If you look in the Hillbilly Dictionary for put-out, you will find Mrs. Hillbilly Mom's face there, wearing the expression from Wednesday as she left her pharmacy.
I don't ask for much. No special treatment. No over-the-top service. Mainly, I just want competence. Is that too much to ask? I think not.
Perhaps you remember last month, when I went to the pharmacy to pick up my regular prescriptions, and had a kerfuffle with the new clerk about using my debit card. It's not rocket science. You scan a card as credit or debit. TWO choices. I wouldn't think it's so hard to learn the second one.
My pharmacy is small, though a national chain. There's rarely a waiting line. Two or three pharmacists work behind the tall shelves, while one roving employee handles the drive-thru and the customer counter. Which has one register, a keypad for entering PINs, and an electronic signy-thing for a signature from the person who purchases the drugs.
In this store, you can't slide your card or use the chip. You have to hand it to the clerk, who does something with it on the side of the register, then hands it back, and tells you to sign the signy-thing. They also tell you to enter your PIN first, IF they have heeded your assertion that your card is a debit.
You know what happened on Wednesday, right?
Of course I got that same clerk. And of course I told her my card was a debit. AND you can bet your bottom dollar that she scanned it AS A CREDIT CARD! I know that, because she did not ask me to enter my PIN. As you may recall, I went round and round with her over this oversight when I was there the last time. When I left without even the satisfaction of her admitting that she forgot to scan my card as a debit.
I didn't waste my breath this time. You know how certain people get that attitude? The attitude that THEY know that YOU know that they messed up last time. And that they're still not going to admit it, and THEY're going to show YOU who's the boss.
It's not a big deal. Students used to try it all the time, and you can bet that Mrs. HM didn't give one inch. No siree, Bob! But stood her ground and calmly carried on until the student understood that they had messed up before, there were no hard feelings, but Mrs. HM wasn't born yesterday, wasn't falling for lame excuses, and expected that student to straighten up and fly right.
Well. This clerk is not my student. I'm done with all that. I don't have rules to enforce daily with 100 just like her. It's not worth a lecture on a young whippersnapper with I'malwaysrightitis. But you can bet that if I get a regular clerk next time, I'm going to ask them why this gal won't use the debit.
Seriously. If their register didn't accept debit cards (as she tried to tell me last time), then WHY do they still have the debit PIN machine tethered to it????
Yeah. I thought so.
Well, you could always make a scene. I find it quite cathartic.
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I would find it quite cathartic as well, but I don't like to draw attention to myself. Must be all those years of teaching, not wanting to be called in and lectured about showing my butt (FIGURATIVELY) out in the community.
I didn't pick up on this last time, but this is a store where you HAND OVER YOUR CARD??? That is so outdated. And you can bet your last dollar that if I were to be handing over my card, I wouldn't be letting go of it until she clearly understood this was a DEBIT transaction.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as how she has done this twice now, I'd be going in and asking for the manager to let him know and ask why. Yes, it entails making a scene, but only once and you can still take your business elsewhere after the manager has apologised and promised to retrain the dolt on the checkout.
River,
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine running it as a debit would be any harder for her. Doesn't a credit card charge the business a fee? I don't know how these cards work. Other businesses, like Office Max, clearly tell you the card will be run as a credit card, before you finish your transaction. I've been known to use cash there, just because.
Next time I might start a long discussion with her, about why the register can't take a debit card, and why they have the PIN number pad, If I'm feeling talky and cantankerous. I can imagine a supervisor wandering over to see what's going on. I'll be one of those passive-aggressive nightmare customers, who don't make a scene, but won't let it go!