Your Explanation Has Been Declined

(We are in the middle of a huge rush where all of the lines are full. We were trying to get customers out as quickly as possible. This customer has only a few items and her total is about $12. She slides her card, and it is declined. I always try to be polite and couth about it when this happens.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am. It didn’t like your card. Would you like to try it again?”

Customer: “What do you mean?”

Me: “The register didn’t want to take your card. You can try running it again, though, if you want.”

Customer: “Does this happen a lot?”

Me: “It happens sometimes.”

Customer: *suddenly angry and much louder* “This is ridiculous! You need to fix this! It’s such an inconvenience! This always happens to me at this store! You need to fix your card reader!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s not the reader. It read your card just fine but the purchase didn’t go through.”

Customer: “No! This is terrible customer service! Type it in on your machine!”

Me: “I can’t do that, ma’am. Our system won’t let us and we aren’t allowed. It read your card just fine. It just wasn’t approved.”

Customer: “Why not?! I know I have money on this card! It’s your fault and you have to do something about this!”

Me: “It really isn’t an issue with the card reader or with our system at all. If you want I can suspend this and you can contact your bank to find out what’s going on.”

Customer: “H***, no! I’m not waiting in line again!” *starts fishing money out of her wallet* “This is ridiculous! Get me your manager! You need to fix your machine!”

Me: “Ma’am, it really isn’t mine or the machine’s fault. The problem lies with your card.”

Customer: “No, it doesn’t! I know I have money in this account!”

Me: “I’m sorry. I don’t know what the issue is. You can try contacting your ba—”

Customer: “No! What does your screen say?”

Me: “It says it was declined, ma’am.”

(The customer then turned beet red and threw money at me, then gathered up her things and went over to the manager. She yelled at him about how I was rude and embarrassed her by saying her card was declined in front of other customers. My manager never talked to me about it, though, and the next three customers in line all told me to keep my chin up and hang on, and hoped that my shift was almost over. It was, thankfully.)