The financial stress of traveling abroad is no small feat to overcome.

What would you do if you were in another country and your preferred form of payment wasn’t accepted?

Would you be ready with a backup payment option, or would you insist on paying with the original payment option?

One fine man from the Netherlands shared an awkward interaction he had with an American tourist and her favorite credit card, or was it a debit card?

He’s not really sure.

Here are the details.

But this is a visa debit card!

This is a story from a few years back during summer vacation.

I was using mine to work in the store.

Usually we’re put on half shifts for the day: one shift for store-related things and the other shift on register, to break things up a bit.

It was afternoon and I manned the register for that shift.

In walks an American…

Because it was holiday season, we get our fair share of foreigners: French people, British people, but also Canadians and Americans on occasion.

In comes an American woman, I greet her (in English), and she returns the gesture.

I ring up all of her products and we proceed to payment.

I asked her if she wanted to pay cash, or electronically, she wants to do it electronically.

Are Visas red flags now!?

After I told her to go ahead, she pulled out a Visa card, which immediately raised a red flag.

Our store doesn’t accept credit cards at all, because we don’t carry anything that’s more expensive than €100.

Also, unlike the US, paying with a credit card is not a common thing, we’re used to using debit cards instead for day to day purchases.

However, the American woman informs me that it is in fact a Visa debit card and wants to proceed.

The Visa debit card is an American staple.

I never had seen one before, but they seem to be a thing.

But, I once again had to tell her that she won’t be able to pay with it this time because it lacks a chip on the front.

This was put into place to prevent the rampant skimming. All stores block off the magnet reader on their debit card terminals, forcing you to use the chip.

This means you can only use your card by inserting it into the terminal, not swiping it.

She can try, but it’s not going to work.

The woman becomes a bit disgruntled and wants to use it anyways.

Well, I ain’t stopping her, so I allow her to.

She sticks her card into the terminal…. Aaaaand nothing, shocker.

Defeated, she pulls out her card and hands me cash, I hand over her change and wish her a nice stay in the Netherlands.

Sometimes you just have to let them have it their way.

She had cash the whole time!? Wild. Let’s see what the good people of Reddit thought about this.

In a rare win, most people sided with the American.

Others raised eyebrows at the Netherlands.

One person provided a helpful breakdown.

Another person dropped some knowledge.

Money talks, but it’s often lost in translation.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.