Sideswipe

Tsunami t-shirt: What Prince Harry will be wearing to his next party.

A reader relates her attempt to buy a bottle of wine from Foodtown Three Kings: "The customer services manager asked me for ID so I gave him my New Zealand driver's licence (I am 27). He then asked my accompanying sister who was not buying the wine or paying for it for ID. My sister gave him her British driver's licence (she is 25).

I asked him why she had to provide ID when she was not the one buying or paying for the wine. He told me it was the law that he had to ask all people accompanying the purchaser for ID. I asked him what if I had my 10-year-old niece with me, would she have to provide ID as well? He then refused to sell the wine to me on the grounds that my sister (who wasn't even buying the wine or paying for it) could not provide the right New Zealand ID. So neither myself, 27, nor my sister, 25, could buy the wine even though we both provided ID that verified we were over 18.

Perhaps we would have had better luck on Waiheke Island?"

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Annoying questions and silly statements:

1. Sarah writes: "Having worked in retail for a number of years, I heard this comment nearly every time something wouldn't scan, 'It must be free'."

2. A reader who works at a poultry farm is frequently asked, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" He usually replies, "The rooster".

3. A former bank teller writes: "I had a lady who had forgotten to fill in her deposit book correctly. She asked me, "Could you please fill in my butt?"

4. A tarot reader and marriage celebrant says the most annoying question she's asked with alarming regularity is: "Are you any good?"

5. A reader writes: "I work in a theatre where the surrounding parking is particularly tricky. Often people approach us before an evening or matinee performance asking, 'Is it okay if I park in the motorcycle parks/in front of that no parking sign/on the yellow lines out the front of the theatre/that reserved park/in front of the stage door/the disabled parks up top/(best yet,) in front of the 24-HOUR TOW-AWAY sign?"'

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Alan Foggie of Whangamata writes: "Our new daughter-in-law, arriving in New Zealand with our son to spend Christmas with us, was more than a little tired after the 26-hour flight from Britain with two young children to look after. She was so relieved to at last get off the plane she expressed her delight by saying, 'It's great to at last get my feet back on terra-cotta'."