Anyway, I work at a cell phone kiosk in Costco. In truth, its a pretty sweet job, but it seems like any position where you have to interact with customers will have its nightmarish days. Its also interesting to see how defensive people are around salespeople in general.
It depends on which salesperson you are. There is the "I'm here to the side if you have any questions" kind, and the "I know you said you're just looking but I'm going to keep telling you about the deals and the bestest phone we have why haven't you bought the phone yet hey why are leaving what's your problem asshole?"
Also add to it that people are scared to death to interact with people face to face these days (passive aggressive for the loss), and they would rather just avoid being around salespeople in general than being weak willed and saying "no" to people.
By training, most are the latter. By inclination, the former. Either works, honestly. And if you don't want to talk to a salesperson, 'just looking' isn't what you should say. The golden words are, 'I have no money.'
Here, we are told to be the former, but to come back every 10-15 minutes or so to make sure the guy still doesn't need help. It doesn't matter, because they all need help (I guess I live in an area where EVERYBODY is computer illiterate), or, if they say they don't, the second you turn around to go help someone else, they say "Well..." and ask a stupid question.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
Most companies don't allow employees to take the cards anymore. Just out of safety... no sense getting yourself hurt from some asshole coming after you because you took "his" stolen card.
That last thing always annoyed the hell out of me.
"You need to sign your card"
"Ok" ...scribble...
"Well, looks like the signature matches, you must be you!"
A signature always seemed like a nonsense piece of ID to me too. I've got "Please See ID" on the back of my cards since it's much easier to fake my signature than it is to fake my government issued ID.
It seems remarkably silly to invalidate a card because it doesn't have my signature on the back. As if my government ID isn't the best possible proof that I am who the card says I am.
If I ever lose my credit cards, the person who finds them shouldn't be able to use them since they won't have photo ID showing that they are me. But if it's just a signature, they'll be able to copy it and successfully use my card.
It's silly.
see: Don't be a smartass. ;-) I meant you have to sign the card, and show ID... not just sign the card in front of me so I can match them.
Daybreak: it really doesn't matter. The signature on the back is as much your "this is my card" proof, as it is you accepting Visa's terms and conditions. Consider the card a contract, that you have to sign.
And when it comes down to it, wether you have "see ID" on the card doesn't matter if someone steals the card. You are not responsible for the charges no matter if you write that, or put your signature, so it's not a huge deal.
Some banks, though... they tell their customers not to sign the card. Makes no sense, because then the thief can just sign it themselves.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
And this is how we encourage society to act like four-year old idiots.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
And this is how we encourage society to act like four-year old idiots.
People do, and its so annoying. The reason they keep doing though is that it works. The bigger scene they cause the more they get back in return.
I remember around the 1st x-mas 1 year after the PS2 came out we were there was this lady who wanted to return a PS2 when she came in she originally went back to electronics to do the return. I informed her that she needs to go up front and the people there will be more than happy to help you, so she left. About 5 or 10 mins later I hear my name being paged over the intercom. Anyone whose returned electronics at the mart before knows that it has to be inspected by a manager or member of that dept before its given the final okay.
So I went up to the return desk and looked at this playstation 2. She had a receipt (which is rare) with the purchase of a PS2 dated the day before. But the serials didn't and this PS2 was caked in dust (I mean covered, it was actually kinda gross), and the current serial had the void signs on it like it had been tamped with. So I asked you bought this yesterday and it just doesn't work? She said YEA! So I pulled one of the people working returns to side and told them that this is a scam don't take it back (I made sure the customer didn't hear me). So after that I left and went back to my dept.
10 min later the same lady old PS2 in hand comes back to my Dept and seeks me out tears streaming down her face. Im like O_o wondering whats gonna happen next and she starts screaming (literally) to return this. I say I don't have authority to return this and it cannot be done at this register. Things steadilly got worse so I called a manager. The manager took one look at the system and the serials and was like no. He tried to break it to the lady gentally but the tears came back and this time she busted out her cell phone.
The manager asked her what she was doing and she replied "calling the police!" O_o O_o O_o.
So about 5min later the police show up. We all go up to the front, and the lady tells her story of "hardship and incompetent employees". Then the officer hears our story and why we did not take it back. Then he just flat out tells the manager "Just take it back" the manager begrudgingly accepts. Best part though is when the police officer walked out and told the lady that she needs to get a life.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
And this is how we encourage society to act like four-year old idiots.
People do, and its so annoying. The reason they keep doing though is that it works. The bigger scene they cause the more they get back in return.
I remember around the 1st x-mas 1 year after the PS2 came out we were there was this lady who wanted to return a PS2 when she came in she originally went back to electronics to do the return. I informed her that she needs to go up front and the people there will be more than happy to help you, so she left. About 5 or 10 mins later I hear my name being paged over the intercom. Anyone whose returned electronics at the mart before knows that it has to be inspected by a manager or member of that dept before its given the final okay.
