I’ve been working really hard lately. Not here on Vinography, but at the day job that pays the bills. So I can understand the desire to get off work, grab a bottle of wine, and relax a little.
Apparently though, that’s not so easy if you’re any sort of uniformed service officer in the UK. There, they’ve got laws that say, if you’re wearing your uniform, you don’t get to buy alcohol.
Presumably, this law exists because there either was a problem at one time with uniformed public servants drunk on the job, or simply because politicians and the public are paranoid about that happening.
Unfortunately, what might be a well meaning (if a bit patronizing) law, creates situations like this one, for a poor (if a bit addled) paramedic in Surrey, England.
The guy wanted to buy a bottle of wine, but the clerk wouldn’t sell it to him because he had his paramedic’s uniform on. So he went outside and took off the uniform, returning to the store in just a thong and some socks.
Apparently the store also had a “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policy, so the guy never did get his bottle of wine. Instead, he got questioned by the police. Must have been an especially hard week for him.
