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  • Credit cards, great big signs, and great big lies

    Background: TBGSITW does not accept credit cards. This is because our chain prides itself on having the lowest prices around, and by not paying the transaction fees that Visa/Mastercard/etc. charge we can shave the extra 1-2% off our prices that other chains build in to cover the cost. There is a big sign (big as in several feet tall) right at the front door, at eye level, that explains this in great big block letters, as well as a smaller sign at each register which says what forms of payment we do take - cash, check, debit, EBT, WIC, and store gift cards. This has been the rule for as long as our location has been open, my store manager who's been with the company 21 years says it's been the rule as long as he's worked for the company, and as far as I know the company has never taken credit cards since our first location opened 45+ years ago. In spite of this, it's almost a given that on any given cashier shift, at least two customers will swipe their card on the keypad and then ask where the credit button is.

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
    Me: Myself and I
    SC: Customer
    ALC: Awesome Lead Clerk. At this time he'd been with the company about 10 years, and had an almost sublime ability to always be smiling and sound upbeat even when he was furious about something. He took me under his wing when we opened and taught me a boatload about how the business works. He's since been promoted and is assistant manager at a store in CA, where he is no doubt kicking ass and taking names.

    This particular incident occurred about a year ago, on a busy weekday night at the beginning of the month. I was scheculed as a stocker, but we got a rush and I was in a register trying to get the lines down when SC came through with a couple hundred dollars worth of merchandise.

    Me: That'll be $XXX.XX.
    (SC swipes his card and then looks at the screen confusedly. I sense what is coming and die inside a little.)
    SC: Where's the credit card button?
    Me: I'm afraid we don't accept credit, sir.
    SC: When did you stop taking credit?
    Me: We haven't taken credit at all since we opened.
    SC: I was here two weeks ago and I used my credit card!
    Me: ...No, sir, we aren't set up to take credit at all.
    SC: Then why do you have that Visa sticker on your front door?
    (Red flag! There are several decals on our front door, but none of them are the Visa logo.)
    Me: We don't, sir.
    SC: I want to talk to your manager.
    Me: Very well, sir.
    (I press the button to page the lead clerk. ALC arrives a minute or so later.)
    ALC: What do you need?
    Me: This customer would like to speak to you.
    ALC: What can I do for you, sir?
    SC: He won't take my credit card!
    ALC: We don't take credit cards, sir.
    SC: I used my card here just two weeks ago!
    ALC: I've worked here for ten years and we've never taken credit cards, sir.
    SC: Then why do you have all those Visa stickers on your front door?
    ALC: Could you please show me those stickers, sir?

    SC and ALC walk away to the front door while I suspend his order so I can start ringing up the next customer, who's been very patient during all of this. The door is about 100 feet away so I can't hear their conversation, but I watch out of the corner of my eye as SC spends several minutes gesticulating wildly, while ALC continues to nod at him and smile. Eventually, SC walks out the door and ALC strides over and tells me to go ahead and cancel out his order since he's not been invited to patronize us again.

    Bonus WTF: I do not think that word means what you think it means

    The main bread section at TBGSITW is located on the half-aisle facing the cash registers, meaning it's the last thing you encounter on your way to check out. We occasionally also sometimes have a promo display of bread by the front door. I was pulling cardboard near that display one summer afternoon when an Old Lady (OL) walked up to me and we had this exchange;

    OL: Is this all the bread you have?
    Me: No, ma'am. Bread is on the front aisle by the cash registers. (I point to the bread aisle, which is visible from where we're standing.)
    OL: Well, that's deceptive, isn't it?
    Me: ...Excuse me?
    OL: You shouldn't be deceiving people like that.
    Me: ...
    (OL walks away.)

  • #2
    Dumbass credit card guy was probably accusing your manager of having all the Visa stickers removed to make him look stupid.

    Old Lady....I got nothin'.
    When you start at zero, everything's progress.

    Comment


    • #3
      Nice Princess Bride reference there! (one of my favourite movies of all time)

      SCs never ever read signs unless it contains the words Free, Sale, Discount, or % off and when they read those signs, they only read the part that says that they are right.
      "Employees can make or break any business, so treat them with respect. Job satisfaction has little to do with money. Discover what it has to do with and make sure they get it."

      Comment


      • #4
        Smapti, have you ever considered writing a book about your experiences? Your writing style is awesome. If the two major posts you've written are any indication of what you could pack into a full length book, I'd be one of the first in line to give you my money!
        At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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        • #5
          I'm always amazed by the people who are surprised that you don't take credit cards... granted, I've been shopping with the brand sense before they took debit even and I had to remember to stop at my bank on the way to take cash out...
          If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

          Comment


          • #6
            This sounds like the type of person that gets angry at us because we don't have chip technology with our card readers.

            OMG WTFBBQ YOU DON'T HAVE CHIP!? HOW FAR BEHIND THE TIMES ARE YOU GUYS? (said after he got pissy that that he had to prepay)

            Look, muffin. We don't have chip tech because it's expensive, customers are retarded and don't know how to properly use it, and we have US customers whose card don't have the chip. Oh, wait...no, I decided to forgo having the chip tech just to piss you off.

