Mr. "No I will not show you my ID"...

[JChristine22]

Sorry but this is long!

So if anyone has read this thread by Amalthea called "Does owning a credit card rot your brain" then you have heard of the jackass and the poor cashier who had to deal with him... that was me... allow me to fill you in on the details... Lets start from the FIRST time I had this guy...

So its about a week into my job as a cashier in the bookstore... I've trained well and I was told to always ask to see an ID with a credit card thats shows the name and signature that matches with the card... So this guy walks up and I greet him as I would anyone else and then when it comes time to pay he whips out his card...

Me: Is that going to be Debit or Credit?
SC: Credit.
Me: Alright, If I could just see an ID with that...
SC: *Stands there as if he didn't hear me*
ME: Sir if I could see an ID please...
SC: You know you can't ask to see my ID as a form of idetification... it CLEARLY states that in your merchant agreement!
Me: *a little taken aback* Um I'm sorry but I was told by our managers that I need to see and ID...
SC *shows me his ID* You need to let you manager know about that cuz you guys could get in a lot of trouble and not be able to take cards anymore...
Me: I'll let them know... Have a Nice Day .... *mumble*ass*mumble*.

So time passes but I am always alittle shy about asking for ID (cuz I don't want ANOTHER dose of "kiss this" from the customers... then one fine friggin day a guy comes in saying he was just picking a book up for his wife (he looks familiar...) So I get the book that was ordered off the shelf and ring it up and such and he goes to pay with a card...

Me: Is that going to be Debit or Credit?
SC: Credit.
Me: Alright if I could just see and ID.
SC: The signature on the back is all you need to see.
Me: I need to see an ID to make sure thats YOU *looking on the back to find that the signature has rubbed off from the swiping*
SC: YOUR merchant agreement CLEARLY states that you can't ask for an ID as a primary form of Identification...
ME: *thinking* Jesus.... NOT YOU AGAIN!!!! *but saying* Yes but I am following our store policy.
SC: I am sick of trying to use my credit card and ALWAYS being asked for ID...
Me: Well you can swipe it and enter your PIN...
SC: I WANT to run it as credit. YOUR merchant agreement-
Me: Yes sir I remeber the LAST time you came in... I talked to the manager and he informed me of OUR merchant agreement and it states NOTHING of the sort...
SC: Well you need to look at your merchant agreement...
Me: *holds up finger to signal him to shut the hell up and calls a manager*
M(manager): *comes up* Whats going on?
Me: *looks at the guy* Go ahead!
SC *goes off on his rant yet again like HE LOVES hearing this speech!*
M: But there is no signature on the back. if there is no signature than we cant compare it.
SC: It WAS signed but it rubbed off, and if I sign it again it will be void (or some stupid crap like that) Call VISA and they will tell you who I am.
M: How can VISA do that?
SM (Store Manager): *comes up at request of M* Sir I can't sell you anything until I can verify that YOUR name matches the one on the card. To do that I need to see you ID.
SC: No. Call VISA they will tell you who I am and if they tell me to show you an ID then I will.
*they call VISA while I am standing back SEETHING!!!!! I don't want this guy to get his way*

ANYWHO! VISA says that if he doesn't show an ID the NO SALE! (YAY!) and he produces his ID grudgingly.... I run the card and as he leaves I smile with a hint of a glare and say as NICELY as possible "Have a great day." He says nothing...

NOONE else has dealt with this guy in the store... only me! I swear I am still waiting for him to come in and bother me again... I will not help him. I'll suddenly have to use the bathroom or something...

[symposes]

It amazes me how people get so pissed off, or flustered, or whatever when you ask for their ID for a credit card.
If i was standing behind one in line, i was say, "Hey can i use your credit card real quick, since you dont want them checking id, they wont know im not you."
or something like that.

[MadMike]

ANYWHO! VISA says that if he doesn't show an ID the NO SALE! (YAY!) and he produces his ID grudgingly.... I run the card and as he leaves I smile with a hint of a glare and say as NICELY as possible "Have a great day." He says nothing...

So how much time did he waste with his childish argument? I'm sure he would have been out of there a lot sooner if he would have simply showed his ID.

It would have been funny as hell if his card would have declined. Or maybe not. Surely he would have yelled at you for it.

[Boulder_Bear]

a quick point. When I was a manager at blockbuster we got word from corporate that we could no longer ask for ID when a customer was using a Mastercard. Maybe this retard got the two cards mixed up or something.

[Moirae]

lol. That's funny. First time I've heard that actually. I'm currently working in a hotel (have worked hotels for many years though this is only casual) and in all my years in hotel work, we've always asked to see ID. The only thing we can't do is photocopy the ID. But see it... well what else is it there for? It's ID. That's the whole purpose of ID.

[chainedbarista]

we got word from corporate that we could no longer ask for ID when a customer was using a Mastercard.

if this holds true, then said customer cannot bitch when their card is lost/stolen, used by someone else, causing them a HUGE loss. if you don't want to take the risks of theft/loss and what follows, be smart and get out that ID, people.

[CrazedClerk]

"you can't ask for an ID as a primary form of Identification..."

