Greetings from the 'hood!
This morning my sister and I got up early and headed out to go shopping—it’s nicknamed “Black Friday” because it’s the day that merchants in America go from losing money to making money—at least that’s what the newspapers say.
I call it Black Friday because that describes the light when the stores open—some at 4, 5, 6, and 7 AM. Not to be beaten, some stores opened Thursday evening at 11 PM in order to catch the really really early shoppers.
Neither my sister nor I were really interested in getting up too early. I woke up at 4:30, the same time our parents do, and read the local paper (a two minute exercise) and the New York Times (a much longer exercise) before heading up to take a shower around 5:30—which was when my sister woke, of her own accord. So I sped through the shower—I hadn’t expected her to wake up until 6:30—and we headed off.
At Circuit City I picked up $25 worth of movies. It was a very chaotic experience, and the cashier foolishly asked me for my ID when I presented my credit card—and the manager seemed to think that their “store policy” overrides the agreements they have with MasterCard. I walked out.
Next door at Target, I picked up a whole lot more and I have to say that Target was much better organized and the employees far more helpful. Where at Circuit City, shit was piled deep in boxes and one hand to dig through, at Target everything was neatly arranged on the racks and you could see what was for sale without having to dig at all. Overall, I spent over $100, after sales tax (I think I prefer the VAT approach).
We were back at the house before 8, ready to start the day.
FlickrXtra: See My Thanksgiving Meal!
I absolutely understand what you are saying about MC: I know the policy as well. I must ask though, what the purpose is of having a policy that prevents shopkeepers from requesting ID? As someone who had my wallet stolen in NYC 17 years ago, I can tell you that policy resulted in shopkeepers being out 1,000s as a young black male charged 14,000 in electronics within the first two hours after the theft (and I was out nothing, as I had notified companies in a timely fashion). Although the gentleman had my ID, I think it would have served him little use and that being required to show it would have been a good thing.
Circuit City is bankrupt, you know, so they probably have staffing, suplly and morale problems as well.
I was saddened to hear of the death of a Wal-Mart employee on Long Island. Thousands of customers lined up for the store’s Black Friday sale, and the ensuing stampede resulted in the trampling death of a 28-year-old temp employee. 🙁
@G: The point is that if the signatures match the back of the card and the receipt, then the store is covered. If the signatures don’t match, they’re not covered–the ID does nothing to prove anything. Clerks at Circuit City (and other stores) are not ID experts and nor do I trust them with my personal information, be it my drivers license or my passport.
@Jerry: That is an insane story–people really are inconsiderate, especially in crowds.
I’m in a agreement with you Adam. ID me for wine and beer but IDing to check my Visa/MC identity is akin to IDing me when I present cash to make sure I’m not an illegal alien trying to use money in a country where I don’t belong.
However, rather than IDing people who write checks they should instead fine them because it’s too GD slow.
I have no problem with showing my ID while using my MC. I’d rather have them ID me than risk having someone else use my credit card.