I know I have enough money on this thing...

[fireheart]

I get this a bit. Nowadays, I just let them go to their nearest ATM while holding their groceries so they can get their act together.

[Tigerpounce]

We have a card that the HEB near us did NOT like, but we knew this. Sometimes it took a few swipes and it kind of sucks to be looked at like we're one of these idiots, but we identified the problem and spoke with the manager about it and he actually did some research and found that HEB had some weird issue with our bank authentication and it got fixed. We did this politely, quietly, and at no point blamed HEB, just suggested that because we did not have this trouble anywhere else, they may want to look into it.

I'm sure if we were all "whine, whine, complain, YELLYELLYELLELEVENTYHOLLER!!11!!" then nothing would have gotten done. It's amazing what being NICE can do for you.

[Teskeria]

My card will not work at Walmart. Not even at the ATMs in the stores. So I walk to the nearest other store with an ATM (the walmarts I use are in mini-malls around here), and got cash, came back, waited in line again and paid. Now if I need to stop at Walmart I just bring cash. everywhere else the card works fine.

[BrenDAnn]

I just had one of these the other day, but with a twist. Upon presenting me her card (a bank card, could be swiped as credit or debit), she said "If it declines, just swipe it again, I've had that problem everywhere today." and went on about how she didn't understand, she had money in the account, etc. So, I ran the card as debit, and it of course declined. I tried it as credit, and it declined again. She tried the ATM, and it told her that it couldn't give her money, so I'm guessing she either used her card a lot that day, or didn't have the funds she thought she did. She walked out mumbling about how she just didn't understand it, because the last ATM receipt had shown over $600 in it. I just rolled my eyes a bit, shrugged, put a smile on my face, and moved on to the next customer. Some people are so deep in denial, they don't know what it's like not to be there!

[alowlypotato]

Back when I worked in regular retail, I'd get people like this all the time! As others have experienced, though, they'd usually just whip out another hunk o' plastic and use that instead (how deep into debt ARE these people? And why don't they stop?!)

Now, I'm on the other side of the equation, working in banking. So, after having their card declined with you, they run to me and are like, "something weird is happening!"

"Well, dear sir, it seems you've overdrawn your account!"
"But how?"
"You bought something here, and then here, and then here, and then over here. And then these three checks came through."
"NOOOO IMPOSSIBLE I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

It's never their fault, either. Because, well, they aren't just in denial -- they sincerely believe it's not their responsibility to keep track of their spending. It's annoying and sad.