A Sign You’re One Of The Good Ones

(We’ve had a new gas station open recently that is between two cities, so it gets a lot of traffic. I have stopped there for the first time since it opened two months ago.)

Cashier: “Paying with card? Our chip reader doesn’t work, so you’ll have to insert your card three times, and then swipe.”

Me: “Yikes, I bet you get a lot of complaints about that.”

Cashier: “We do. We’re used to it by now. What’s worse is they sent us replacement card readers, and the chips were broken in them, as well.”

Me: “Are they going to send you any more of them soon?”

Cashier: “We hope so.”

(Two weeks later, I go in, and there is a note taped to the reader, explaining how to use it. There is a guy in front of me trying to use it, but he is getting frustrated; he jerks his card out, swipes, then puts it back in over and over.)

Cashier: “Sir, you have to insert it three times, and then swipe when it gives you the prompt.”

Guy: “I know what I’m doing. I have the chip. It’s supposed to read the chip!” *inserts, gets error, then swipes card* “Why is this stupid thing not working? I don’t have any cash on me! You should fix these stupid things.”

Me: “They sent new ones, but those were broken, as well. Any word on the newer ones yet?”

Cashier: “Nothing yet. Sir, do you want me to do it for you?”

Guy: “I can do this!”

(The second register gets opened, since the line is growing now, and I go to that register, instead.)

Me: “Hmm, got an error. The sign says to reinsert card a second time. Hmm, got a second error, I’ll reinsert card a third time, like the sign says. Okay, I got my third error, and now it says to swipe the card.” *sure enough, it goes through, and I’m given my receipt* “Thank goodness they put a sign beside the card reader telling me how to check out!”

(The next time I went in and my cashier friend was there, she told me the guy went red in the face and had no problem getting his card to read after that.)