Hey, everyone! Nice Night. And I finally have something to talk about besides Captain Dipshit and his Porsche of Failure.
As I'm sure anyone who work in Food Service or Cashiers Work knows, a Credit Card Machine works through PHONE LINES, meaning they are capable of, and occasionally DO, cease working for some technical problem that we have no power to affect upon. For us, this event occurs maybe once every four or five weeks apparently because God decides it would be funny to throw us a Curveball and open the floodgates for Idiocy. Today was one such day. (on Memorial day weekend, of all the friggin times!)
When this happens, we have standard procedure... Unplug the Line, Reboot the register computer, Excorcise the Demons (I need an OLD Tech, and a YOUNG Tech!), all that jazz, and then see if it decided to resume function. More often than not, it does, and the Machine is apparently just having a brain fart. When it fails to restore connectivity and run cards, we put up our signs, three of them, one on the front door, one at the start of the sandwich line, and one right before the register, saying, "We are VERY SORRY, but we cannot take cards. Please have Cash ready to pay for your order."
AND while they're down, we have whoever is woking the start of the line ensure that customers have seen and acknowledge these signs. This prevents the customer from acting surprised at the register and prevents us from wasting food that is not going to be paid for. We still get the same question, a thousand times over, "How Come it's Not Working?" but we explain it nicely, and they either turn and exit because they have no cash, or they check to make sure they can cover their bill in money. It's simple, and normally effective.
Unless you have the brain-power of your average Doorknob.
Enter Big Sammich Order Lady, hereafter refered to as "Dumbass".... Oh, Fine, we'll call her BSOL.
I happen to be at the start of the line, this time, and I greet her nicely, and casually guesture to our sign in front of me stating our appologies, but we cannot acced Credit Card Payments at this time. She tells me, and this is a direct quote... "No Problem."
Then she unfolds her Grocery List order form. All three of us behind the line silently groan, as she places her order for 9 footlongs, and all of them have those little nitpicky details that she wants done... "I want no more or less than 20 olives on it, and make sure the cucumber slices are all the same size across the sandwich" etc.... she was during a lul in the line, so we indulge with that fake smile we all learn to use, and soon, I am facing her at the register, her order all bagged up and ready to go. I ring her up, and I give her her total, and she pulls from her wallet what looks a LOT like a credit card. I raise my brow, and look at her, and politey reiterate that we cannot accept credit cards at that time.
BSOL: I know that. This is a Debit Card. Where do I swipe it?
Me: ....... Ma'am... We don't run Debit here, there's no Pinnumber pad... it all goes through as Credit on the same machine.... we cannot run that card, the Computer will not connect to the network.
BSOL: Oh... well, thats inconvienent. Does that mean my food is free today? (This was not a jest, she was ACTUALLY REQUESTING we let her have all this food for free...)
Me: Uhmm... No, ma'am... it's not. But there IS an ATM just a few doors down from here, at >Another Store< and we'll be glad to hold onto this for you, till you get back... (Said through gritted teeth.. I knew how this would end.)
BSOL: No, I don't want to pull any cash and pay a Withdrawl Fee. Just forget it.
And she WALKS OUT on a 9-footlong order... all of them with veggie and sauce combo's so revolting that none of us Employees wanted to eat ANY of them... what a goddamn waste.... And still no Milford in Sight (it's been four days now, he always at least walks by the store once a night.. maybe I've just been missing him somehow), who I'm sure would have loved this treasure trove of free goodies.
I've been at this job for over a year now... would it be worth loosing it, to just ONCE reach across and slap the stupid out of someone who deserves it?
In the Immortal words of Perry Cox, "In the Immortal words of Daffy Duck, 'I demand that you Shoot me NOW'!".
As I'm sure anyone who work in Food Service or Cashiers Work knows, a Credit Card Machine works through PHONE LINES, meaning they are capable of, and occasionally DO, cease working for some technical problem that we have no power to affect upon. For us, this event occurs maybe once every four or five weeks apparently because God decides it would be funny to throw us a Curveball and open the floodgates for Idiocy. Today was one such day. (on Memorial day weekend, of all the friggin times!)
When this happens, we have standard procedure... Unplug the Line, Reboot the register computer, Excorcise the Demons (I need an OLD Tech, and a YOUNG Tech!), all that jazz, and then see if it decided to resume function. More often than not, it does, and the Machine is apparently just having a brain fart. When it fails to restore connectivity and run cards, we put up our signs, three of them, one on the front door, one at the start of the sandwich line, and one right before the register, saying, "We are VERY SORRY, but we cannot take cards. Please have Cash ready to pay for your order."
AND while they're down, we have whoever is woking the start of the line ensure that customers have seen and acknowledge these signs. This prevents the customer from acting surprised at the register and prevents us from wasting food that is not going to be paid for. We still get the same question, a thousand times over, "How Come it's Not Working?" but we explain it nicely, and they either turn and exit because they have no cash, or they check to make sure they can cover their bill in money. It's simple, and normally effective.
Unless you have the brain-power of your average Doorknob.
Enter Big Sammich Order Lady, hereafter refered to as "Dumbass".... Oh, Fine, we'll call her BSOL.
I happen to be at the start of the line, this time, and I greet her nicely, and casually guesture to our sign in front of me stating our appologies, but we cannot acced Credit Card Payments at this time. She tells me, and this is a direct quote... "No Problem."
Then she unfolds her Grocery List order form. All three of us behind the line silently groan, as she places her order for 9 footlongs, and all of them have those little nitpicky details that she wants done... "I want no more or less than 20 olives on it, and make sure the cucumber slices are all the same size across the sandwich" etc.... she was during a lul in the line, so we indulge with that fake smile we all learn to use, and soon, I am facing her at the register, her order all bagged up and ready to go. I ring her up, and I give her her total, and she pulls from her wallet what looks a LOT like a credit card. I raise my brow, and look at her, and politey reiterate that we cannot accept credit cards at that time.
BSOL: I know that. This is a Debit Card. Where do I swipe it?
Me: ....... Ma'am... We don't run Debit here, there's no Pinnumber pad... it all goes through as Credit on the same machine.... we cannot run that card, the Computer will not connect to the network.
BSOL: Oh... well, thats inconvienent. Does that mean my food is free today? (This was not a jest, she was ACTUALLY REQUESTING we let her have all this food for free...)
Me: Uhmm... No, ma'am... it's not. But there IS an ATM just a few doors down from here, at >Another Store< and we'll be glad to hold onto this for you, till you get back... (Said through gritted teeth.. I knew how this would end.)
BSOL: No, I don't want to pull any cash and pay a Withdrawl Fee. Just forget it.
And she WALKS OUT on a 9-footlong order... all of them with veggie and sauce combo's so revolting that none of us Employees wanted to eat ANY of them... what a goddamn waste.... And still no Milford in Sight (it's been four days now, he always at least walks by the store once a night.. maybe I've just been missing him somehow), who I'm sure would have loved this treasure trove of free goodies.
I've been at this job for over a year now... would it be worth loosing it, to just ONCE reach across and slap the stupid out of someone who deserves it?
In the Immortal words of Perry Cox, "In the Immortal words of Daffy Duck, 'I demand that you Shoot me NOW'!".
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