I find this statement a bit confusing lol.

[Auto]

He may be acting like a SC but he's right that he doesn't have to show ID to use a CC.

As for showing ID in order to prevent someone from stealing my CC and using it -- if I see unauthorized charges on my statement, I call the CC company and they remove them. Since when does anyone in America pay for unauthorized charges on a CC?

I've been victim of identity theft. It is an unbeleiveable hassle to fix. I now pay much more careful attention to my ID cards than to CC. Sorry, but that's life in America nowadays.

[Kogarashi]

He may be acting like a SC but he's right that he doesn't have to show ID to use a CC.

And on the flip side of that coin, the bookstore doesn't have to sell him anything at all if they're allowed to ask for ID, have that set as store policy, and he doesn't wish to comply.

[phillippbo]

There are two issues going on here: the cardholder seems to think that the store can not ask for ID, and the store requires ID on every transaction. Being the inquisitive person that I am, I sauntered on over to visa.com and found the merchant agreement (well, not with all the legalese, but a plain-English version). It's located here:

http://usa.visa.com/download/busines..._merchants.pdf

On page 29, it states that the cardholder is correct in that a merchant can not refuse to complete a transaction because the customer won't produce ID (except as noted below). HOWEVER, it also says that Visa does not stop merchants from asking for ID even though Visa strongly discourages it.

On the flip side of the coin, in this case the store had strong ground to stand on with Visa's backing. In this case, since the card is unsigned it is invalid (and interestingly enough, a card with "See ID" or "Ask for ID" in the signature spot is considered unsigned and also invalid). For the merchant to accept the card, the following series of events would need to happen:

- The cardholder's ID must be checked (it doesn't say, but the implication is to make sure the names match). If the law allows, the ID number and expiration date needs to be written on the recpt;

- The customer must sign the card in front of the person completing the transaction;

- The signature on the card and the ID must be compared and match.

If the cardholder refuses to show ID, and the transaction is processed anyway, and later the cardholder disputes the charge, the store can be held financially responsible. In other words, if the card is unsigned, and the customer doesn't do the above, you DO NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT THE CARD. In this case, JChristine22 and her bosses were completely right, and the dip with the card was totally wrong.

</visa lesson>



----EDIT----

Whoops, forgot to mention. See page 33 about "Code 10" calls. If I were still in retail, anybody that ticked me off would likely become "suspicious" and I would need to call it in. Wouldn't stop the transaction, but would hold them up. I know, I know, revenge and all that, but sometimes you just can't help yourself...

[Amalthea]

Yeah, JChristine and I work at the same place. I'm sure she will have plenty of tales. (Just about to check the Coworkers folder to see if she's posted something about a certain SOMEONE from last night) Anyhow, on a related note, yesterday the Head Cashier informed me of a policy change. I knew that our policy to ask for ID for every credit transaction was something the Store Manager decided, not a corporate policy. Well, now we are NOT ALLOWED to ask for ID on a credit card transaction unless there is no signature on the card or it says "See ID" on it. So instead of asking for ID we're just supposed to ask to verify the signature on the card, and match it to what they sign on the receipt. One co-worker told me it was because the dipshit above called corporate, another said it has nothing to do with him. So, I'm not sure which is right. But hey less asking for ID for me.

I had a lady once who told me she signed the back of her card different from the way she usually signed so that if thieves forged that signature it wouldn't really look like hers. But then how do you use the signature as verification?

[Sofar]

We aren't allowed to tack on a surcharge for small credit card orders either, but we still do it. A lot of customers don't understand that we pay money to accept credit cards, and at our restaurant we lose money on anything less than three dollars and thirty-five cents. A man yesterday complained about how we didn't take American Express, we are a small town burger joint*. We can't afford to take American Express.

*I know, I live in the largest city in Washington. But if you've ever been here, it's more like about two dozen small towns really close together, with some big buildings between them all.

[AFpheonix]

Heck, American Express is spendy even for big chains like mine. Last year, AM attempted to raise rates on us, and W simply prepared to stop accepting their cards. We won. Ha ha!

[CanadaGirl]

Augh! Why don't these idiots understand that us asking for ID to verfiy their signature and name is to protect them from theft! At the liquor store I work at, we usually only check ID for large orders when a c/c card is used, because anyone with a stolen credit card won't just go and buy a $12 mickey.

He may be acting like a SC but he's right that he doesn't have to show ID to use a CC.

As for showing ID in order to prevent someone from stealing my CC and using it -- if I see unauthorized charges on my statement, I call the CC company and they remove them. Since when does anyone in America pay for unauthorized charges on a CC?

Unauthorized charges can be stopped by the cashier CHECKING FOR ID when you or the thief goes to pay for their purchase.

[batmoody]

We never have to ask for ID. We dont even have to see their credit card.The customers do it all on their own through the debit machine. Which is fine with me, I don't want to have to deal with it. But I do get the occassional customer who will get pissed because I didnt ask to see their ID. The guy in this story is the perfect example of why. I just tell these jerks that its because too many people complained. (probably not true) That usually shuts them up.