It at least used to be that if you made a purchase over a certain amount and charged the purchase to a credit card you had to show a photo ID.

I don’t know the last time I’ve been asked to check my ID, but it used to be pretty common.

In today’s story, an employee wants to check the customer’s ID, and the customer refuses to provide photo ID, arguing that it’s not necessary.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

Credit Card? Ask for ID.

I worked many years for Toys R Us (RIP) throughout high school and college.

One late December evening, a customer wanted to checkout with the hot new video game console —a not small transaction.

For payment he presented a credit card.

Our corporate policy was to ask for ID with any card payment.

The customer argued that he didn’t need to show ID.

He approached my checkout with what was unquestionably one of our largest sales of the day.

I rang him up and requested his payment and, as required by policy—and the written statement on his card—identification.

He immediately became belligerent and informed me that I was contractually obligated to part with valuable wares without any assurance that he was who he said he was or that I would actually receive remuneration for them.

The customer actually might’ve been right.

Fun fact: I looked it up later; that’s true—as a condition of accepting card payments, merchants must agree to contractual language promulgated by card issuers, and in most cases that precludes sellers from requiring identification.

However, neither this man nor me are parties to that contract.

Nor does this man have any reason to believe that his retail checkout clerk in South Carolina has any knowledge of—or is paid enough to care about—some contract someone in an office park in Paramus, New Jersey may or may not have agreed to with Visa or MasterCard.

Naturally upon being informed that I refused his purchase, he threatened to sue me personally and demanded to speak to my manager.

OP was the manager.

I, in fact, was the highest ranking employee in the store that day.

With a pittance more / hour above minimum wage, several years more experience than any other hourly employee, and anyone with more clout than me off for the holiday, I was the “manager” on duty and had stepped onto a register myself to expedite operations.

I cheerfully told him I would be happy to get the manager for him.

I literally spun on my heel and then asked him how I could help him.

The manager pointed out a different issue.

I made him re-explain to “the manager” why he was upset with “my associate”.

He ultimately then presented his ID, but “the manager” agreed that photo ID was entirely irrelevant—as the customer had said, if the card was signed I must accept it based upon his signature.

Unfortunately, however, the signature on the card and the signature on the receipt did not match.

The card was prominently signed “𝓓𝓸𝓾𝓬𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓜𝓬𝓔𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮𝓭𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓮 ASK FOR ID”.

The payment slip was signed “𝓓𝓸𝓾𝓬𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓜𝓬𝓔��𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮𝓭𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓮”.

Close, but clearly not a match.

She froze the credit card.

My employer was therefore contractually required to refuse the transaction and to report the fraudulent attempt—resulting in a card freeze.

“Can I trust you to find the exit, or will you require the assistance of the local constabulary?”

He was served a formal trespass notice and—in an abundance of caution—I also called every store within three counties to ensure no one was duped by that clever near-match.

Wow. So did the store lose the sale?

The guy certainly sounded entitled, but it also sounds like he was the actual card holder.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

Here’s a story about using a credit card at the post office.

Another reader shares an interesting fact.

I agree with this reader.

I feel bad for the customer.

That employee/manager was unnecessarily rude.

No one wants to lose a big sale.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.