Lady, I have 'one' button for cards!

[Imogene]

I've had people at both Chesterfield and West County who asked me to run their card as 'debit' or 'credit' or what have you. Usually, a "We only have the one button for cards" was enough for them.

Apparently, McD's attracts an extremely different kind of crowd.

Note that this wasn't the first time I'd had a credit card. Again, there is only the one 'button' for cards at McD's, just like the other places I worked.
H: Her
M: Me

H: Lady (...right...) orders some food, runs her card, and the transaction is to the point that I've already gotten her name before she suddenly piped up, "I wanted that to be run as a debit card."

M: I do the slow turn and stare at you like a moron look, and proceed with, "There's only the one button on my side of the counter. I'm not sure what shows up on the screen on your side..."

H:"I've used this card here before, and run it as a debit card!"

M: "As far as I know, there's only the one way to run any card we get."

H: "I've run it as a debit card before here, and if it isn't run the correct way, it'll get charged to my credit card." *she was holding a Commerce Bank card, which is the same bank I use, so, yes, I can agree to that much*

M: *sigh* "Hold on..." *I turn around and call for the nearest manager to come help*

K: "I'm sorry, miss, but we only have the one way to run cards."

H: "I'VE RUN THIS CARD AS A DEBIT HERE BEFORE!"

K: "Yes, we used to have that capability, but we don't now."

*by this time, her food had already been bagged and run, so, she was letting her food cool*
The whole argument took about ten minutes between her and K. It was insane.

[wagegoth]

I've noticed that with several of the McDs in my area. They used to charge $.99, and you could get cash back. Many of them now accept credit cards, not just debit, no longer charge a fee, but no cash back.

[IT Grunt]

The one I go to started that as well. The buttons to select which one you want are still there, but when you swipe the card it immediately goes to 'Transaction processing.', then pops out a receipt.

[karma_gypsy]

Well at least McD's takes cards, not too long ago, fast food places didn't even take plastic. But yet I don't understand why some people insist on arguing while their food is getting cold.

We only have one way to run cards as well, as credit, 'cause we're not set up for debit, I've been working here for over a year and hadn't gotten a complaint yet from a customer (::knocks on wood:

[Mark Healey]

This is one of those things that drives me absolutely ape shit, people who use jargon incorrectly and then get mad when you act as if they were correct.

Credit Card: You run the card, the bank pays the business and then bills you. Signature reqired, no pin. Business pays service fee.
Debit Card: You run the card, the bank checks that you have the money in your account, pays the business and withdraws the money from your account. This is all done through the same network as credit cards. Signature required, no pin. Business pays service fee.
ATM Card; You run the card, enter a pin, the bank checks your ballance, pays the business, ahd withdraws the money from your account. This is done throught a different network than Credit/Debit cards. Consumer pays service fees.

Verry soon after the banks started issuing debit cards they combined them with ATM cards. Generally a good idea, one fewer things in my wallet. Unfortunately people started to think that "debit card" means "atm card".

If it has a Mastercard or Visa logo on it, it is a credit card xor a debit card (which the bank probably chooses to double up as an ATM card),

[AFpheonix]

This is why, when people tell me "It's a credit/debit card!", and they HAND me said card instead of swiping it through the pin pad themselves, I simply reply, "Ok." and proceed to swipe it as a credit (which is the only way my tills are set up to take a card swiped on my side)

So much easier, money gets taken from where it's supposed to and put where it's supposed to, and I don' have to converse with the numbnuts any longer than I have to.

[altered_reality]

Well at least McD's takes cards, not too long ago, fast food places didn't even take plastic. But yet I don't understand why some people insist on arguing while their food is getting cold.

There's still some places that don't, in the foodcourt of a local shopping center there's a Chicken Treat that doesn't take EFTPOS might be just that one or all don't, not sure, but there's ATM's around so it doesn't matter that much.

