Accept, Clear or Cancel?
Credit Cards. I take ‘em. Hell, everybody does. Plastic is all that we’re gonna have in a few years. Paper and coins are on the way out. Money floats in the air around us all day long.
People come to pick up their prescription. They pay with credit cards. To finalize this transaction, they must sign the “Signature Capture Machine.†After signing we are faced with the decision of a lifetime: ACCEPT, CLEAR, or CANCEL. Which should we choose? I don’t know!
Let’s analyze the decision so as not to make the wrong choice. ACCEPT finishes the transaction. You can get home and start popping your Vicodin (pronounced Vike-O-Deen of course). CLEAR erases your signature if you made an error such as signing “Lou Gehrig,†“Maya Angelou,†or “Captain Jack Sparrow†instead of your actual name. And finally we have CANCEL which of course ends the transaction as if you say, “I’d rather pay with cash, not this new fangled Credit Card.â€
Why is this such an incredibly hard decision, people? Why can’t you just hit ACCEPT? You know you want to! You DO NOT WANT CLEAR OR CANCEL. All you are doing is wasting my time. And, how do we rationalize our haste when we make the stupid decision of CLEAR or CANCEL? “Whoops, I wish they’d make all of these things the same everywhere. They are all different!â€
God forbid we have to read occasionally….
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October 18th, 2011 - 08:14
Late to the party, I know, but in my defense:
I have one of them new-newfangled debit cards. It draws money from my checking account (like an ATM card or a check) but it also can draw through the MasterCard network (like a credit card.) At some of them new-new-newfangled POS stations, I can select, with my little button head, whether I want to use the card as an ATM card – in which case I put in my PIN number, but don’t have to sign – or as a credit card – in which case I don’t put in my PIN number, but may have to sign.
It used to make more difference (and may soon again since banks are resurrecting all kinds of old fees) in that some kinds of bank accounts have limits on how many of each kind of use you could do before a fee applied, or different limits on how much money you could take out at one time (or in a day) through each kind of use. It also affects how much the merchant is charged and how much of a fee the bank has to pay to the payment processor. So I usually have a preference as to which kind of transaction I want.
However, POS terminal manufacturers/programmers/retailers do not have a consistent method for indicating one’s preference. USUALLY, what happens is I swipe my card and it assumes I want to use it as an ATM card (put in my PIN.) The most frequent way to tell it I don’t want to do that is to hit CANCEL. It then either assumes I meant credit card, or asks me if I want credit, debit, or to do something else.
HOWEVER, this is far from universal, which means if I let myself get in the habit of pressing CANCEL, which I do from time to time, if I am confronted with a POS which doesn’t do things that way I will just cancel the transaction and have to start all over again, perplexing and dismaying the innocent merchant. I’m really NOT stupid, I swear to you. I am being presented with inconsistent and often non-apparent choice requirements. (There are some of them where the CASHIER has to do something. There are some of them where the cashier has to do it before I swipe my card. There are some where they have to do it afterward. Cashiers never, ever volunteer this information in advance. Ever.)
That being said, I hasten to add that most of your customers are probably dipshits who wouldn’t do it right even if it wasn’t so screwed up. I’m just asking for you to confirm your target before you fire.