Not Quite His Style(us)

(I’m a cashier and I’ve just started an eight-hour shift. The customer slides his card and hits “credit.” He approves the amount, and I type in the last four numbers on his card. When it comes to his signature he can’t get it to write. Our pads are picky, and if you put the stylus down too close to either the top or bottom lines of the box, it won’t write anything.)

Customer: “It’s not writing.”

Me: “Sorry, sir. You have to put the pen down in the middle of the box.”

Customer: “I don’t have a pin; this is credit.”

Me: “You have to put the pen on the box.”

(The customer then lays the stylus sideways on the signature box.)

Me: “Sir, you have to put the tip of the pen, that you write with, in the middle of the box, so that it’ll write.”

(Finally the customer understood and signed his name. Through this, one of my managers was standing behind me, trying not to laugh.)