Which kind of shows the parochialism of those companies. When I worked in retail in the UK, we had to have a matching signature with the signature on the card. If not - no sale. Simple as that...We had no provision to do otherwise. It's changed somewhat here with the introduction of Chip and Pin, but I do not expect that to be used everywhere in the world. Although I'm suprised by the lack of security on credit cards in N America, that's the culture. OTOH, such differences can work in your favour. I had to dispute a double charge from a trip in North America recently - when asked by my card issuer if I had signed for two amounts, I said I hadn't signed for any, it was a swipe reader on a gas pump... card issuer immediately changed from "taking 6-8 weeks to sort it out" to "oh, we'll charge that back straight away then. The retailer would have to provide proof that you authorised the payment to stop us doing that, and they can't do that without having your signature" If I had been dishonest, at that point I'd have said I'd been nowhere near the gas pump at all... fortunately, for that retailer, I amn't!

I think there are a small proportion of travellers from any country who believe that how it works in their country, it should work everywhere like that. And that if you can't make it work like that you are lying/lazy/not trying hard enough/stupid/all of the above. I think different cultures may react differently to encountering situations like that however... Brits are more likely to go away and whinge amonst themselves about it than create a scene!