Innocuous things that make you irrationally angry (a list thread)

My card has a PIN and that's how I would normally do it (after bowing to Her Majesty of course), but I guess for some reason the PIN won't work in the US.

Wait, is what you guys calldebit cards what we call EFTPOS?

We have seperate cards for EFTPOS - ie yr own money, a PIN, versus "lol this am the banks money not mine" Visa/Mastercard cards. Except sometimes you CAN also have a "debit" card that can function as a "credit card" as far as say a website is concerned but thats slightlydiff.

Also:

Debit = Enter your PIN
"Credit" = sign the receipt

This also doesnt work so much anymore thanks to chip and pin credit (ie Visa/mastercard/amex) cards with PINs!

I think I can hear Jesse's brain popping from over here.

Wait, is what you guys calldebit cards what we call EFTPOS?

sounds like it, yeah

(i had to learn about EFTPOS for a-level computer studies assignment in 1985-6 back before it was common. Electronic Funds Transfer, Point Of Sale. in england we just called it 'Switch')

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch_%28debit_card%29 - started 1988 according to this

Wait, is what you guys calldebit cards what we call EFTPOS?

Yes! If you select "debit," you put in a pin and use an EFT network to process the transaction. If you say "credit," you use the Visa network to process the transaction and sign a slip. But either way, when you're using the card connected to your checking account, the money comes out of your checking account in the same fashion. (This same card works for cash withdrawals at cash machines.)

Honestly, in my experience, people call their creditdebit cards "debit cards" or maybe "check cards" or just "cards." When people say "credit card," they usually mean actual credit cards in the traditional sense of being a card that accesses a line of credit from the bank that you have to repay later. HOWEVER when a merchant asks if you'll be paying by credit card, and the customer says yes, it's just as likely they're planning to pay with a debit card.

I guess it's confusing but the takeaway lesson here for non-USA people is this: you can use your debit/EFTPOS/check card to pay for things in the USA as long as the card has a Visa logo on it. Just say "credit" when asked "Debit or credit?" and the money will still come out of your checking account.

Now we know. Why they don't just ask "PIN or signature?" instead is one of life's mysteries.

It makes sense for OS cos it needs to be on the.. thingy network. Some international bank thing. I'm blanking on the name, I used it for ATMs and such when I was in the uk. I got hit with horrible huge fees.

Cirrus! thats the one.

No Visa logo on my debit card, alas! Guess I'll go to a bank like some kind of commoner.

In Canada EFTPOS is Interac!

So if I go to the US and want to pay with my Britisher VISA Debit card, I should answer "credit" to "credit or debit", and then I'll have to sign instead of using a PIN... but back home it's not supposed to work with a signature and no PIN

although sometimes over here the cashier tells you the PIN machine is broken and just to sign and nothing seems to go wrong, so it is probably also fine in the US

(shrug)

Yep you got it

quick summary of my confusion for Americans: most banks here changed from using signed-for credit/debit cards to chip&PIN several years ago and sent out lots of letters saying "don't forget your new PIN! don't try to sign for anything if your card has a chip!" but sometimes you are asked to sign instead, and apparently if you get your PIN wrong several times in a row it locks the PIN but you can still keep the card until its expiry date and sign for things, so... I probably just didn't read the small print

Having to sign a receipt is one of the dumbest things in the history of things. it's transaction theater.

Which is why I do a different artistic version each time. Very abstract.

When I was an LPO we'd sometimes get shipped boatloads of receipts and try to identify patterns (in the case of an employee stealing CC numbres..)! But yeah, I just sign an A and a squiggle. I type too much, my hands can't hold pens correctly anymore.

Sometimes I just lick the receipt.

Then I explain that my DNA is a better unique identifier.

Self-checkout machines in supermarkets here (uk) still have a touchpad where you can sign your name if you don't have chip & pin. I believe some wag drew a cock every time, till he got found out in a random check.

http://i.imgur.com/mQ3JS.jpg

I mean they should check it against the version on the back of the card, right? I have had it pointed out to me on a couple of occasions that I neglected to sign the back. They still took my money.

For about 6 months a regional grocery chain had fingerprint recognizing machines for debit (checking account) transactions, but then the company that supported that service went belly up.

I think I understand how non-USAians' debit cards work. And I definitely think that calling non-signature transactions "credit" is weird and confusing for the uninitiated.

My head remains unpopped.

They never check the signature! I write "see ID" on my plastics, but they don't often check my ID.

JEFF, why the hell did you tip exactly $13.99?

I have had it pointed out to me on a couple of occasions that I neglected to sign the back. They still took my money.

One time I used an unsigned credit card for a transaction and they asked me to sign the back of my card. So I signed it and then I signed my receipt and the signatures matched so I guess that proved I wasn't doing any credit card fraud.

Usually they don't care, because it's you that's playing with fire there.

JEFF, why the hell did you tip exactly $13.99?

I've noticed that some people like to leave odd amounts for a tip so that the total charge adds up to an even dollar amount. JEFF is apparently cool with increments of .25.

And I definitely think that calling non-signature transactions "credit" is weird and confusing for the uninitiated.

Non signature transactions aren't call credit transactions, though. They are debit transactions. If you say credit, you have to sign a thing.

13.28 is 18% of 73.76 so maybe he rounded up? Or calculated the tip pre-tax?

Let's turn this into a tipping thread.

I probably used a tip calculator.

I write "see ID" on my plastics, but they don't often check my ID

I do! I also have to take an imprint of the card or a photocopy of it if it's a flat card.

Non signature transactions aren't call credit transactions, though. They are debit transactions. If you say credit, you have to sign a thing.

I think Jesse is talking about outside the US there, where for example both my debit and my credit cards require a pin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80SyRmtbdI

SHIT, I said exactly the opposing of what I meant!

I meant And I definitely think that calling non-PIN transactions "credit" is weird and confusing for the uninitiated.

Jeff, let me know if you want me to have that receipt image deleted or redacted. I didn't realize it had your full name on it.

Too late, I have already assumed JEFF's identity. I have emptied out his bank accounts and I'm tipping $xx.99 on everything to avoid suspicion.

Yes, please redact.

Chase offered me w/ a debit card (card that draws money from my bank account) that gave you 1% cash rewards if you ran it non-PIN ("credit"). That was pretty cool b/c I was getting money for nothing. But then legislation or a lawsuit made it illegal somehow.

xp haha

I've got a card that pays 3.0% on what's in my checking account if I make at least ten debit purchases with the card a month.

To think that there was a time where I thought, "Now how am I going to do that?"

Dang, I want a card like that!

What? Which bank, please?

3% per month?

I'm under the impression this KASAA thing is all over the place.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9508/screenshot20120615at104.png

Funny thing is they give you a choice of interest on your account or free iTunes downloads.

KASASA.

I worked in a gas station once and a guy tried to pay for something with an unsigned card (this was before chip and pin). I think in the UK there's some weird law where they're not supposed to sign it in front out you? That can't be right. Anyway the guy said he hadn't signed it 'because someone could forge my signature'.

I haven't signed my more recent credit cards, most places ask me to provide more ID, which is just fine with me. Having dealt with a (relatively minor) case of identity theft a few years ago, I don't mind taking an extra step now and then.

Oh, ATM fee refunds are great, too! My friend Matt banks w/ Capital One b/c he's from TX and he uses any old ATM he feels like without worrying about fees.

Although I've read a lot of arguments both for and against that method, so whatever.

Anyway, I was reminded today that I get IA at people who cut donuts in half from a shared package, leaving the other half, but still going back to get it later. Just take the whole damn thing if you know you're going to eat it anyway.

...

I wouldn't know anything about that...