Wheee, tonight I got to be That Guy holding up the line at the supermarket, taking forever just to pay.
I was low on cash and forgot to stop at the ATM on the way out of the office, and didn’t realize it until I’d arrived at the local Safeway to pick up dinner. No problem, I can just whip out the debit card, right?
Well it seems that its position in my wallet has formed a bit of a bend in the card. The ATMs accept the card without any problems, but the crummy little readers they use at the store just wouldn’t read it, even after repeated swipes. I noticed that my old card was still in the wallet too (I probably held on to it just in case its replacement didn’t work), and the scanner accepted it. Except that after the “Processing…” delay after entering everything, the transaction was rejected. Of course, the old card was deactivated after the new one was used…
My last hope was the credit card, and fortunately it worked and the line could start moving again, but it’s still embarassing going through the public frustration of having trouble paying for something while everyone’s eyes are on you.
That’s why, despite the convenience of debit cards, I still prefer to carry a bit of spare cash.
I’ve had that happen to me before. I’m always paranoid they’re thinking, “Gee. You might want to make sure you have enough money in your account before you go out in public and have to fish through cards to find one you haven’t maxed out.” Crazy? Maybe. But that’s what I feel they’re thinking. =P