It bugs me how a lot of stores assume that every customer loves crazy amounts of customer service. That may be true for a lot of customers, but there is still a large group that likes doing things themselves and only asking if they need help. I fall into that category, and I’m sure Wysz does too. There have been multiple occasions where I’ve walked into a clothing store, and within 5 minutes I had already been harassed by at least 5 employees telling me once again what their big sale is and asking if I need help finding anything. At that point I just leave.

From my own experience, when I worked at a large clothing chain that will not be named, we were told to check signatures on the back of credit cards. If it was un-signed, you were to ask for an ID, such as a driver’s license. Although I personally sign the back of my credit card, I was surprised with the large majority of people who didn’t sign the back of their cards, and an even smaller amount who were happy to provide their driver’s license for me to verify. I recall one person mentioning that “they wished more stores would check” because they deliberately do not sign the back of their cards just in case someone stole their credit card and tried to use it. But, the whole system breaks down if you get your wallet stolen or if you don’t check and someone writes a useless signature, which nobody really takes the time to check.

Hmm, that came out a lot longer than a I thought it would, but my point is that credit cards are insanely convenient and the checks to ensure your security are built for speed of processing transactions. It’s ultimately up to you to maintain your financial security, which, when you factor in people who can’t control spending with credit cards or scams online, is a frightening thought.

See you at work wysz

Lucky in Sunnyvale and also the one in Mountain View have self-checkout. They also had it at the Giant grocery store I used to go to when I went to school in Baltimore. And I think my grandparents mentioned having it on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. So I think they’re pretty common now. I never saw many self-checkout machines back home in PA (I think maybe the Acme got them recently and the Kmart tried it out), so I guess it’s a slow rollout to the more suburban areas. It’s nice though, especially if you’re a guy like me who buys women’s conditioner because it works better. Machines don’t judge.

Also, what the heck grocery stores have self checkout machines? I thought that was unique to libraries or something…