Was there yesterday and was going to order from McD's, because i didn't think i had cash, looked in my wallet, $20 bucks, sweet, walked over to chicken treat

[CrazedClerk]

Here in Canada we have separate physical cards for each type of transaction so there's no mistaking which way the customer wants to pay. I was so confused one day when my American fiance did a debit transaction with a Visa card (we were in the U.S. at the time) and she explained to me how things work down there.

[Imogene]

This is why, when people tell me "It's a credit/debit card!", and they HAND me said card instead of swiping it through the pin pad themselves, I simply reply, "Ok." and proceed to swipe it as a credit (which is the only way my tills are set up to take a card swiped on my side)

So much easier, money gets taken from where it's supposed to and put where it's supposed to, and I don' have to converse with the numbnuts any longer than I have to.

Boy, don't I wish I could've done that. The card readers in our store are all on the customer side of the counter. There's nothing on the employee side.

At Chesterfield, however, I could, and did, get away with that, most of the time. "It's credit."
M: "K..." *swipe*

[Lehk]

If it has a Mastercard or Visa logo on it, it is a credit card xor a debit card (which the bank probably chooses to double up as an ATM card),

i would like to point out that the bank systems can use ***ANY*** mag strip card as an ATM card. not all will necessarily let you use a random other card from your wallet, but the system can do it. including things like old hotel room keys and library cards.

[Mark Healey]

i would like to point out that the bank systems can use ***ANY*** mag strip card as an ATM card. not all will necessarily let you use a random other card from your wallet, but the system can do it. including things like old hotel room keys and library cards.

Not quite true. Cards can have 1-3 tracks with differrent bit densities. It's a case of technology being widely adopted before standards could be settled.

This is how much of a dork I am. I actually bought a reader just to see what was on the stripes of my various cards.

[karma_gypsy]

This is how much of a dork I am. I actually bought a reader just to see what was on the stripes of my various cards.

So . . . what kind of information is kept on the stripes? Like name and address? If you supposedly got your card stolen could someone have a reader to get your information?

Credit Card: You run the card, the bank pays the business and then bills you. Signature reqired, no pin. Business pays service fee.
Debit Card: You run the card, the bank checks that you have the money in your account, pays the business and withdraws the money from your account. This is all done through the same network as credit cards. Signature required, no pin. Business pays service fee.
ATM Card; You run the card, enter a pin, the bank checks your ballance, pays the business, ahd withdraws the money from your account. This is done throught a different network than Credit/Debit cards. Consumer pays service fees.

Yet a Credit cannot be ran as Debit, but a Debit can be ran as Credit . . . right?

And my debit/ATM card is the same one, so I have no troubles with that!

[AFpheonix]

So . . . what kind of information is kept on the stripes? Like name and address? If you supposedly got your card stolen could someone have a reader to get your information?



Yet a Credit cannot be ran as Debit, but a Debit can be ran as Credit . . . right?

And my debit/ATM card is the same one, so I have no troubles with that!

As long as the debit card has a visa/mastercard logo on it. There are some ATM cards and temp debit cards that cannot be run as credit, because they are only set up to be used with a PIN.

[Mark Healey]

So . . . what kind of information is kept on the stripes? Like name and address? If you supposedly got your card stolen could someone have a reader to get your information?

Nothing that isn't printed on the front of the card with maybe a checksum.

Yet a Credit cannot be ran as Debit, but a Debit can be ran as Credit . . . right?

And my debit/ATM card is the same one, so I have no troubles with that!

As Lekh pointed out the numbers on the card are just indices to a database. Debit cards were created to transfer money from the payers account to the payees through the credit card networks. No one at the till really needs to know whether it is a credit or debit.

At some point the banks decided, since the numbers on credit/debit and ATM cards were on the same stripe and of the same format, to use them as ATM cards as well.

I fear that this is one of those terms that is being used incorrectly by enough people often enough that it's meaning is going to change. Much as "hacker" and "wean" have.