So I went up to the return desk and looked at this playstation 2. She had a receipt (which is rare) with the purchase of a PS2 dated the day before. But the serials didn't and this PS2 was caked in dust (I mean covered, it was actually kinda gross), and the current serial had the void signs on it like it had been tamped with. So I asked you bought this yesterday and it just doesn't work? She said YEA! So I pulled one of the people working returns to side and told them that this is a scam don't take it back (I made sure the customer didn't hear me). So after that I left and went back to my dept.
10 min later the same lady old PS2 in hand comes back to my Dept and seeks me out tears streaming down her face. Im like O_o wondering whats gonna happen next and she starts screaming (literally) to return this. I say I don't have authority to return this and it cannot be done at this register. Things steadilly got worse so I called a manager. The manager took one look at the system and the serials and was like no. He tried to break it to the lady gentally but the tears came back and this time she busted out her cell phone.
The manager asked her what she was doing and she replied "calling the police!" O_o O_o O_o.
So about 5min later the police show up. We all go up to the front, and the lady tells her story of "hardship and incompetent employees". Then the officer hears our story and why we did not take it back. Then he just flat out tells the manager "Just take it back" the manager begrudgingly accepts. Best part though is when the police officer walked out and told the lady that she needs to get a life.
Wow. A police officer encouraging crime. Can't say I'm surprised.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
Most companies don't allow employees to take the cards anymore. Just out of safety... no sense getting yourself hurt from some asshole coming after you because you took "his" stolen card.
That last thing always annoyed the hell out of me.
"You need to sign your card"
"Ok" ...scribble...
"Well, looks like the signature matches, you must be you!"
A signature always seemed like a nonsense piece of ID to me too. I've got "Please See ID" on the back of my cards since it's much easier to fake my signature than it is to fake my government issued ID.
It seems remarkably silly to invalidate a card because it doesn't have my signature on the back. As if my government ID isn't the best possible proof that I am who the card says I am.
If I ever lose my credit cards, the person who finds them shouldn't be able to use them since they won't have photo ID showing that they are me. But if it's just a signature, they'll be able to copy it and successfully use my card.
It's silly.
see: Don't be a smartass. ;-) I meant you have to sign the card, and show ID... not just sign the card in front of me so I can match them.
Daybreak: it really doesn't matter. The signature on the back is as much your "this is my card" proof, as it is you accepting Visa's terms and conditions. Consider the card a contract, that you have to sign.
And when it comes down to it, wether you have "see ID" on the card doesn't matter if someone steals the card. You are not responsible for the charges no matter if you write that, or put your signature, so it's not a huge deal.
Some banks, though... they tell their customers not to sign the card. Makes no sense, because then the thief can just sign it themselves.
I write "SEE ID" mostly just because t amuses me that no one ever checks.
Half the places you go these days have you swipe your own card. Some are even starting not to make you sign anything at all.
When you go online, there isn't even anyone to check.
The moral of the story is monitor your credit card bills, and if there are charges you didn't make, then do something.
But, if anyone ever told me that they couldn't take my card, since it wasn't signed, I'd take it and a pen, turn around so thatthey couldn't see what I was doing, and sign it, before giving it back to them. That way I DIDN'T just sign it infornt of them.
Yeah, because I am THAT kind of a smart ass.
Evander on
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
And this is how we encourage society to act like four-year old idiots.
People do, and its so annoying. The reason they keep doing though is that it works. The bigger scene they cause the more they get back in return.
I remember around the 1st x-mas 1 year after the PS2 came out we were there was this lady who wanted to return a PS2 when she came in she originally went back to electronics to do the return. I informed her that she needs to go up front and the people there will be more than happy to help you, so she left. About 5 or 10 mins later I hear my name being paged over the intercom. Anyone whose returned electronics at the mart before knows that it has to be inspected by a manager or member of that dept before its given the final okay.
So I went up to the return desk and looked at this playstation 2. She had a receipt (which is rare) with the purchase of a PS2 dated the day before. But the serials didn't and this PS2 was caked in dust (I mean covered, it was actually kinda gross), and the current serial had the void signs on it like it had been tamped with. So I asked you bought this yesterday and it just doesn't work? She said YEA! So I pulled one of the people working returns to side and told them that this is a scam don't take it back (I made sure the customer didn't hear me). So after that I left and went back to my dept.
10 min later the same lady old PS2 in hand comes back to my Dept and seeks me out tears streaming down her face. Im like O_o wondering whats gonna happen next and she starts screaming (literally) to return this. I say I don't have authority to return this and it cannot be done at this register. Things steadilly got worse so I called a manager. The manager took one look at the system and the serials and was like no. He tried to break it to the lady gentally but the tears came back and this time she busted out her cell phone.
The manager asked her what she was doing and she replied "calling the police!" O_o O_o O_o.
So about 5min later the police show up. We all go up to the front, and the lady tells her story of "hardship and incompetent employees". Then the officer hears our story and why we did not take it back. Then he just flat out tells the manager "Just take it back" the manager begrudgingly accepts. Best part though is when the police officer walked out and told the lady that she needs to get a life.
That's terrible. Some people need to be trained in dealing with crying women, because once the tears start guys just freak out.
Did the manager even try and say "we're going to lose $300.00 because she's lying and crying?"
Shit, she should have been arrested for a disturbance or something, because she wasn't buying anything, and creating a hostile place for others to shop in.
