REASONS YOU SHOULD BE FIRED

[Andara Bledin]

Ok. I had to look it up.

If popsci.com is to be believed, it's due to the thickness of the card and has nothing to do with the integrity of the magnetic strip or the card reader itself. It appears to be based on physical dimensions only.

However, at metafilter.com, the reason is further defined that if a reader is sensitive enough, any flaws or damage to a magnetic stripe will be enough to corrupt the data and cause a read failure. When a few microns of distance is added between the reader and the card, however, it effectively "blurs" the data to give a more uniform read, causing flaws to no longer foul it.

Another option mentioned is that if you have a finicky card, you can place a line of clear tape over the stripe, and that will have the same effect as a plastic bag and be a more permanent solution.

^-.-^

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I've told the story before, but I had a woman threaten to report me to management because I asked her to move by saying "excuse me" as I was coming through with a cart of stuff.

Her reasoning was "the customer should always go first and not have to move."

Thing was, something like this was mentioned to me in orientation in one of the various propaganda videos we had to watch. So I thought the woman worked up at corporate and was a little scared about it.

[Kogarashi]

I don't think it's sad when the first card fails and the customer pulls out a second. One could be a debit card.

What I think is sad when the second card fails. And the third. And the fourth. And...until the customer has tried at least seven cards.

I think the only customers I had mad at me enough to want me fired were for frivolous purposes.

Cake Lady was at the first Wal-Mart I worked for. I'd put a cake (in a cardboard box) from the bakery in the basket of her cart, then proceeded to carefully place what I could around it. One of these items was a 12-pack of toilet paper that was resting against one edge of the cake box. Cake Lady's tweenie daughter comes up and leans against the toilet paper. Cake Lady pays, leaves, notices crushed box and slightly damaged cake, and complains to the CSMs about my "reckless actions" and how I "crushed her cake." ::sigh::

Nosey was at the craft store while I was attending University, and probably had the most legitimate claim. I was working the Service Desk, which included answering the phones in its job duties. We had several items, including fake Christmas trees, that had red price tags and were therefore "all sales final" and non-returnable. I got a phone call from the 10th person that week (and likely the 4th or 5th that day) asking if they could return a fake Christmas tree they didn't want anymore. I explained no, that when it was sold they were told the sale was final. When I hung up, I told one of my coworkers about having "another customer who wants to return an unreturnable item," which I admit I shouldn't have done. Nosey was within earshot, and complained to the manager, and I got a reprimand.

Cigarette Princess was at the most recent Wal-Mart. She wanted me fired, or at least disciplined, because she "always had trouble with [me]" when she came to the store. My crimes? I carded her once when she came through for cigarettes, and then carded her brother who was with her (store policy). She threw a fit then, but didn't complain to management. She complained when I carded her again, about a month later, because she was using a credit card, the register prompted for a signature check, and the signatures didn't match at all. Turns out she was using her mother's card, so I ID'd her to make sure the last names matched. She threw a fit to the manager, who backed me up and told her that next time she probably shouldn't be using her mother's card if she doesn't want to be carded. Yay manager!

[Kusanagi]

REAL REASONS GIVEN AS TO WHY KUSANAGI SHOULD BE FIRED FROM HIS JOB:

I'm mean
I didn't do (insert a ton of asskissing gestures here)
I did (a ton of mean things like, oh, enforce policy)
I enforced policy
I told the customer "no."
I've kicked a customer out
I didn't take the customer's side in a dispute with a coworker
I'm somehow personally responsible for the delivery truck running late
I'm somehow personally responsible for the delivery truck running late because it broke down
I'm somehow personally responsible for the delivery truck running late because it caught fire immediately before breaking down
I don't haggle
I'm white
I'm not black
I'm not "helpin a brotha out"
I price fix
Only women should sell furniture
I didn't pay out of my pocket for a boomlift to deliver a sofa through someone's skylight
I'm a (insert colorful language here)
I take days off
I've closed the showroom when I had to run to the bank
I've closed the showroom because I've had to go to the hospital
I've closed the showroom because someone ELSE had to go to the hospital
I can overturn the president of the company, I just don't want to

There's alot more in there, that's all I can think of at the moment...

[derangedperson]

REAL REASONS GIVEN AS TO WHY KUSANAGI SHOULD BE FIRED FROM HIS JOB:

I'm somehow personally responsible for the delivery truck running late because it caught fire immediately before breaking down

When did this happen?

[theredbaron47]

I'm not "helpin a brotha out"

My sympathy reaches out to you, Kus.

[greensinestro]

I've had my share of SC's who have tried this as well. Never mind that I need to make a living and this may be my only source of income. Now, had I called you an F-ing Bizatch, then fine, I should be fired. However, these are some reasons I have had over the years that I should have been fired:

1. Guy one time who was making a calling card call, and his number would not accept. Four times I entered his code, and it was rejected. So, he requested a supervisor, and it turned out he was using a competitor's card that we do not honor. Why should I have been fired? Because my tone was "snippy" when I advised him his card does not work. No time to ask what kind of card it was or anything else.

2. I have had this so many times I have lost count. The SC's who think you should be fired because while they reported a problem to you, you asked them the required questions for finding out why they were having the problem. These people think "it doesn't work" is enough information to troubleshoot with.

3. Woman who thought I should have been fired, because while she was asking for assistance in a thick heavy accent, with loud, crackling static on her line, I told her "I cannot hear you that well, maam."

4. SC's who want you fired because you advised them they could not have something for free.

Now, mind you, people like this probably are rude and ugly to other people around them, and if they are dealing with customers like I do, how would they feel about someone they pissed off who thought they should be fired? Wouldn't they be saying something like, "Hey, I have to make a living as well and didn't really do something that justifies me being fired!"?

[Dreamstalker]

When I first started working at the game store, I once had someone demand the owner fire me because...he swore he had bought Y, but there was no Y listed on his purchase history. I suspected that said title was one of his many used-book purchases but as used books are not listed in the computer by title--only price--there was no way to tell. He even gave me a date on which there were no new-book purchases, but a lot of used ones, further cementing my proposal that Y had been in fact a used copy.

What made that particularly is that I got lectured about it (while the owner may have remembered this guy buying Y, I couldn't have been expected to know that and it wasn't in the system. I "should have called [owner]"...um, no offense, but I don't think a probable purchase date and title would be enough to go on.

[powerboy]

i love those machines... yes, I think that people in this country should learn to speak english... that said if someone is more comfortable in spanish and can do their transaction faster in spanish than in english by all means do so in spanish so I can get through the line quicker too.

Same way I think

Believe it or not; this actually works.

I was having trouble trying to get a regulars' cc to read (even I knew his card was good) at the motel one day and happened to remember an old trick involving a plastic bag. So I dig out a white WallyWorld bag and put the card inside and Ta-Da! The card reader picked up the card with no problems. I even called our bank later that same day and we did indeed the the funds.

I never heard or seen this trick. I will try that next time at work

[Boochan]

I don't think it's sad when the first card fails and the customer pulls out a second. One could be a debit card.

What I think is sad when the second card fails. And the third. And the fourth. And...until the customer has tried at least seven cards.

Two cards I don't blink at, especially if the store been in the area it is (where credit is king and many people lay-away because they cant afford to give us more then $5 for something they need, or cause they only have a spare $10 or $20 a week for other goods). We've had many instances where our Pinpad just doesn't like cards, and rejects them all, then the customer goes to an ATM and withdraws cash and it works. It also doesn't help that we have one line for the fax, pinpad, cheque validator and voucher machine, so they all tend to interfere with each other as well, causing massive headaches >_<