Archived chip card rant.

[Kaitii]

This too! SOO many guests are oblivious to the fact that their card even has a chip. All I can think is, "Did you not read the papers that came with the card when your bank sent them to you?!"

Guests literally tell me the card came in the mail and here they are with it. They actually did not read them.

 

[sher]

I think I'm lucky lol. I haven't had any terrible annoyances on guest's part. I do wish the honking was less hostile.

Worst I've had was when people remove it before it's time then the card reader goes dumb and doesn't accept the card anymore. Then they have to type it.

And once I had a lady with a new cc that actually had chip and *pin* instead of the less secure chip and sign (which I hypocritically think is stupid) and she was all "there is no pin. It's a CC...."

 

[Kaitii]

I think I'm lucky lol. I haven't had any terrible annoyances on guest's part. I do wish the honking was less hostile.

Worst I've had was when people remove it before it's time then the card reader goes dumb and doesn't accept the card anymore. Then they have to type it.

And once I had a lady with a new cc that actually had chip and *pin* instead of the less secure chip and sign (which I hypocritically think is stupid) and she was all "there is no pin. It's a CC...."

In cases where it goes dumb and won't accept the chip, have they tried swiping it? Sometimes their chip won't work and when that happens if you insert the card 3-4 times and it rejects it each time eventually it'll actually ask you to swipe it and it'll go through

 

[sher]

Ohhh good to know!

While we're sorta on the topic, are ebt cards now required to be typed in?? They never work with a swipe when I'm on register so I'm assuming this might actually be a "feature."

 

[Kaitii]

That doesn't sound right. EBT still work fine when swiped here. Do you use the same register? At my store one of our registers won't really take EBT, like it'll swipe but say it can't accept the card at the end. In that case we do two things: try again or suspend and take to another register

#1 rarely works, #2 has never failed

 

[Retail Girl]

I had a guy tell me that we should put instructions on how to use them. So I pointed out the instructions right next to the reader. To which he told me that he doesn't bother reading that stuff, anyway. *sigh*

 

[Retail Girl]

Lol, even if I ignore the chip, i haaaaaaaaaaaaaaate the redcard with a burning, fiery passion. I *try* to only use it when I'm buying expensive things. And I use it on the Tuesday and Wednesday before payday to float checks basically. Today I was in line to buy a red hoodie at 2:32 and I was scheduled 2:30. Only reason I used the redcard in that moment is because I didn't have $16.99 in the bank.

Im always in line at the last minute before work and I'm just buying food for my breaks because I convinced myself I had enough time then I get up there and see the clock at :34 and I swipe discover (even faster than the bank card). before the chip came, I made the discover vs pin decision often. I don't rush like that in the real world (i.e. Places that aren't target)

So your goal is to be five minutes late for every shift? I can't even...

 

[Retail Girl]

Ohhh good to know!

While we're sorta on the topic, are ebt cards now required to be typed in?? They never work with a swipe when I'm on register so I'm assuming this might actually be a "feature."

Do you mean the SNAP cards? (All debit cards are EBT cards...it just means electronic bank transfer).

Our state sends out these super cheap ones that get demagnetized if you look at them funny. So the guest has to hand key them about 3/4 of the time.

 

[KingBear]

Now that I think about it, back when the chip system first got activated, I had more than a couple of guests who thought the chip meant it was, like, step 2 after swiping.... so I'd see them and they would swipe, get the goose honks, and then once it said "THIS IS A CHIP CARD" they'd insert the chip. Not even that they forgot. Just.... unwilling to detach from the habit of swiping.

In cases where it goes dumb and won't accept the chip, have they tried swiping it? Sometimes their chip won't work and when that happens if you insert the card 3-4 times and it rejects it each time eventually it'll actually ask you to swipe it and it'll go through

I have, more than once, taken a guest's card and inserted it backwards 3-4 times just so they could swipe it. It was a long time ago and I can't remember why. But yeah, I totally love that Target added in an exasperation feature.

