Can you hear me laughing? Probably, the age is 35. That was dredged up from who-knows-where in the recesses of my brain. Yes, people do the darndest things!

  2. Bitterant…yep, I think that’s a made-up word….maybe derived from the word “bitters”…a liquid used to mix drinks.
    Carded? Hey, I’d take that as a compliment Buffy. Can’t remember the last time that happened to me. You make me laugh sweetie….

  4. Sounds like a compliment to me to be checked as to your age. Doesn’t this mean that they think you look too young? What a compliment!
    I think I’ve read somewhere that poisonous things like bleach and, obviously compressed gas cannisters, add something to make them very bitter to the taste or to inhale, in case someone was accidentally to try to consume them. I hadn’t heard of the term bitterant but it sounds like that is what it is. What a dreadful word though.

  5. I wonder if the person should have been wearing glasses? Maybe they saw the dermotologist’s marks on your face and thought acne?! 🙂

  6. Lucky you. Last time I got carded, they wanted to see my AARP to give me a discount. And I wasn’t eligible for the discount, or the card. What’s that tell me?
    Kids will “huff” almost anything. But “bitterant”? Give it a year or two and it will be in the books.

  7. Adele and BW, I WISH that they needed glasses and that it was a compliment. Actually, This company required my ID so that they could type my birthdate into the computer, to release a lock on the computer to record the sale.
    I’m sure they are just doing a CYA activity to keep their insurance from skyrocketing.

  8. I’m sure you’re right, WichiDude, and isn’t that a shame? No doubt “bitterant” will show up in the dictionaries, soon!

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