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In Which I Fail at Using the Card Reader

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  • #1

    In Which I Fail at Using the Card Reader

    A couple weeks ago I went to a new pharmacy to fill a prescription. I go to pay and it's one of those card readers that you put the card physically inside instead of swiping. So I stick it in with the number side facing up, and it doesn't read my card.

    The employee attempts to tell me how to insert my card but my brain just locked up. The employee finally took the card from me and inserted it correctly and Ta Da! it worked. I felt like an idiot when I realized all I had to do was flip the card over so the magnetic side was facing up, and turn the card around. In my defense I have never seen a card reader like that, and I hadn't been awake for long and I hadn't had any caffeine.

    I'm sure the employee was rolling her eyes as I walked away.
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  • #2
    All of the card readers I come across are chip-and-pin nowadays, I've hardly ever had my card swiped. I still put it in the wrong way sometimes, so you're not alone.

    On a related note, I was once using the self-service computers in Tesco and for the life of me I could not find the card machine. I searched the entire system for about five minutes before asking a employee nearby who pointed out that it was right next to the screen.

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    • #3
      Don't worry, it always takes me a couple of times before I get it right... since it seems around here every store has a totally different system.

      There is one local grocery store where you can not swipe the card until the cashier is totally finished ringing up your order. Then they have to ask you if it's debit or credit, and if you want cash back. Then you can finally swipe it...

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      • #4
        That's a weird machine, Target used to have ones that your card went into, but quite logically they were inserted face up.
        Seph
        Taur10
        "You're supposed to be the head of covert intelligence. Right now, I'm not seeing a hell of a lot of intelligence. Covert, overt, or otherwise!"-Lochley, B5, A View from the Gallery

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        • #5
          CVS has those now. I did the same thing when I saw them and the cashier and BF laughed at me.
          Ridiculous 2009 Predictions: Evil Queen will beat Martha Stewart to death with a muffin pan. All hail Evil Queen! (Some things don't need elaboration.....) -- Jester

          Ridiculous 2010 Predictions: Evil Queen, after escaping prison for last years prediction, goes out and waffle irons Rachel Ray to death. -- SG15Z

          Ridiculous 2011 Prediction: Evil Queen will beat Gordon Ramsay over the head with a cast-iron skillet. -- FireHeart

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          • #6
            I know how you feel. There's a grocery store by my apartment I don't go to very often and has a completely different way of doing cards than the one I normally go to. You have to tell the cashier whether it's debit/credit, exact amount/cash back, let them punch it in and THEN you swipe it. It completely throws me off and I always end up swiping my card a few times while the person's trying to get my attention. I feel so bad and apologize profusely. It's just... automatic with me. I use my card so much I tend not to pay attention to how it actually goes.
            It's like the people in Vegas who have sex in video-monitored elevators.. -MoxisPilot
            The elevators are monitored?!!! OH CRAP!!! -Sheldonrs

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            • #7
              Heh - I have much fun with my card, as the bank does not issue a pin number if your home branch is in one of several states...

              "It says Debit - enter your PIN"
              "I don't have one"
              "But the card has Debit on it"
              "I don't care"
              Repeat until they finally work out I'm not going to enter anything, and they run it as a credit card

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              • #8
                Where are you from that you don't have a PIN? You're supposed to make one up when you open the account (in the US anyways. I don't know about CA or the UK)
                Ridiculous 2009 Predictions: Evil Queen will beat Martha Stewart to death with a muffin pan. All hail Evil Queen! (Some things don't need elaboration.....) -- Jester

                Ridiculous 2010 Predictions: Evil Queen, after escaping prison for last years prediction, goes out and waffle irons Rachel Ray to death. -- SG15Z

                Ridiculous 2011 Prediction: Evil Queen will beat Gordon Ramsay over the head with a cast-iron skillet. -- FireHeart

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                • #9
                  Quoth Evil Queen View Post
                  Where are you from that you don't have a PIN? You're supposed to make one up when you open the account (in the US anyways. I don't know about CA or the UK)
                  I recently got a new credit card (in the US) and was asked if I wanted a PIN for it. I declined. Of course, it was a credit card, not a debit card. All my other credit cards have PINs, which are locked away since I never use them (the PINs, not the credit cards). I don't have any debit cards.
                  "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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                  • #10
                    I like the new card readers at my local Mobil station 4 heads so that the card is read any way you put it in.

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                    • #11
                      I think the epic fail at using card readers happens pretty often in my store. Granted, we're the last store in the company in this area that uses these card readers.

                      People... keep trying to sign the card reader. They write their signature on the single line LCD while it says "Please wait". Our card readers are NOT the kind that capture signatures, they have actual buttons, and there's no pen attached. We have to scrub ink off of the things every day.

                      All of the other stores in the company have the newer type that capture the signature, I wish we would finally get those. Management is too cheap to buy them though (the signature capture ones are about $1300/each, we have 20 registers, so $26,000 to upgrade.. ouch).

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                      • #12
                        What I hate is when it has no picture to show which way to face it.
                        Under The Moon Paranormal Research
                        San Joaquin Valley Paranormal Research

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Evil Queen View Post
                          Where are you from that you don't have a PIN? You're supposed to make one up when you open the account (in the US anyways. I don't know about CA or the UK)
                          In canada (or at least BC in any case) debit cards and credit cards are two separate things.

                          The only reason you'd have a pin number on a REGULAR credit card is so that you can take out money at an atm off your card.

                          Of course if you have pin and chip card (which I haven't seen yet but have the machines for) you have a pin just to use the card.

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