Just sign the damn card.

[Seshat]

ID

And his card was signed with just his initials.

A friend of mine temporarily got into trouble with his teacher because his test was marked

ME

Then the teacher remembered that (a) she'd got the kids to initial the test, and (b) my friend's name was Mark Eastwood*.


* Name changed, initials retained.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Actually the eelskin thing isn't true http://www.snopes.com/science/eelskin.asp

And if Snopes isn't enough, Mythbusters also tested it and found it was busted.

[gremcint]

what if my name is actually see id?

[fireheart]

And if Snopes isn't enough, Mythbusters also tested it and found it was busted.

Just don't hold any neodynium magnets up to it

[Jay 2K Winger]

Just don't hold any neodynium magnets up to it

Hey, keep those things away from me. They scare the hell out of me, they're so powerful.

[PepperElf]

I had one of these from a gentleman earlier and (due to our lack of a common language) his girlfriend explained that he never signed his cards due to the possibility of someone copying it... I explained it as above ("if you lost this & I signed this, I'd be able to use it unchallenged") and he practically rocked on his heels as the stupidity of his chosen course of action finally hit him!

This is a very good point. Now granted I don't talk to my customers about whether or not they should sign. Yes I know it's the rules for the card and technically I can refuse the card... but it would end up just being more trouble for me than anything else. (i.e. pissing off a customer who in turn talks to the manager etc).

So... I will ask to see the card - simply cos I have to get numbers from it. And if the card isn't signed I ask to see the ID and check that the names match.

but yes... if the card is signed then I never ask for ID.

[RealUnimportant]

One thing I've remembered since posting is how an old colleague used to handle this pre-Chip&PIN. They too were worried about ID thefts etc., so to prevent someone from duplicating their signature they'd use a different personal glyph for each card. His bank never complained, so long as he submitted a new signature card when he changed glyph, and the shops never complained so long as what he wrote on the slip matched what was on the card. This always struck me as a clever idea, but I'm too slovenly to keep up to date with such things.

It's also much better than an alternate idea I saw someone use once, where they tried to use their own pen wherever they went because it had the same green ink in that they'd used to sign their card. Unfortunately it was a fountain pen, and so it was useless on any form of slip that required you to press down for a carbon/less duplicate. Because I was always a stickler for such things, I had to ask them to use our own pen so that the carbon copy showed their signature in case they wanted to try & dispute the charge later, and they were mystified how I'd know it was them who'd signed if they didn't use the same colour ink... Um, because the signature's shape will match?