TexiKen on
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Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
That's terrible. Some people need to be trained in dealing with crying women, because once the tears start guys just freak out.
Did the manager even try and say "we're going to lose $300.00 because she's lying and crying?"
Shit, she should have been arrested for a disturbance or something, because she wasn't buying anything, and creating a hostile place for others to shop in.
So if I understand this correctly: A police officer ordered a manager to accept a return on a possibly stolen item? A) Do cops even have the authority to say 'just accept it' and WTF?
A) Not really. Even if you have a documented return policy of "we garuantee we'll take everything back without any proof!" the only recourse if you refuse the return is a civil lawsuit. Hates paperwork, mayhaps?
Edit: Isn't return-fraud still by far the largest source of external loss in retail?
Edit 2: The day after Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, some middle-aged lady came in to return an "unopened" copy of Kingdom Hearts 2, which had in fact been opened before they decided to glue the plastic wrap shut in the sloppiest manner I could possibly imagine, contained a copy of a three year old JamPak with a low-quality photocopy of the Kingdom Hearts 2 disc glued over the label. We did not process her return, and she took her game and ditched trying to blame whoever was or wasn't on the other end of her cell-phone for the mix-up.
A) Not really. Even if you have a documented return policy of "we garuantee we'll take everything back without any proof!" the only recourse if you refuse the return is a civil lawsuit. Hates paperwork, mayhaps?
Edit: Isn't return-fraud still by far the largest source of external loss in retail?
Edit 2: The day after Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, some middle-aged lady came in to return an "unopened" copy of Kingdom Hearts 2, which had in fact been opened before they decided to glue the plastic wrap shut in the sloppiest manner I could possibly imagine, contained a copy of a three year old JamPak with a low-quality photocopy of the Kingdom Hearts 2 disc glued over the label. We did not process her return, and she took her game and ditched trying to blame whoever was or wasn't on the other end of her cell-phone for the mix-up.
One of the nice things about a system that includes the gutting of games is that when a sealed game is brought in, and you supect it, you can simply open it up.
At my first-ever retail job -- a grocery store -- the VISA guys came in to train us on their machines (brand new store), and their most frequently-repeated instruction was "make damn sure you card EVERYBODY who uses plastic".
We were adamant about IDing people for Credit Cards at my old GameStop. I found that the vast majority of people got these surprised looks on their face, then smiled after a second, and thanked us for actually checking.
I remember times when we've had the "nasty returns/tradeins", too...People have brought in game discs that look like they had been dragged over a gravel driveway, only to have them tell us "it works fine at home!". We get that line quite often on game systems themselves in particular. They bring in the dirty systems. The ones with the drive door missing, or with a controller where the plug that attaches it to the system is no longer part of the cable, and they wonder why we won't take them in...or why we say they're getting 30 bucks instead of 80 due to the fact that we'd have to ship it off to get disassembled and rebuilt...Of course, these are the same people who bring us Ice Hockey 1999 and get upset when we tell them it's worth ten cents...
Once, we got a PS2 -- which some moron working the register actually took in -- which was infested with roaches (the insect kind, unfortunately). He promptly took it into the back room, and that store has had a thriving roach colony to this day.
EricKei on
"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them, the rest of us could hardly succeed." ~ Mark Twain
Goozex referral pimp sig, click Spoiler to see it.
At my first-ever retail job -- a grocery store -- the VISA guys came in to train us on their machines (brand new store), and their most frequently-repeated instruction was "make damn sure you card EVERYBODY who uses plastic".
We were adamant about IDing people for Credit Cards at my old GameStop. I found that the vast majority of people got these surprised looks on their face, then smiled after a second, and thanked us for actually checking.
I remember times when we've had the "nasty returns/tradeins", too...People have brought in game discs that look like they had been dragged over a gravel driveway, only to have them tell us "it works fine at home!". We get that line quite often on game systems themselves in particular. They bring in the dirty systems. The ones with the drive door missing, or with a controller where the plug that attaches it to the system is no longer part of the cable, and they wonder why we won't take them in...or why we say they're getting 30 bucks instead of 80 due to the fact that we'd have to ship it off to get disassembled and rebuilt...Of course, these are the same people who bring us Ice Hockey 1999 and get upset when we tell them it's worth ten cents...
Once, we got a PS2 -- which some moron working the register actually took in -- which was infested with roaches (the insect kind, unfortunately). He promptly took it into the back room, and that store has had a thriving roach colony to this day.
We had the same issue when I worked IT for a retail store (everyone knows which one). One of the employees took in a desktop computer, and shipped it off to the service center to get fixed.
A week or two went by and the customer didn't hear anything, so she came in bitching and whining about getting her computer back and all this abloo bloo (something about her finals being due in a week).
So we call up the service center, and the tell us the desktop was infested with roaches and they are shipping it back immediately. We went and told the customer and she started putting the blame on us. "You guys must've had a roach get in there or something! My house is completely clean BLOOBLOO" and "I'm going to sue you guys because you damaged my property!".
So when it came back in, it was sealed in white plastic wrap with roaches drawn all around it (service center's doing). We called her up, and she never responded. So we had to keep the computer back in the area for 90 days (longest we keep it) and never heard a word from her. Then we destroyed it with glee.
