1. Looking old to teenage check out girls is different than looking old. The college students all know I am not one of them, but sometimes the staff/faculty still think I'm a student. I'm sure you could pass as a student too to the 40+ set. The chain-smoking grown-up lady cashiers would probably still card you.

2. Well, you were buying a nursing bra, she probably just picked up on that. And you definitely don't look pregnant in the pictures you've been posting on facebook. I double-checked to make sure I wouldn't be lying.

I am rarely carded for alcohol purchases. It's more frequent now, but when I first turned 21, I was shocked that stores weren't carding me. I was so proud of being the legal age. In fact, the first time I purchased alcohol was at a grocery store and they didn't ask for my ID. I WANTED to show them. "Yes, I'm 21! Look! See? That's me." I used to be afraid that my favorite liquor store in Chattanooga would lose its license because they never carded me and I'm sure that I'm not the only one. (I was over 21, of course. But how could they have known it?)

So, no. You don't look old. They're just irresponsible clerks.

Old, fat people are historically both wiser and richer than young, skinny people.

i concur with becks...  not to mention, that in a greater part of the world, and for a great number of generations, a woman is found more attractive (due to appearing more fertile ironically) if she is not skinny... 

however, i think there is never a chance that i would consider you fat, my dearie! 

...and think, maybe she was jealous or maybe she was gay, so maybe she was admiring your big boobies?

You will never be old or fat. You are beautiful. (and if you don't believe me, ask Gee - he's seen you more recently than I have and I guarantee he'll agree). And people just don't card half the time no matter how old you look (my fiance, who is twenty-one, though he's been selling alcohol for years, frequently will point that out to me when we are grocery/wine shopping - ironically, people frequently think he's in his late twenties or early thirties, while I've finally gotten some newer acquaintences to tell me they think I'm 22 instead of 18 or 19 - hello! I've got grey hairs, even more than my mother does! doesn't that rate at least 24, even if you are going to keep guessing young?).

And Claire - at least you have the advantage that the students know you are not one of them. I am routinely asked "just how many hours of work-study do you GET?" Why can't I look older than I do or am? it is so hard to be taken seriously by workstudy who don't want to work - and won't listen to someone they think is just like them.

Sorry to hijack your post. I've just still got the opposite problem of getting people to take me seriously as an adult when I feel like they think I'm sixteen or something.

@Tab3791 -