Because There Are No People Online?

Customer: “I’ve been looking for a book and I can’t find it. Could you help?”

Me: “Sure. What’s the title?”

I look it up and we do not have it in stock.

Me: “Unfortunately, we don’t have it and none of our nearby stores do, either. I could order it for you, though.”

Customer: “What does that mean?”

Me: “If you would like, we could place an order and it would arrive here in three to five days for you to pick up.”

Customer: “Oh. Okay, I definitely want the book, so that would be nice.”

Me: “Great, I’ll just need a name and a phone number to contact you when it arrives.”

Customer: “Oh, no. You want my credit card, don’t you?”

Me: “No, you wouldn’t have to pay until the book arrives. That way, if you decide you don’t want it, you aren’t obligated.”

Customer: “I don’t like giving out my credit card information. There are people who do bad things out there.”

Me: “Sure, I understand that. But we really don’t need the credit card number.”

Customer: “I mean, how can I trust that someone won’t just use my credit card? I don’t give my credit card number out to anyone.”

Me: “Honestly, the transaction would be run as usual once the book arrives. Your credit card is not needed unless that’s how you want to pay at the time of purchase.”

The customer thinks about it for a moment.

Customer: “I don’t like the sound of this. I’m just going to order the book online.”

Me: “Well, okay, but you realize that ordering it online would actually require you to enter your credit card information?”

Customer: *Waves dismissively* “Nobody does anything bad online. It’s people you can’t trust!”