Oh do I have a STORY for this one.
The year is 2014 at around 8pm. I, 15 (who used to get mistaken for 20) and my friend, 19 (who still, ten years later, gets mistaken for 12) are on a mission to find a movie at a now-defunct movie rental store (not that one.)
The movie is Tales from the Earthsea. My friend is taking me through watching every Ghibli movie, because I hadn’t seen them. We don’t fully expect to actually find this one, but AHA, WE DO. The store has it and we bring it up to buy it.
We’re talking about whatever to each other, enjoying our outing and entirely unaware of anything being off as our movie is rung up. But the cashier is eyeing us, warily, looking between both of us before she asks her question, which neither of us notice until she does.
“Are either of you over the age of 13?”
She’s… joking, right? Sure, he looks 12, but I at the very least definitely look 15, I’m sure, and who gets carded for non-17+ content anyway? This is not how the script is supposed to go. We aren’t used to buying things that involve carding. My friend slowly, confusedly, responds with “I’m 19…?” To which the cashier gives him a look which says she very much doesn’t believe him. “I’m 15.” I add, helpfully. I get the look.
My friend offers his driver’s license. The cashier holds onto it and stares at it, very intently, for a very long time. She doesn’t believe it’s real, but she also can’t find anything wrong with it to prove that, so she begrudgingly gives it back and allows us to buy our PG-13 movie.