I work at a big-box store. A customer is having issues paying at my checkout.

Customer: “Ugh, your machine just said my card declined! Try it again.”

Me: “Sure thing, let me re-run it.”

Beep. Declined. 

Me: “Still not going through. Maybe try another card?”

Customer: “My card works fine everywhere else. It’s your system.”

Me: “It could be a chip issue. Sometimes the magnetic strip works better—”

Customer: “No, no. This is ridiculous. I just used it this morning at Starbucks. It’s your problem. Maybe if you guys paid for decent machines instead of standing around—”

Me: “Okay, how about inserting it and using your PIN, just to be sure?”

Beep. Declined.

Customer: “This is unacceptable. I have money. Your machine’s broken!”

The next customer in line only has one item.

Next Customer: “Excuse me, I’m just buying this one thing. If you like, we can see if my card goes through, and if it does, it’ll rule out the machine?”

The current customer sniffs disapprovingly, but agrees to this proposal. I hold the customer’s total for a moment and process the new customer’s transaction for a single item. It goes through fine. We come back to the original customer and try his card again. Declined.

Customer: “I’m telling you, it’s your machine!”

Me: “Sir, the machine works fine. It’s successfully identifying that your card doesn’t.”

I do credit card escalations for a major bank. A woman comes through very angry and screaming.

Caller: “I want this fraud charge removed from my card!”

The specialist who transferred couldn’t find what the h*** she was talking about.

Caller: “I need this charge removed right now! I only drink tea! I never drink coffee! This coffee charge needs to come off immediately! You’re my bank, you should be able to recognize when someone is fraudulently using my card!”

I’m frantically looking for anything Starbucks or Dunkin’ or whatever, and also coming up empty.

Me: “Ma’am, I don’t see the charge. What’s the date or amount so I can locate it and take care of this for you?”

Caller: “It’s right there, dummy. Can’t you f****** read?! The latte fee!”

Me: *Completely deadpan.* “Ma’am, we pronounce that late fee.”

Caller: *Click.*

I work at the front desk of a hotel. A man got dropped off by a rideshare and came up to the desk.

Guest: “I saw online that you have rooms for $56?”

This was news to me because our rate is $90 after tax tonight, and I told him this along with our credit card requirement and security deposit.

Guest: “I saw it on [Travel Agency Site]. Can you match their rate at least?”

Me: “I’m sorry, I can’t, but it’s fine if you want to take a moment and book it there.”

He decided that was what he was going to do and lingered around the desk fiddling with his phone.

Meanwhile, the desk phone rang, and I answered and quoted the caller the rate for Friday, which was a bonkers rate because of an event in town. After I hung up, the guy in the lobby laughed.

Guest: “I’m glad I’m not here on Friday! I don’t have that much for a room, and I don’t have a credit card for a deposit!”

I realized he must not have been paying attention when I quoted him the very same deposit earlier.

Me: “Sir, I want to clarify that a deposit will be required of you when you check in.”

He laughed and pointed at his phone.

Guest: “I’m booking online, remember?”

Me: “Regardless of how you booked, you’ll still have to pay the same deposit using a credit card or a major bank debit card.”

He just chuckled and waved me off dismissively, so I shrugged and let him make his own dumb choices.

A few minutes later, he complained to me that he was having trouble booking online because it kept changing the dates on him. I suggested that maybe the rate he wanted was only for a specific date? Or that it didn’t exist, but I didn’t say that out loud. A few minutes of me awkwardly sitting at the desk passed as he stared over his glasses at his phone while standing at the desk directly in front of me.

Eventually, he said he’d booked it, and I saw a new reservation pop up a moment later and confirmed his name. I asked for his ID and his card for the deposit, and his face fell.

Guest: “I told you, I don’t have my credit card here.”

I replied as politely as I could manage.

Me: “And I told you I would need it to check you in. It also says that on [Travel Agency Site].”

He argued that it didn’t, and I invited him to hand me his phone. I scrolled on our page on [Travel Agency App] to show him exactly where it did, in fact, say that. He sighed.

Guest: “Fine. I have my credit card number.”

He showed me a credit card number written out on a scrap of paper. He did this while standing directly next to a sign stating that we don’t take tap to pay, pictures of credit cards, or any card that is not physically present at the hotel. I’ve had guests laugh that we have the sign, and they always look horrified when I inform them that we have the sign because of how often I’ve had to tell people no, I can’t accept this picture of your credit card.

The guy then went through the various prepaid cards in his wallet asking me if we took any of them, even as I repeatedly told him that we don’t take debit cards that have not been issued by a bank. Eventually, he accepted defeat and then had to go through the rigmarole of calling [Travel Agency Site] to get his money back.

I don’t like turning folks away; it’s awkward and uncomfortable for everyone involved. I don’t know what this guy expected to happen.

Customer: “I want to dispute a charge on my bill. My mom didn’t tell me she was going to charge the card, and she normally does.”

Me: “So, it’s fraud?”

Customer: “Oh, no, not that, but I wanna dispute the charge?”

Me: “Dispute it because it’s not correct?”

Customer: “No, ‘cause my mom didn’t ask me before she charged it.”

I didn’t feel like explaining to him that his card and what’s done with it are his responsibility, so I transferred him to disputes so they could break the bad news.

I work at a hotel in my hometown and have been here for a while now. We have policies in place not only to protect the security of our guests but also to protect ourselves from scams, fraud, etc.

One of our policies is that we do not accept debit to pay for a room in advance. This is due to a few bad apples that have smoked in our rooms, destroyed property, or tried to scam the hotel into getting free nights.

A woman comes into the hotel wanting to book a room for her, her husband, and their dog. No problem! We go through the entire process of getting a rate she is happy with, and I finally get to the part in our check-in process where I ask for her credit card.

She pulls out a debit card and goes to pay, but I explain our policy.

Woman: “This is ridiculous! This is my husband’s card, and he uses this everywhere! We’ve never had this issue at any other hotels before!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but due to our policy we require a credit card to be on the booking. It’s a security issue otherwise.”

Woman: “This is ridiculous! I’m leaving. My husband is probably going to come in here and he won’t be pleased!”

I think “fine” and go about cancelling the booking. The man comes in, holding his debit card, and stalks up to the front desk.

Man: “I’ll just put a deposit down.”

Me: “Unfortunately, sir, as I explained to your wife, we cannot accept debit on the booking and require a credit card for security reasons.”

Man: “I’ll just put a deposit down.”

Me: “As I’ve said, sir, we require a credit card in order to book a room.”

Man: *More forcefully this time.* “I’ll just put a deposit down. How much is the deposit?”

Me: “sir, I cannot be any clearer; we require a credit card for a reservation. It is a security issue otherwise. This is a policy in our hotel, and there is nothing I can do to override it.”

Man: “Well that’s just f****** great! Where the f*** am I supposed to go?! I’ve been driving fourteen f****** hours and need to sleep!”

Me: *Exasperated.* “There is [motel beside us] that should still have vacancies left; you could try there?”

Man: “Fine!”

He storms out, kicking one of our flower pots at the front of the building as he goes. The couple peels out of the parking lot and leaves, presumably to find the entrance to our neighbour’s property and out of my hair.

Thing is, if he had been nicer, I would have directed him to a nicer property. Enjoy the sketchiest place in the city, jerk.