Holy cripes!

[Imogene]

Wow... this series of events just got everything wrong, and why, yes, it was ALL ME!

Guy tries to buy stuffs on a register... card keeps declining, no particularly good reason... he asks me to charge half on one card, and half on another... I set up the first half, works just fine, all of his cards continue to decline for the other half...
He asks me if I can hold the transaction while he goes to figure out what's going on with his cards... I try to suspend the order, and it just tells me 'NO!' but gives no explanation why... so I call Ex Bitch over, and she eventually just refunds the cash the guy put in (I didn't notice him doing this, but it was on his transaction, no debates about that...) and tells me to just put the register on hold until he comes back.

Meanwhile, a different customer entirely brings me a cart of stuff he wants to buy, but tells me he forgot his wallet out in the car, can I hold the purchase for him? "Sure... it'll be back here..." Guy runs off.

I think nothing about either of them until guy 2 comes back, and I recognize him, but I mistake him for guy 1... and have him finish paying for the 'suspended' transaction...
He comments that the items on his register don't look like "what he bought..."
I go ... and recognize him properly that time... and *face palm* and take him over to guest service, where Ex Bitch is helping out, and fill her in, and say we need to refund at least the part this guy paid, and check him out for this other stuff...
That gets done, guy 1 returns, and tries to use his cards AGAIN... still no go, I refund the cash he put in and actually give it to him directly this time, instead of hanging on to it... and he says it should be fixed, but wanders off again...

Still later, guy 1 returns AGAIN and finally gets everything to work properly.

[Teefies2]

Had a similar situation when I worked at WM. Guy & his buddies come to my register with a bunch of stuff (I don't remember now what). I ring it up, he swipes his card & enters pin. Declined. Tries again, declined again. He's getting upset & his buddies are ragging him "didja forget to pay the bill" etc.

He says WTF? Runs out to his car - I dunno, like the pin would be there in big bright letters or something ;-) Comes back in and tries it AGAIN TWICE!!!!!!!!!! He's cussing now. Looks at the card, looks at me "it must be your register or you did sumpin wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Being the ever polite cashier I am <giggle> I said "sir are you SURE you have the right pin?" Yes bargle bargle bargle "it's MMMMMMYYYYYYYY DAMN CARD!!!!!!!!"

Okay one of his buddies says "let me try". SC hands him the card. Buddy looks at card closely, looks at him, looks at card again "Dude, this is NOT your card". HUH?? The name on the card is a girl. SC goes WTF? OMG that's the girl I met at the bar last night!

Somehow (gee I can't imagine how) the cards had gotten switched, he has her card and she evidently has his. I'm trying REALLY hard not to laugh, but all his buddies start guffawing "man she TOOK you!!!" At that point, SC convinces his buddies to pay for the stuff and runs off screaming "OMG she probably ran up MILLIONS of dollars on my card by now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I'm like YATHINK????????

I dunno, seemed kinda funny at the time, but I bet it's the last time he picks up a "friend" at a bar (at least for the near future). :-O

[Ironclad Alibi]

Somehow (gee I can't imagine how) the cards had gotten switched, he has her card and she evidently has his. I'm trying REALLY hard not to laugh, but all his buddies start guffawing "man she TOOK you!!!" At that point, SC convinces his buddies to pay for the stuff and runs off screaming "OMG she probably ran up MILLIONS of dollars on my card by now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I'm like YATHINK????????

Wouldn't she also need a pin? Unless it could also be used as a credit card.

[SuperDan]

A few months ago, my mom noticed three charges to her account that nobody remembered making. A less than five dollar charge at the local grocery store and a $15 charge at the local Subway, they might have forgotten to write down or something, but she didn't make those charges, my father didn't remember making those charges, and I (who have my dad's second card on the same account in case I need to make purchases on their behalf) didn't remember making those charges. There was also a $50 charge to a hair salon a few cities over that we were all positive none of us had visited.

My mom called the bank, discovered that all charges in question were made from the same card, the one my dad carries, and had that particular card canceled and re-issued. She called my sister and mentioned it, so my sister checked her account and said "Wait, I didn't go to (local awesome burger chain) recently... but I did go to that salon you mentioned, and to the grocery store, and to Subway, and none of those charges are showing up on my account."

Sure enough, my dad had my sister's debit card and my sister had my dad's. They had gotten switched when paying at Bdub after a family get-together the previous Sunday. Since then, my sister bought a few things at the store, bought Subway for herself, her husband, and her kid, and got her hair done. My parents took me and my fiance to the burger place for dinner. OOPS! Nobody even looked at the cards, neither themselves nor the employees at the stores.

Fortunately it was a no harm no foul kind of situation. My dad gave my sister her card back, and my sister deposited the difference between the money spent into my parents' account. Since the old card was already canceled, he had to wait for the new one to show up, but he just took the card to his account that I usually carry until the new one came in. But it does serve as a reminder to always double-check what card you get back any time the card has to leave your presence (such as at a bar or restaurant).

[Darkforge]

Nobody even looked at the cards, neither themselves nor the employees at the stores.

Wow, really? but surely you have to check the signature on the back, or ask for ID.

at the very least if a guy gives you a card with a girl's name on or vice versa then it should be flagged!

[SuperDan]

At least at the grocery store, the customer swipes their own card at the pinpad and the cashier doesn't handle it at all. The pinpad prompts the customer to show their card if they push credit, but the cashiers don't really check. At Subway I've never seen the cashier look at the card, just swipe it and hand it back.

[laborcat]

Wow, really? but surely you have to check the signature on the back, or ask for ID.

at the very least if a guy gives you a card with a girl's name on or vice versa then it should be flagged!

I use my husband's card all the time. Nobody ever says anything. We don't have the same last name either.

I don't think todays cashiers really have time to check every card, and my store only prompts the cashier if there is a problem with the card. If the purchase is under $25 you don't even have to sign. Nor do I think anyone really cares whose card you use in most work environments anymore. I know when I was running a register full-time, I sure as heck didn't.