So, I decided to stop in at the McDonald's drive-thru (I know, I know) recently. I put in my order, then pull to the first window. I hand the cashier my card.
She swipes it.
She swipes it again.
Another swipe.
Two or three quick swipes back and forth.
Her: "It won't swipe."
"Oh."
Another swipe.
One more.
"Yeah, it's not swiping."
"Okay."
She walks off to get a manager.
The manager swipes the card a few times.
The manager tells me "Your card isn't swiping."
"Okay."
"Do you have a different one?"
"No, that's my payment."
"Well, there's are a couple of ATMs around here. You could get cash there."
I am slightly irate now. "What do you do when a card does not swipe? Do you not use your fingers, you know, to press buttons that correspond to the numbers that appear on the card?"
"No sir."
"You don't use your finger? If you get a card that, heaven forbid, doesn't swipe, you do not deign to use your finger to enter the number?"
"No sir, but there are ATM machines nearby."
Now, I understand the concept of a pyrrhic victory. The nearest approximation of winning might involve my debit card disappearing into a McDonald's with an irate person who would prepare McDonald's food for me to eat. I left.
I had a similar experience at the Dollar General as well. If they cannot swipe the card, they don't want the sale.
In other stores, when the card doesn't swipe, they try four or five times, then try rubbing it against stuff, then they try putting it in a shopping bag, then they complain about the card, then they try some other card reader on the register, and then they give up and type the card number in.
So, I used to work retail, and it wasn't so long ago that the concepts have had time to change.
You sell something, and the customer uses a credit card. Sometimes, the credit card doesn't swipe. You swipe it again, and get nothing. Third swipe? Nope. It's time to move on. You key the number in - it's sixteen digits. You can key sixteen digits three or four times in the time it takes to swipe a card twenty times, rub it all over your body, pull off and ruin a shopping bag (for the guy who brought reusable bags) and complain. Even doing an imprint on a multipart form took less time. Hell, a call-in approval took about as much time as these kids today take trying to wrap their minds around the possibility that a card isn't always read by the card reader.
A professional won't tell the customer "it won't swipe." What is that? That it's not working for you is obvious, and that statement doesn't actually suggest what you, as a cashier, are going to do about it. And if you can't finish a transaction with a willing customer, then that's your bad. Own up to it. Speaking of ownership, your customer doesn't want the problem; take it from them. Make it your problem that you are going to resolve. Apologize. Speak in full sentences. Start with the apology, follow with the problem, then wrap with what you're going to do about your problem. For crying out loud, you have the customer's name on a plastic card in your hand, use the customer's name!
Argh. The worst part of having worked retail is realizing how poorly it is often done.