Man. If you have roaches, at least check for that shit before pawning anything they might be living in.
There are people who are so dirty they think living with roaches is normal and everyone does it. I've met some of these people and I have not felt the same since.
Man. If you have roaches, at least check for that shit before pawning anything they might be living in.
There are people who are so dirty they think living with roaches is normal and everyone does it. I've met some of these people and I have not felt the same since.
I love this thread, it helps work go by that much faster.
I worked at an inbound call center for a Life Insurance company for about 2 years, it was actually a pretty good job we dealt with customers and the companies Financial Associates.
One thing I learned from that job is its suprising on how many people would ask me how much money will I receive on my life insurance policy when they die. I always knew what they meant; IE what will my beneficaries receive but it still sounds funny.
As for some of the calls I got.
I had one girl who was 24 at the time who called in about a policy her mother had boughten for her. Some of our Life insurance policies had Cash values so you could in essence close it out and recieve the Cash value. After explaning how the policy works our conversation goes like this
Her: Well my mother said I could cash this out if I wanted and use the money for whatever I needed
Me: You could do that, however this policy due to its cash value is actually paying for itself (it earned a dividend each year that covered the cost of the yearly premium) So in essence its a free $75,000 life policy. So it might be worth keeping
Her: I know but I could really use the money so I would like to cash it out.
Me: Okay, well the Cash value is around $5,000.00 and you recieve that if you close the account
Her: What?? I thought I would recieve the full $75,000.00, that's why my mom said.
Me: The $75,000.00 is the actual death benefit provided so you would never receive that amount
Her: Well why not??
Me: (after 5 second pause) Because its a Death Benefit and the policy is in your name which means the Death Benefit would only be paid in the event of your death. (which means "you" will not get any of the money, I didn't say this though)
Her: Well that's unfair my mother paid for a $75,000 policy so I want my 75K
Me: Well your mother actually only paid about $3000.00 dollars into this policy. And did so in order to provide that amount of life insurance on you.
Her: (now sounding agitated) So... it say righ ton this letter you sent me its for &75K I want my money
Me: I don't think you understand, This is a life insurance policy, in the event of your death! your beneficiaries would received the full death benefit amount. You! would only receive the actual cash value if you closed out your own account. Why would our company sell policies that only costed 100$ a year but were worth the full Death Benefit amount when you decided to close it out. That would be moronic. How would we make money off of something like that.
Her: You're an asshole, click...
She called the next day and closed out her policy.
It was a pretty fun job we had a great team and such. But it did have one major problem.
Taking calls from people who are reporting that someone insured had died. Most were okay to handle usually and elderly person passing away. But the few we would get of peoples young kids passing away from an accident were really hard to deal with. I mean really what do you tell some mother who's 14 year old daughter died in a drowning accident.
Me: I don't think you understand, This is a life insurance policy, in the event of your death! your beneficiaries would received the full death benefit amount. You! would only receive the actual cash value if you closed out your own account. Why would our company sell policies that only costed 100$ a year but were worth the full Death Benefit amount when you decided to close it out. That would be moronic. How would we make money off of something like that.
That would be the most popular business ever. Also the most broke.
Yeah I guess Visa's have your picture on them now? I got accused the other day of having a fake visa (it's really just a debit card) because my picture wasn't on the front.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
Most companies don't allow employees to take the cards anymore. Just out of safety... no sense getting yourself hurt from some asshole coming after you because you took "his" stolen card.
That last thing always annoyed the hell out of me.
"You need to sign your card"
"Ok" ...scribble...
"Well, looks like the signature matches, you must be you!"
A signature always seemed like a nonsense piece of ID to me too. I've got "Please See ID" on the back of my cards since it's much easier to fake my signature than it is to fake my government issued ID.
It seems remarkably silly to invalidate a card because it doesn't have my signature on the back. As if my government ID isn't the best possible proof that I am who the card says I am.
If I ever lose my credit cards, the person who finds them shouldn't be able to use them since they won't have photo ID showing that they are me. But if it's just a signature, they'll be able to copy it and successfully use my card.
It's silly.
see: Don't be a smartass. ;-) I meant you have to sign the card, and show ID... not just sign the card in front of me so I can match them.
Daybreak: it really doesn't matter. The signature on the back is as much your "this is my card" proof, as it is you accepting Visa's terms and conditions. Consider the card a contract, that you have to sign.
And when it comes down to it, wether you have "see ID" on the card doesn't matter if someone steals the card. You are not responsible for the charges no matter if you write that, or put your signature, so it's not a huge deal.
Some banks, though... they tell their customers not to sign the card. Makes no sense, because then the thief can just sign it themselves.
I write "SEE ID" mostly just because t amuses me that no one ever checks.
Half the places you go these days have you swipe your own card. Some are even starting not to make you sign anything at all.
When you go online, there isn't even anyone to check.
The moral of the story is monitor your credit card bills, and if there are charges you didn't make, then do something.
But, if anyone ever told me that they couldn't take my card, since it wasn't signed, I'd take it and a pen, turn around so thatthey couldn't see what I was doing, and sign it, before giving it back to them. That way I DIDN'T just sign it infornt of them.
