Dumb and Trusting

[Eben56]

Witnessed this on my way home from work today. Stopped my favorite little Mom & Pop store to get a bit of libation for home. (coldest coolers in town). I took my purchases to the counter and waited for a customer that was in front of me.

CC: Clever or Crooked customer
DC: Dumb clerk

DC: OK, that is $30.27
CC: (hands her card) Thats credit
DC: The card was declined, do you have anything else.
CC: No Shit!!!!!! Thats strange
DC: Do you have a debit card?
CC: Yes.. here.
DC: I'm sorry, it was declined also
CC: No F%^$ing way. Will you take a check?
DC: Is it local?
CC: Yes

What is the dumbest thing the cashier could say?

All together now.....

DC: SURE

ME: AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHH!

After the guy left, I asked the clerk (who I did not know by name but as a face from frequent purchases) If his debit card didn't go through, there probaly was nothing in the account?

She told me her boss had said that as long as they had local ID and checks take em and let the PD sort out the bad ones.

Gotta love small town America.

[blas]

Hopefully they have a blackbook or "blacklist" of notorious bad check writers.

We had one of those at the gas station I worked at. Since it's a small town America town and a Mom and Pop store.........before they got into technology and got Telecheck, they had a blacklist book that had, in alphabetical order, the names of people who had written bad checks. We weren't supposed to accept checks from these people.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The Chinese place near my store where I occasionally buy lunch would copy all the bad checks they would get, and then tape them up by the cash register.

Imagine my surprise when one day I was paying for my food and I glanced at the bad checks...and one of them had been written by our assistant apparel manager!

I considered using it as blackmail material, but she was gone before I got the chance.

[Becks]

If his debit card didn't go through, there probaly was nothing in the account?

Some places put a "hold" on debit card purchases. (Gas stations are known to do that.) There's a chance that he HAD the money, but it was temporarily unavailable.

[Eben56]

Always a possibility

Always possible I suppose.... People here are so nice to see a reasonable explaination for almost all SC.

A lot of my bad feeling about the incident had a lot to do with his demeanor. His words expressed surprise.. but he really didn't LOOK surprised. Also, when he opened his check register to write the check in it (couldn't help but see) it had no running total.

I probably was a little harsh in my appraisal of his actions. In truth, he more than likely didn't know whether he had any money left or not. I really was more astounded by the cashier taking the check without batting an eye.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I once took a check after the debit card was declined...of course, it was from a fellow employee who had been there for years...even if the check bounced (which it didn't), they knew where to find her!

[Dreamstalker]

A wine store on US84-285 on the way up to Los Alamos (NM) will post the names of bad check writers up on the signboard visible from the highway. That seems to have the intended effect, as I've never seen a given name up there for more than a week.

[GolfCart34]

The Chinese place near my store where I occasionally buy lunch would copy all the bad checks they would get, and then tape them up by the cash register.

Imagine my surprise when one day I was paying for my food and I glanced at the bad checks...and one of them had been written by our assistant apparel manager!

I considered using it as blackmail material, but she was gone before I got the chance.

One of the local Chinese restaurants around here has a wall covered in bad checks. I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard stories from other employees who go there on a regular basis.

We deal with checks all the time since we're a bank, but we take plenty of precautions to make sure the bank gets paid for the checks one way or another. When I used to work in retail, however, we had the black book of people we couldn't accept checks from. We also wouldn't accept checks from people who've had their debit card declined (it wasn't worth the risk and we didn't have a Telecheck machine at every register). I'm just surprised that tourist trap land accepted personal checks from people. The number of high dollar transactions combined with the fact that they don't do Telecheck or remote capture is just asking for trouble.

[chops]

Some places put a "hold" on debit card purchases. (Gas stations are known to do that.) There's a chance that he HAD the money, but it was temporarily unavailable.

One good example of that would be if they deposited their paycheck in the afternoon after their bank had gone to the next business day; the money would be in the account but not available until the following business day.

I got bit by that one time when I waited until Friday afternoon to deposit my paycheck; I couldn't use my debit card until Monday, but I could write a check that would be fine by the time they were able to deposit it. Of course, this was back before stores went to electronic check conversion and pre-authorization and such.