i wish you had to pass a special test before your allowed to be issued with a plastic card
tested should be:
(A) The ability to swipe a card once shown the right way (or even better interpreted the diagram!)
(B) the ability to comprehend that once the transaction gets sent to the bank, it's THE BANK who will send us back one of several msgs, these are the most common:
- APPROVED 00, congratulations, you can go now
-APPROVED 08, if you just sign this slip here, you can go if the signatures match, and YES, sometimes you have to sign for cheque or savings when the line is busy, otherwise i cant allow you to have the goods
-DECLINED 04, i'm sorry, your using a stolen card, i'm going to have to call the police now
-DECLINED 51, YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY, i dont care if you think you do, but the bank thinks you dont, and nothing you can do to change this
and finally, the bane of my existence when customers dont grasp the concept
DECLINED 01 as frustrating as this may be, this code means that the bank wont accept the transaction, i have no idea why this may be, if i did, you'd probably accuse us of invading your privacy. now, when declined 01 comes up, i'm always happy to try again because the bank does sometimes just do it for no reason, but if it happens twice, YOU HAVE TO CALL THE BANK AND SORT IT OUT THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO.
and
(C) the ability to grasp the fact that ONCE THE TRANSACTION HAS BEEN SENT TO THE BANK, YOU CANT GET CASH OUT!!!!!!!