Yeah, because I am THAT kind of a smart ass.
It's kind of a two-sided sword though. Retailers rarely ask, I suppose the person could always say they don't have ID. Under $25, you don't even need to sign/enter a pin, just swipe, no ID needed either. If you cap your card to like $200 or $500, then you need to call and have it raised and wait if you're gonna buy a big purchase. So either you have a low cap on it and if it gets stolen, they can't do much, or you're inconvienced all the time you need to buy big shit.
It's kind of a two-sided sword though. Retailers rarely ask, I suppose the person could always say they don't have ID. Under $25, you don't even need to sign/enter a pin, just swipe, no ID needed either. If you cap your card to like $200 or $500, then you need to call and have it raised and wait if you're gonna buy a big purchase. So either you have a low cap on it and if it gets stolen, they can't do much, or you're inconvienced all the time you need to buy big shit.
You know what I do?
Keep my card REALLY close to getting maxed out, that way if they do use it and overcharge, I can call my CC company and say it was stolen.
so ya, I'm working on a machine that hat a mobo die. the dell tech came and replaced it today. since the user was off sick today anyway, I figure I'd clean up his machine, defrag, updates, all that kind of stuff.
I log onto the machine, and find that he has installed pretty much everything he can get his hands on onto this machine. Even fucking bitcomet. You know, our company is pretty relaxed in our IT policies. If you want to install something, just run it by IT first, if we ok it, fine you can install it. There are people with a fair amount of personal things on their machines that are sanctioned by IT.
But there are some things on this machine.....fucking idiot. Bitcomet, a dvd ripping program, a program for converting avi to DVD, ebay toolbars, mywebsearch, spyware coming out his ass. some common spyware programs from like, a year ago are sitting on this machine.
So now I get to spend half a day cleaning it up, all because this guy is being a fucknut and taking advantage of an IT department that doesn't believe in Nazi-ism to the users. Well guess what buddy, you're free reign is over!
so ya, I'm working on a machine that hat a mobo die. the dell tech came and replaced it today. since the user was off sick today anyway, I figure I'd clean up his machine, defrag, updates, all that kind of stuff.
I log onto the machine, and find that he has installed pretty much everything he can get his hands on onto this machine. Even fucking bitcomet. You know, our company is pretty relaxed in our IT policies. If you want to install something, just run it by IT first, if we ok it, fine you can install it. There are people with a fair amount of personal things on their machines that are sanctioned by IT.
But there are some things on this machine.....fucking idiot. Bitcomet, a dvd ripping program, a program for converting avi to DVD, ebay toolbars, mywebsearch, spyware coming out his ass. some common spyware programs from like, a year ago are sitting on this machine.
So now I get to spend half a day cleaning it up, all because this guy is being a fucknut and taking advantage of an IT department that doesn't believe in Nazi-ism to the users. Well guess what buddy, you're free reign is over!
so ya, I'm working on a machine that hat a mobo die. the dell tech came and replaced it today. since the user was off sick today anyway, I figure I'd clean up his machine, defrag, updates, all that kind of stuff.
I log onto the machine, and find that he has installed pretty much everything he can get his hands on onto this machine. Even fucking bitcomet. You know, our company is pretty relaxed in our IT policies. If you want to install something, just run it by IT first, if we ok it, fine you can install it. There are people with a fair amount of personal things on their machines that are sanctioned by IT.
But there are some things on this machine.....fucking idiot. Bitcomet, a dvd ripping program, a program for converting avi to DVD, ebay toolbars, mywebsearch, spyware coming out his ass. some common spyware programs from like, a year ago are sitting on this machine.
So now I get to spend half a day cleaning it up, all because this guy is being a fucknut and taking advantage of an IT department that doesn't believe in Nazi-ism to the users. Well guess what buddy, you're free reign is over!
so ya, I'm working on a machine that hat a mobo die. the dell tech came and replaced it today. since the user was off sick today anyway, I figure I'd clean up his machine, defrag, updates, all that kind of stuff.
I log onto the machine, and find that he has installed pretty much everything he can get his hands on onto this machine. Even fucking bitcomet. You know, our company is pretty relaxed in our IT policies. If you want to install something, just run it by IT first, if we ok it, fine you can install it. There are people with a fair amount of personal things on their machines that are sanctioned by IT.
But there are some things on this machine.....fucking idiot. Bitcomet, a dvd ripping program, a program for converting avi to DVD, ebay toolbars, mywebsearch, spyware coming out his ass. some common spyware programs from like, a year ago are sitting on this machine.
So now I get to spend half a day cleaning it up, all because this guy is being a fucknut and taking advantage of an IT department that doesn't believe in Nazi-ism to the users. Well guess what buddy, you're free reign is over!
That's called a "rimmage" (pronounced that way, never seen it spelled, it's a play on re-image) at my work. If they've messed up their stuff that badly we spend a little time trying to save anything that could possibly be irreplaceable (or image the whole drive just in case) and then reimage the machine with Windows and Office. I'm sorry you lost all your settings, but next time, don't install stuff you're not supposed to be using at work. :P
Speaking of re-imaging, I finally manged to create CD's that boot into Ghost (after a weeks worth of trying). No more carrying around those silly usb floppy drives for me.
