Still My Biggest Peeve! veeeerrryyy long!

[shazman]

And THAT is why I try to get the same PIN for my cards. Makes my life so much easier...

Makes life easier and riskier. If anyone ever found out your PIN for one card- they'd know it for all your cards. Not a good idea, IMO.

[Seanette]

My husband picks a word he'll easily remember, then uses the letters on the keypad to enter that word for the PIN.

[Retail Associate]

In my neck of the woods all the MSR's are different as to how you're supposed to insert/swipe your card. Most of them have an image right next to the slot showing you how your card is to be inserted/swiped.

The problem I have is, some of those images are about the size of a flea - I can't even see them. So I do have to ask the cashier which way the card faces if I encounter one of those tiny pics. Whoever designs those machines ought to take into account the fact that not everyone has 20/20 vision.

Another problem I have, (an as older person) is being able to read the screens. They seem to be so dim that any kind of light shining on them makes them impossible to read. So, just because someone is having difficulty doesn't mean they're stupid. Maybe they just can't see the instructions.

[WHShit]

So, just because someone is having difficulty doesn't mean they're stupid. Maybe they just can't see the instructions.

Yes, I know that. I guess you are in America then. In England, all of the machines pretty much look the same and the cards always go inthe same, as Raps said too. So, yes, they are stupid when, even after I tell them, they STILL get it wronng.

[Special Patrol Group]

Yes, I know that. I guess you are in America then. In England, all of the machines pretty much look the same and the cards always go inthe same, as Raps said too. So, yes, they are stupid when, even after I tell them, they STILL get it wronng.

I think it's not so much that they get it wrong but how they react when they get it wrong. If you swipe it the wrong way you DO NOT have to start complaining "they're all different!", "how can I possibly understand this simple diagram right here on the machine!", "these machines don't work!" (when they are doing it wrong). God, why can't they just say "excuse me, which way does it go?" rather than having a hissy fit. If a person can't do THAT they are mostly surely stupid.

I generally nicely help out older people and pretend to agree that the machines are confusing, even when they are being jerks about it. Just because they are horrible doesn't mean I have to be.

[Onte]

I'm not trying to be a jerk or a troll, but from the other side of the fence, why is it that just about every clerk I encounter gets jerky with me when I swipe my card incorrectly? I realize you guys deal with this issue 60,000 times a day so therefore are extremely proficient in using these machines but a lot of us do not encounter these machines more than once or twice a week.

I put all my crap on the belt in a timely fashion, I'm polite, I greet whoever is helping me with a genuine smile, I make small talk if it seems the employee wants to chit chat, I'll even bag my own stuff if the baggers are occupied elsewhere but Katie-bar-the-door if I swipe my card wrong.

A lot of the time, the little instructional diagram has been worn off of the machine by so much usage. Difficult to guess which way the card swipes when that's the case.

Like I said, I am not trying to be a jerk or a troll, but please have some understanding that a lot of us don't have the opportunity to memorize each model of the card swiper machine. I genuinelly appreciate you folks and I can genuinelly understand how this issue could become a pet peeve, but pick your battles. Be mad at the jerk who pooped on the floor in Aisle 9 or the kid who knocked over the candy display; there are far worse things than screwing up the card swipe procedure - especially if your customer is on the older side. Older folks tend to get frustrated more easily and you know what happens when you get frustrated: 3/4 of rational thought goes out the window.

Again, not trolling and I'm sorry if I've offended anyone.

[Rapscallion]

No problems with a rational query. I had to make a point or two about how things work over here - we don't have the debit/credit option for one - so if there's a difference of detail or opinion, feel free to mention it. I've yet to see a machine over here with the diagram worn away, though. It's usually off to one side where it wouldn't be touched - I suspect the designers over here took a look at what was happening elsewhere and reacted accordingly.

Barbed wire would have been good...

Rapscallion

[skeptic53]

I just love the "They're all different" thing. ...
So at worst, depending on which machine, there's only two possibilities.

Yes, but here in the US the readers are NOT standardized as to the sequence. Some you swipe BEFORE the total, others AFTER. Some you choose "debit" before swiping, some after. Some require a confirming "yes" or "OK", some don't. You have to rudely ignore the clerk and focus on the screen waiting for the prompt to push "yes". There is usually an "enter" button and a separate "yes" button. The "yes" button is usually worn and unreadable, although most stores put yellow tape or a sticker to try to make it more prominent.

Some that have a stylus, you still sign a paper credit slip. Others you use the stylus. Some the clerk swipes your credit card on the register, others you swipe your own card on the reader.

I'm probably forgetting several other differences, since I'm old and all...

[Banrion]

Sort of on this topic. Especially with the differences between European systems and Americans being brought up. Last night CBS news had a rather scathing report about how American banks are cheaping out on the security features available in the US, yet due to banking regulation they are providing them to their European customers.

From what I can glean from this thread, it seems as though the Europeans have a far safer and more efficient system than the US. Maybe one day we will be smart enough to look back to the motherland and gain some useful wisdom.

[WHShit]

Geez...I would like to clarify my thread. I was ONLY talking about UK PIN machines. I know US ones are different, as I am American.

Also, if the customer is genuiely nice and just can't manage to get it right, then that is fine, I will show them how to do it. What pisses me off is when they KNOW that they are supposed to do it themselves (which, lets face it...THEY ARE) and the bitchily (new word?) hand it to you while looking away or fiddling with something else. Then when you ask them nicely to please place the card in the machine "chip down facing you" they almost seem insulted. So, there is a difference between someone who is nice and confused to someone who is rude and ignorant.

[WHShit]

I generally nicely help out older people and pretend to agree that the machines are confusing, even when they are being jerks about it. Just because they are horrible doesn't mean I have to be.

I do this with the older bunch too! If they start saying the machines and all the "new technology" is horrid, then I agree with them as to not seem like one of "those young people". It makes them happy and I do not get bitched at. LOL!

[trunks2k]

Yes, but here in the US the readers are NOT standardized as to the sequence.

The only non standardized sequence I've seen is swiping before or after the total. But that's a moot issue, there's no system in which you MUST swipe before the total. So then you just always wait until after the total to swipe if you are unsure.

I've always seen choosing the type after the swipe.

[CrazedClerk]

One of the things I love about my job is that I'm the one who swipes the card, so there's rarely any issue with it unless a customer has a woefully beat up card that won't scan.

[batmoody]

The screen always tells them what to do, whether they are at the select payment type, enter pin, cash back. On all machines. All they have to do is read, and follow instructions. As for which way to swipe? Think about it. The machine has a reader that reads the magnetic strip. Would that "reader" be located towards the outside of the machine? Where there is like a quarter inch of plastic? Or towards the thicker part of the machine, where there is room to actually house that mechanism? That is the same on every machine. Just slide your stripe facing the thicker part of the machine. Every time. Every machine.
I also hate the comment "Why can't they make these all the same!?" I always answer by explaining whole capitalism thing, free enterprise and no one likes a monopoly. They will never be all the same, never ever ever.