You gotta g-- wait, are you *crying?*

[ZedOmega]

Sorry I'm late with this one. My girlfriend and I spend a good chunk of today razing the bamboo forest in the backyard. (Well, it seemed like it, anyway; at least all the stalks weren't any thicker than 3/4" or we'd have been in serious trouble.)

Barely started my shift last night and I had to run someone out. This guy was very spaced out. He apparently had tried to use the ATM and ended up getting an error message on his receipt. When he asked Ri and me what the message meant (I couldn't see it all that well, but it looked like 'card type ineligible'), we explained that if his card was a regular debit card with either the Visa or MasterCard logo on it, he'd have to talk to his bank. He stared at us like we'd answered him in Tagalog, then stared at his receipt, then stared at us again. Repeat for fifteen seconds.

I don't like having to eject people when they're shellshocked like that, but I didn't have a choice. I wrapped an arm over his chest and literally dragged him out, apologizing to him once we stepped outside.

Now, the reaction I'm used to getting to having to resort to physically dragging someone out of the building is either a shouting match or them taking a swing at me. But this?...

SC: You didn't have to put your hands on me.
Me: I didn't have a choice. We were asking you to leave and you just stood there.
SC: Man, you didn't have to do that.
Me: Dude, you'd have done the same thing in my shoes. I do what I have to.
SC: But this is the first time in fourteen fucking years my card didn't work.
Me: Let me see the card?

He pulls his ATM card out and holds it up for me to look at. Yep, it's what would normally be an acceptable debit card, but it's from a bank we've been having problems with.

Me: That explains it. We've been having problems with ThatBank every so often. There's a BlockAwayBank right over there; try the card there and see if it works.
SC: But man, I'd never fuck over my own people like that.

This is the point where I noticed his eyes were welling with tears.

Me: ...uh...
SC: I'd never do that to my own fucking people, man. Brown pride, man.
Me: I know. That's actually an honorable mentality nowadays. But sometimes it's the bank that does that to us. What I'd do is head to BlockAwayBank and try the card, and talk to ThatBank in the morning to find out what the problem with the card was.
SC: Alright.

He shakes my hand and walks off. I relay the conversation to Ri whose WTF expression just said it all. I ended up agreeing with him, mainly due to the fact that that was the first time I've ever seen anyone start to cry when I give them the post-ejection conversation.

[wraiths_crono]

Hmmmm not often I have seen Tagalog mentioned (well outside my ex whom was originally from the country of its origin)


As for the customer, hmm odd reaction sounds like they must of have been on something, or just emotionally unstable... Weird reaction either way.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I know he was a little shellshocked, but what was the reason for removing the guy like that?

[Sapphire Silk]

Blocking traffic, I'd imagine. ATM's are usually in vestibules or near other high traffic areas.

[MoonCat]

This is the point where I noticed his eyes were welling with tears.

Wait, you tossed John Boehner out of your bar?

[ZedOmega]

I know he was a little shellshocked, but what was the reason for removing the guy like that?

He was completely unresponsive for about fifteen, twenty seconds after we told him we couldn't help him. We've had people snap after that long of a period of unresponsiveness before and couldn't take the chance. I even apologized to the guy while I was throwing him out.

[Andara Bledin]

Sorry I'm late with this one. My girlfriend and I spend a good chunk of today razing the bamboo forest in the backyard.

It's not dwarf bamboo, is it? That stuff will conquer your yard if you give it half a chance.

^-.-^

[Raveni]

My girlfriend and I spend a good chunk of today razing the bamboo forest in the backyard.

Is that a sexual euphemism of some kind?

[ZedOmega]

It's not dwarf bamboo, is it? That stuff will conquer your yard if you give it half a chance.

^-.-^

I think it's river cane bamboo. As tall as it was, it didn't spread further into the middle of the yard than maybe about five, six feet since the last time we cut it. I'm planning on picking up a pickaxe and destroying the roots to keep it in check.

Is that a sexual euphemism of some kind?

No, no. That would be 'giving the neighbors a reason to call in a noise complaint'.

[Jester]

"Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying! THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!"

Okay, I understand that he was holding up the line, but seriously, physically removing him from the building? Sounds like overkill if I've ever heard it. Admittedly, I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly what happened, but still....seems a bit much to me.

[ZedOmega]

"Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying! THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!"

Okay, I understand that he was holding up the line, but seriously, physically removing him from the building? Sounds like overkill if I've ever heard it. Admittedly, I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly what happened, but still....seems a bit much to me.

Which is why I was apologizing to him the whole time I was removing him and talked to him once I got him outside. He was so completely stunned that he wouldn't even respond, let alone move. We've had people go catatonic on us before they snapped and tried to attack us in the past, and we couldn't afford to take that chance.

[Jester]

By comparison, my bank, which sometimes actually enforces the "no sunglasses" sign posted on their door--by simply asking the person to remove their sunglasses--is very mellow. Hell, I am almost always in there with a ballcap on, effectively ignoring the other part of the same sign--"no hats"--but have yet to be asked to remove my hat.

And while I don't bank with the bank with those silly commercials, including the one with the raging rock band, I DO love my bank.

No. Really.

[ZedOmega]

I've been looking into different credit unions, myself.

Going by the bank example, though, dress codes are one thing, but if someone were to just stand there staring and not respond when staff asked him if he needed help with something, security would start to pay very close attention to the guy.