I am well aware it's not that impressive. It just took me a while is all.
Ok this isn't really a rant, more of a WTF moment. Today I was at work, in a photo lab, when a customer comes to pick up their pictures. So he gives me his last name and I hand him the two photo envelops, he looks at em, I ring them up, he pays. Then the following conversation:
Him: Why are there CDs in here? I didn't ask for my pictures on a CD.
Me: Oh, you didn't?(The person who took his order is kind of a ditz so it wasn't too surprising.) Well I can fix that.
<Pick up phone and call for a refund.>
Him: How much are they?
Me: CDs are $2.99 each.
Him: Well never mind then, I'll just take em. I don't want them but I'll take them.
Me: :?: O_o
Now why didn't he A) Mention something BEFORE paying for them, he did look at the pictures afterall or Want his money back? I mean it takes less than 5 minutes for a manager to do a refund like that and the store wasn't busy at all.
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INeedNoSaltwith blood on my teethRegistered Userregular
Ok this isn't really a rant, more of a WTF moment. Today I was at work, in a photo lab, when a customer comes to pick up their pictures. So he gives me his last name and I hand him the two photo envelops, he looks at em, I ring them up, he pays. Then the following conversation:
Him: Why are there CDs in here? I didn't ask for my pictures on a CD.
Me: Oh, you didn't?(The person who took his order is kind of a ditz so it wasn't too surprising.) Well I can fix that.
<Pick up phone and call for a refund.>
Him: How much are they?
Me: CDs are $2.99 each.
Him: Well never mind then, I'll just take em. I don't want them but I'll take them.
Me: :?: O_o
Now why didn't he A) Mention something BEFORE paying for them, he did look at the pictures afterall or Want his money back? I mean it takes less than 5 minutes for a manager to do a refund like that and the store wasn't busy at all.
This conversation was pretty funny, I'm no IT guy but still:
Mom's friend: Alan (me), my work blocked me from visiting anything but my company e-mail, they warned us a few weeks ago that productivity is down and now they blocked it completely. How can I get to google and stuff?!
Me: Um, you can use a proxy server *I give her some links* to try to get past it, but don't you work for a bank?
Mom's friend: Yeah, why?
Me: Um, banks are pretty secure, they probably watch everything you do anyway, sneaking to use the internet is probably going to get you in trouble
Mom's friend: Why?
Me: Because it's a bank, they have a lot of money. They want you making more money and they want to make sure that money is safe, so you probably shouldn't be doing proxy servers or installing stuff.
Mom's friend: But then what am I going to do?!?!
Me: Um, do your work and use the internet at home?
Mom's friend: Annoyed gasp/yaulp
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Here, we are told to be the former, but to come back every 10-15 minutes or so to make sure the guy still doesn't need help. It doesn't matter, because they all need help (I guess I live in an area where EVERYBODY is computer illiterate), or, if they say they don't, the second you turn around to go help someone else, they say "Well..." and ask a stupid question.
On the subject of stolen credit cards When I was working at wal-mart I got a strange message on the register, it said "Pick Up Card". I had my usual wtf moment and I called the CSMs (they deal with most things money and register related) and they told me that it was a stolen card and that I had to confiscate it. I was like "ok....." by the time I had hung with the CSMs the lady in question bolted.
It gets better the lady came back a day and claimed that I was racist and refused to ring her items. Managers knew that wasn't the case but she made such a big scene and threatened to do this and that they gave her a $20 gift card.
Morale of the story: Steal credit cards and claim racism for free money.
Most companies don't allow employees to take the cards anymore. Just out of safety... no sense getting yourself hurt from some asshole coming after you because you took "his" stolen card.
see: Don't be a smartass. ;-) I meant you have to sign the card, and show ID... not just sign the card in front of me so I can match them.
Daybreak: it really doesn't matter. The signature on the back is as much your "this is my card" proof, as it is you accepting Visa's terms and conditions. Consider the card a contract, that you have to sign.
And when it comes down to it, wether you have "see ID" on the card doesn't matter if someone steals the card. You are not responsible for the charges no matter if you write that, or put your signature, so it's not a huge deal.
Some banks, though... they tell their customers not to sign the card. Makes no sense, because then the thief can just sign it themselves.
And this is how we encourage society to act like four-year old idiots.
no, only some of them do
whoever accused you is an idiot
People do, and its so annoying. The reason they keep doing though is that it works. The bigger scene they cause the more they get back in return.
I remember around the 1st x-mas 1 year after the PS2 came out we were there was this lady who wanted to return a PS2 when she came in she originally went back to electronics to do the return. I informed her that she needs to go up front and the people there will be more than happy to help you, so she left. About 5 or 10 mins later I hear my name being paged over the intercom. Anyone whose returned electronics at the mart before knows that it has to be inspected by a manager or member of that dept before its given the final okay.
