cblaisd

I once confess to holding up a line when I asked for a small drink and the clerk responded that they only had medium and large.

I said "I'll take the small one then."

"We only have medium and large."

Rinse, repeat.

kipper

I could see that continuing for quite a while!

CDTraveler

Yes, there has.

It's happened to me a couple times, generally when the business is using some sort of wireless card processor. I knew my card was fine but wasn't sure the cashier had a clue, so when the card declined on the first try I requested that the transaction be re-entered v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y and then it went through.

milepig

A variation of both the "pay for $3.75 in 3 dollars and 57 pennies" and the "let me find my checkbook" person is the little old lady (always, a little old lady) who gets the total and then starts to rifle through her purse.

Now, little old lady purses have like a thousand pockets, each of them needing to be separately zippered open. She goes through pocket....by....pocket....by....pocket. Finding a dollar bill here, a fiver (if I'm lucky) there, a couple quarters... Makes the cashier keep a running total while the lady asks every couple minutes "how much more do I need." Just shoot me now.

Mrs. Milepig is actually one of those who likes to haul out a coin purse and count out the exact change. Drives me crazy and I pretend not to know her when this happens. She seems to have an endless supply, and seeing as how she's always using it up I've never figured out where her change COMES FROM to begin with. I think she's stealing it from my stash.

Back in the day, the toll booths on the Illlinois tollway had those fun rotating boxes that you threw your change into. (Maybe they still do, we have EZPass). They took pennies and it was a great way to use up spare chagne. Toss in a handful and the machine went grind...grind...grind while it slowly counted the pennies.

beachmouse

Oh gosh, that reminds me of my mother, who has this utter hatred of pennies, and will gladly spend five minutes digging through her purse for a change combination that will let her get rid of pennies instead of getting them back.

Doc Savage

Who's on first?

FearFree

I've had a card get declined on the first try, and work on subsequent tries. My card was fairly well worn, and the magnetic strip didn't read well. Some merchants it worked fine, other times it must have only read the partial numbers and at these places would come back as declined. A 2nd swipe often resulted in an approval, and if not a manual entry of the card number would always result in an approval. It wasn't usually a problem except for the one day at McDonald's when the cashier was adamant that she couldn't manually enter the numbers.

The card has since been replaced, but it is certainly plausible.

AA_EXP09

Some cashiers in YVR really don't know how to do that though.

trooper

If kipper needs therapy... then so do I (and most folks I know actually)

We totally share his view that if it's:

1. For a whole bunch of people, OR

2. Involves ANY non-standard items...

Get outta the drive through!!!

I catch the same bus to work quite often... and it is as amazing as it is irritating that if there are, say, 10 people at the stop...9 of them will be holding pre-paid tickets or suitable cash... the 10th will not, but WILL be hauling 2 or more handbag type bags, plus a duffle and a backpack...

..AND will invariably leap on to the bus first and ONLY THEN start searching through all the bags for their ticket.

Our regular driver has reached the point of politely.. (but firmly and quite loudly) saying "Step aside please..." ^^

Pup7

You can also have them run it backwards. The computers read the magnetic strip the same forward and backward. As someone else pointed out running it slowly usually works.

I had some guy in front of me once hold up the only line to call the credit card company and make a big show out of getting them to approve charges when he was obviously over his limit. He made it out like he was some big shot and was looking around the whole time as if to say DYKWIA....very annoying. And the cashier did NOTHING.

kipper

Her view. But, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!!! I try not to have a complicated order at a drive-thru, and if I know I have a complicated order, and have gone inside, if someone is behind me, I'll let them go first. I figure that eventually, karma will catch up to me.

kipper

In the drive-thru line at Starbucks this morning, thanks to the car in front of me:
What is the difference between a latte, a macchiato, a mocha, and a cappuccino?

Why do I think I should've listened to Geno and stayed home???

Bwillis

I thank you for the chuckle !

trooper

My apologies kipper...

No offence intended.

As it happens I was at one of your favorite spots this morning... at the range training! (Off to NZ for a BIG IPSC comp soon)

t325

I've had a perfectly good card get declined too, so when a card is declined the first time, I have no problem with asking the cashier running it through again. What I hate is after the second try, they demand the cashier try it again. Or then start pulling 17 other cards out of their wallet that all get declined.

Major pet peeves are check writers and people who use exact change. My other pet peeve are drive up ATMs. Both the fact that they're at a height that's perfect for people driving Humvees and not people like me in small cars, and the people who use them. Nothing annoys me more than when I'm behind someone who, after getting their money, sits there while they put their ATM card and cash back in their wallet. Get your money and drive off. I'll throw my wallet, cash and card in the cupholder and sort it out when I drive at my destination. Or pull into a parking spot at the bank and do it. But don't hold up the line.