            Comment


            • #7
              I think I know which chain you work for. It sounds a lot like my local grocery store, which does not accept credit cards, has a good bulk foods section and the bread aisle facing the registers.

              You could have the no credit cards sign in flashing animated neon, and they'd still not get it.

              And how the heck is it deceptive to have the bread facing the registers? Unless by "deceptive" she means "blatantly staring you in the face".
              I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
              My LiveJournal
              A page we can all agree with!

              Comment


              • #8
                I understood the post to mean she saw an endcap or similar and then decided that this was the whole bread section. Then she learned that there was an actual bread aisle that wasn't that endcap...and instead of admitting it was her own brain burp, decided to say that the store had lied to her.

                SCs: allergic to admitting their own flaws. :\
                1129. I will refrain from casting Dimension Jump and Magnificent Mansion on every police box we pass.
                -----
                http://orchidcolors.livejournal.com (A blog about everything and nothing)

                Comment


                • #9
                  Your store takes cheques??? Wow. I can't decipher your reference ("TBGSITW") but I'm guessing it doesn't exist in my neck of the woods. Wish it did; I would be happy to shop there on that basis alone. I thought stores that took cheques had long since gone the way of the rotary dial phone.

                  P.S. Any idea what "all those Visa stickers" was referring to? I mean, since your store obviously doesn't have Visa stickers all over the front door ...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The only decal we have on the front door at the moment is one saying we participate in the state's anti-ORC (organized retail crime, not those things from Tolkien) initiative. Can't imagine how you'd ID that as a VISA logo, but stranger things have happened.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Rooted, that's what I was kind of thinking too. And then I started to think of why the SC would use a word with negative connotations about something that is so obviously a plus, and realized 'That way lies madness' and thought about cookies instead.

                      Smapti, glad you had such an on-the-bounce ALC. Too bad someone had to do returns on all the SCs crap, but even from your stocker's perspective, I'm betting the perma-ban made it worth it. (And not to delve too far into SC "logic" but WTH difference would it have made if there WERE Visa stickers on the door at that point? No matter how far the management chain he went, no one was going to pull a credit transfer system out of their butt. Wait. SC + EW syndrome = "I saw a logo, there must be a LAW that says they accept it or I get my groceries free!" )

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Sandiercy View Post
                        SCs never ever read signs unless it contains the words Free, Sale, Discount, or % off and when they read those signs, they only read the part that says that they are right.
                        Oh yes. I am dealing with this right now. My store is having a sale, and while I may not agree with the way the signage is done, it is what it is. The signs say up to 50% off original prices. They also sent out a postcard notifying them of said sale.

                        Yet I've had several customers say to me "oh, isn't it another 50% off?" No, granted the "up to" part is in smaller letters tahn the rest, but even so....

                        I also saw on my stores FB page, someone asking if anyone else felt "duped" by the card they received, since I guess they thought they were getting 50% off an item. Um no. no you are not. it doesn't say that at all; you're just too stupid to read carefully!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Catwoman2965 View Post
                          it doesn't say that at all; you're just too stupid to read carefully!
                          Fixed that for ya.

                          It's the fault of Corporate/the ads dept when wording is too small to see (disclaimers on TV ads)...BUT it's the customer's fault when they simply ignore everything but the BIG HUGE LETTERING which, 99% of the time, is plenty big enough to see. That's not the fault of anyone at store-level.

                          Kinda like the issue that's being (intentionally) going on with Subway ads for years...you all know them, the "ANY ANY ANY regular FIVE DOLLAR FOOTLOOOOOOOONG"

                          Quoth Pixilated View Post
                          I can't decipher your reference ("TBGSITW")
                          'The Biggest/Busiest Grocery Store in the World", iirc. See his post in the New Members section
                          "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                          "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                          "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                          "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                          "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                          "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                          Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                          "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth EricKei View Post
                            BUT it's the customer's fault when they simply ignore everything but the BIG HUGE LETTERING which, 99% of the time, is plenty big enough to see. That's not the fault of anyone at store-level.
                            I've been saying that for years at my job. When people complain that they should be getting X item for 50% off because the sign says so, and I go back and find the sign and it very clearly says it's for Z item, they complain that the signs are "misleading" and they "shouldn't have to read the fine print!"

                            Um, yeah, the "fine print" on these signs is a quarter of an inch to half an inch tall and printed in a very clean, easy-to-read font. I can read it without my glasses. And it's only "misleading" if you don't read the entire sign!!!
                            I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
                            My LiveJournal
                            A page we can all agree with!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth Smapti View Post
                              The only decal we have on the front door at the moment is one saying we participate in the state's anti-ORC (organized retail crime, not those things from Tolkien) initiative. Can't imagine how you'd ID that as a VISA logo, but stranger things have happened.
                              Reminds me of a Simpson's epsiode where Marge is trying to order water in a pub in Australia...

                              Marge: Water please.
                              BT: One beer coming up.
                              Marge: No! Water!
                              BT: Beer!
                              Marge: W! A! T!
                              BT: B! E! E!

                              ALC: No Credit Cards!
                              SC: VISA!
                              ALC: N! O! C!
                              SC: V! I! S!
                              You'll find a slight squeeze on the hooter an excellent safety precaution, Miss Scrumptious.

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