So I went up to the return desk and looked at this playstation 2. She had a receipt (which is rare) with the purchase of a PS2 dated the day before. But the serials didn't and this PS2 was caked in dust (I mean covered, it was actually kinda gross), and the current serial had the void signs on it like it had been tamped with. So I asked you bought this yesterday and it just doesn't work? She said YEA! So I pulled one of the people working returns to side and told them that this is a scam don't take it back (I made sure the customer didn't hear me). So after that I left and went back to my dept.
10 min later the same lady old PS2 in hand comes back to my Dept and seeks me out tears streaming down her face. Im like O_o wondering whats gonna happen next and she starts screaming (literally) to return this. I say I don't have authority to return this and it cannot be done at this register. Things steadilly got worse so I called a manager. The manager took one look at the system and the serials and was like no. He tried to break it to the lady gentally but the tears came back and this time she busted out her cell phone.
The manager asked her what she was doing and she replied "calling the police!" O_o O_o O_o.
So about 5min later the police show up. We all go up to the front, and the lady tells her story of "hardship and incompetent employees". Then the officer hears our story and why we did not take it back. Then he just flat out tells the manager "Just take it back" the manager begrudgingly accepts. Best part though is when the police officer walked out and told the lady that she needs to get a life.
Wow. A police officer encouraging crime. Can't say I'm surprised.
I write "SEE ID" mostly just because t amuses me that no one ever checks.
Half the places you go these days have you swipe your own card. Some are even starting not to make you sign anything at all.
When you go online, there isn't even anyone to check.
The moral of the story is monitor your credit card bills, and if there are charges you didn't make, then do something.
But, if anyone ever told me that they couldn't take my card, since it wasn't signed, I'd take it and a pen, turn around so thatthey couldn't see what I was doing, and sign it, before giving it back to them. That way I DIDN'T just sign it infornt of them.
Yeah, because I am THAT kind of a smart ass.
That's terrible. Some people need to be trained in dealing with crying women, because once the tears start guys just freak out.
Did the manager even try and say "we're going to lose $300.00 because she's lying and crying?"
Shit, she should have been arrested for a disturbance or something, because she wasn't buying anything, and creating a hostile place for others to shop in.
So if I understand this correctly: A police officer ordered a manager to accept a return on a possibly stolen item? A) Do cops even have the authority to say 'just accept it' and
Edit: Isn't return-fraud still by far the largest source of external loss in retail?
Edit 2: The day after Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, some middle-aged lady came in to return an "unopened" copy of Kingdom Hearts 2, which had in fact been opened before they decided to glue the plastic wrap shut in the sloppiest manner I could possibly imagine, contained a copy of a three year old JamPak with a low-quality photocopy of the Kingdom Hearts 2 disc glued over the label. We did not process her return, and she took her game and ditched trying to blame whoever was or wasn't on the other end of her cell-phone for the mix-up.
One of the nice things about a system that includes the gutting of games is that when a sealed game is brought in, and you supect it, you can simply open it up.
oh, people...
We were adamant about IDing people for Credit Cards at my old GameStop. I found that the vast majority of people got these surprised looks on their face, then smiled after a second, and thanked us for actually checking.
I remember times when we've had the "nasty returns/tradeins", too...People have brought in game discs that look like they had been dragged over a gravel driveway, only to have them tell us "it works fine at home!". We get that line quite often on game systems themselves in particular. They bring in the dirty systems. The ones with the drive door missing, or with a controller where the plug that attaches it to the system is no longer part of the cable, and they wonder why we won't take them in...or why we say they're getting 30 bucks instead of 80 due to the fact that we'd have to ship it off to get disassembled and rebuilt...Of course, these are the same people who bring us Ice Hockey 1999 and get upset when we tell them it's worth ten cents...
Once, we got a PS2 -- which some moron working the register actually took in -- which was infested with roaches (the insect kind, unfortunately). He promptly took it into the back room, and that store has had a thriving roach colony to this day.
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We had the same issue when I worked IT for a retail store (everyone knows which one). One of the employees took in a desktop computer, and shipped it off to the service center to get fixed.
A week or two went by and the customer didn't hear anything, so she came in bitching and whining about getting her computer back and all this abloo bloo (something about her finals being due in a week).
So we call up the service center, and the tell us the desktop was infested with roaches and they are shipping it back immediately. We went and told the customer and she started putting the blame on us. "You guys must've had a roach get in there or something! My house is completely clean BLOOBLOO" and "I'm going to sue you guys because you damaged my property!".
So when it came back in, it was sealed in white plastic wrap with roaches drawn all around it (service center's doing). We called her up, and she never responded. So we had to keep the computer back in the area for 90 days (longest we keep it) and never heard a word from her. Then we destroyed it with glee.
There are people who are so dirty they think living with roaches is normal and everyone does it. I've met some of these people and I have not felt the same since.
Big fans of Joe's Apartment.
I worked at an inbound call center for a Life Insurance company for about 2 years, it was actually a pretty good job we dealt with customers and the companies Financial Associates.
One thing I learned from that job is its suprising on how many people would ask me how much money will I receive on my life insurance policy when they die. I always knew what they meant; IE what will my beneficaries receive but it still sounds funny.
As for some of the calls I got.
