PIN-headed, Part 18

I’m cashiering during the lunch rush, and the display of my debit card reader has blanked. The machine itself is still working fine; it just doesn’t give prompts, so I just go on with it, as the only way to fix the issue would be to restart the whole register, which would take too long right now.

I tell everybody who wants to pay by card to just do it normally, and I give the prompts as necessary from what I see on my screen.

Customer: “I want to pay with my debit card.”

Me: “All right, here you go. The display is blank right now, but don’t worry; the machine works.”

She inserts her card, sees a blank display, removes the card abruptly, and thereby cancels the transaction.

Customer: “Your reader isn’t working.”

I turn the reader around to press the reset button, which takes some time to do its job.

Me: “It is working. The display is just blank right now, but you can pay normally. Just leave your card in and do what I say.”

I turn the reader back to the customer.

Me: “Here, just try again.”

She inserts her card again, sees that the display is still blank, and yanks the card out again.

Customer “Your machine is broken.”

I redo the reset process while the line behind her builds.

Me: “That’s just the display screen. I promise you the machine works. Please just listen to me and do what I say.”

She tentatively inserts her card again, frowns at the still blank display, and reaches toward the card again.

Me: “NO! Please leave it in and enter your PIN.”

She hesitantly enters her PIN.

Me: “And still leave it in, please.” 

The card reader works, and the register produces a receipt.

Me: “And here you go. Thanks for shopping with us and have a nice day.”

The customer left, frowning and shaking her head. People, we KNOW what we’re doing. Please believe us for once.

Related:
PIN-Headed, Part 17
PIN-Headed, Part 16
PIN-Headed, Part 15
PIN-Headed, Part 14
PIN-Headed, Part 13