 

[Bosch]

I have, more than once, taken a guest's card and inserted it backwards 3-4 times just so they could swipe it. It was a long time ago and I can't remember why. But yeah, I totally love that Target added in an exasperation feature.

Don't do that.

 

[squirrely]

I love when a guest complains about the chip cards and I try to explain that they're more secure and the guest says, "oh, so you changed to these because of the data breach?" um, no. We changed to them because it's going to be the law.

 

[commiecorvus]

Again, using a chip card doesn't mean your identity is more likely to be stolen...it just means that since this is a thing now, scammers had to move to something else.

For example...since we no longer take back billions of returns for all of these people who used coupons and want the money back for the coupons, in my area they have moved on to just stealing the products off the shelves and trying to return them.

Doing one thing didn't directly cause the second thing...scammers will always switch to something else when they have to.

It's similar to how when they made cars harder to steal there was rise in the number of carjackings.
Thieves are thieves, they will come up with some other way to steal.

 

[sher]

So your goal is to be five minutes late for every shift? I can't even...

Absolutely not lol. My goal is to be 5 mins early and leave 5mins late tbh. Tryna be 50 minutes richer and ball out. I guess it doesn't come across but "I'm always" is exaggeration.

But yes I was referring to snap cards. And no I don't think I'm at the same register each time it happens.

 

[redstripes]

*inserts card only part way*

"It's not doing anything."

 

[redcardcringe]

The funny thing to me is that when I first started people were constantly trying to insert their chip and would complain that we didn't have it working yet, now that we do people have never heard of it or don't understand what a chip is. Did you not see that little silver square on your new card and think "this wasn't here before" it literally takes a few seconds longer, they're just aggravated because they didn't understand it, nobody likes to be wrong. If someone can't wait a few seconds, then they must be lucky that they've never had to wait or learn patience.

 

[Firefox]

The best part is when they go to Self Checkout and don't know how the chip card works. "Um, hello?! The machine isn't working, its giving me some "chip card" error! Fix it!"

 

[Myname]

How about the guest that hold the card in there, like it's going to fall out?

 

[Kaitii]

I've had guests make the weirdest faces putting in a chip card I really wish I could have taken a picture of each one and made a blog out of it

 

[shortstuffishere]

I had a guest say "oh that's what the email I got ment..."

 

[shortstuffishere]

Or they and try and put it in weirdly and told them to stick it like they were using an ATM but leave it.

 

[emayf]

I've had so many guests try to swipe their chip cards and I'll say "For the chip card you put it in the bottom and it will tell you when it's time to take it out." And they'll tell me that they don't have a chip card that they have a credit card or a debit card. Yes, but it has a chip in it! Ugh! I think it's extremely frustrating to have to explain to everyone who comes through my line how to use the chip card.

 

[redcardcringe]

The best part is when they go to Self Checkout and don't know how the chip card works. "Um, hello?! The machine isn't working, its giving me some "chip card" error! Fix it!"

Oh god, I'm so happy we don't have a self check out at our store.

 

[thetargetman]

I am getting so sick and tired of every soccer mom who doesn't understand how to use their chip card, and then proceeds to tell me how "it's more trouble than it's worth" ,and with shaking hands and heads telling me how "this is fucking ridiculous." It takes literally 30 seconds. "Give me convenience or give me death." My heart drops when I see a pony tail sticking out of a pink baseball cap.

They literally don't pay attention to what they are doing. Those loud mouths I always bagged their stuff wrong on purpose.

 

[Reddington]

It's ludicrous. They even put an arrow on the card telling the guest which way it goes in. C'mon, it's not rocket science.

 

[redeye58]

It's ludicrous. They even put an arrow on the card telling the guest which way it goes in. C'mon, it's not rocket science.

Nope, but it does say a lot about the learning curve of our guests.