I had one girl who was 24 at the time who called in about a policy her mother had boughten for her. Some of our Life insurance policies had Cash values so you could in essence close it out and recieve the Cash value. After explaning how the policy works our conversation goes like this
Her: Well my mother said I could cash this out if I wanted and use the money for whatever I needed
Me: You could do that, however this policy due to its cash value is actually paying for itself (it earned a dividend each year that covered the cost of the yearly premium) So in essence its a free $75,000 life policy. So it might be worth keeping
Her: I know but I could really use the money so I would like to cash it out.
Me: Okay, well the Cash value is around $5,000.00 and you recieve that if you close the account
Her: What?? I thought I would recieve the full $75,000.00, that's why my mom said.
Me: The $75,000.00 is the actual death benefit provided so you would never receive that amount
Her: Well why not??
Me: (after 5 second pause) Because its a Death Benefit and the policy is in your name which means the Death Benefit would only be paid in the event of your death. (which means "you" will not get any of the money, I didn't say this though)
Her: Well that's unfair my mother paid for a $75,000 policy so I want my 75K
Me: Well your mother actually only paid about $3000.00 dollars into this policy. And did so in order to provide that amount of life insurance on you.
Her: (now sounding agitated) So... it say righ ton this letter you sent me its for &75K I want my money
Me: I don't think you understand, This is a life insurance policy, in the event of your death! your beneficiaries would received the full death benefit amount. You! would only receive the actual cash value if you closed out your own account. Why would our company sell policies that only costed 100$ a year but were worth the full Death Benefit amount when you decided to close it out. That would be moronic. How would we make money off of something like that.
Her: You're an asshole, click...
She called the next day and closed out her policy.
It was a pretty fun job we had a great team and such. But it did have one major problem.
Taking calls from people who are reporting that someone insured had died. Most were okay to handle usually and elderly person passing away. But the few we would get of peoples young kids passing away from an accident were really hard to deal with. I mean really what do you tell some mother who's 14 year old daughter died in a drowning accident.
That would be the most popular business ever. Also the most broke.
ZING!
It's kind of a two-sided sword though. Retailers rarely ask, I suppose the person could always say they don't have ID. Under $25, you don't even need to sign/enter a pin, just swipe, no ID needed either. If you cap your card to like $200 or $500, then you need to call and have it raised and wait if you're gonna buy a big purchase. So either you have a low cap on it and if it gets stolen, they can't do much, or you're inconvienced all the time you need to buy big shit.
You know what I do?
Keep my card REALLY close to getting maxed out, that way if they do use it and overcharge, I can call my CC company and say it was stolen.
*grips hands* BWAHAHAHAA...
I log onto the machine, and find that he has installed pretty much everything he can get his hands on onto this machine. Even fucking bitcomet. You know, our company is pretty relaxed in our IT policies. If you want to install something, just run it by IT first, if we ok it, fine you can install it. There are people with a fair amount of personal things on their machines that are sanctioned by IT.
But there are some things on this machine.....fucking idiot. Bitcomet, a dvd ripping program, a program for converting avi to DVD, ebay toolbars, mywebsearch, spyware coming out his ass. some common spyware programs from like, a year ago are sitting on this machine.
So now I get to spend half a day cleaning it up, all because this guy is being a fucknut and taking advantage of an IT department that doesn't believe in Nazi-ism to the users. Well guess what buddy, you're free reign is over!
far too many people, sadly
ever look at just how many people play the lottery?
Time to apply the principal of least privilege.
I, for one, support IT Nazi-ism.
No soup for you!
That's called a "rimmage" (pronounced that way, never seen it spelled, it's a play on re-image) at my work. If they've messed up their stuff that badly we spend a little time trying to save anything that could possibly be irreplaceable (or image the whole drive just in case) and then reimage the machine with Windows and Office. I'm sorry you lost all your settings, but next time, don't install stuff you're not supposed to be using at work. :P
I am well aware it's not that impressive. It just took me a while is all.
Him: Why are there CDs in here? I didn't ask for my pictures on a CD.
Me: Oh, you didn't?(The person who took his order is kind of a ditz so it wasn't too surprising.) Well I can fix that.
<Pick up phone and call for a refund.>
Him: How much are they?
Me: CDs are $2.99 each.
Him: Well never mind then, I'll just take em. I don't want them but I'll take them.
Me: :?: O_o
Now why didn't he A) Mention something BEFORE paying for them, he did look at the pictures afterall or
Mom's friend: Alan (me), my work blocked me from visiting anything but my company e-mail, they warned us a few weeks ago that productivity is down and now they blocked it completely. How can I get to google and stuff?!
Me: Um, you can use a proxy server *I give her some links* to try to get past it, but don't you work for a bank?
Mom's friend: Yeah, why?
Me: Um, banks are pretty secure, they probably watch everything you do anyway, sneaking to use the internet is probably going to get you in trouble
Mom's friend: Why?
Me: Because it's a bank, they have a lot of money. They want you making more money and they want to make sure that money is safe, so you probably shouldn't be doing proxy servers or installing stuff.
Mom's friend: But then what am I going to do?!?!
Me: Um, do your work and use the internet at home?
Mom's friend: Annoyed gasp/yaulp