This was sent to us as an, "oh, this is gross and bad customer service," but I actually think it's a good tip for something to try if your credit or debit card won't swipe, and there's no plastic bags around.
Today, at the Costco in Rancho Cordova, California, a Costco employee licked my ATM card. When I tried to scan my card, the usual happened. It wouldn't scan. I tried several times, to no avail. The cashier, "Victoria A.", then took my card from me. I thought she was going to scan it at her register, but I was wrong! Instead, she licked her index finger, rubbed it on the magnetic strip on my ATM card, then ran it through the scanner. To be fair, the scanner DID read the card once the card had been licked. I think Costco should have a policy about employee licking. What do you think?
Rubbing the card through a plastic bag to build up static electricity also works well. Just based on my own personal experience, there's usually a large reservoir of plastic bags available in the general vicinity of the checkout area.
Costco employees should not lick ATM cards [Splash's Training Day]
(Photo: Ninha Morandini)
I don't know about saliva, except maybe to clean the crud from the surface of the card, and make for better contect.
However the plastic bag thing works because it increases the thickness of the card. There is a friction wheel on the opposite side of the magnetic reader to indicate the speed, and direction of the card swipe. After a few thousand swipes this wheel wears out, and no longer moves to indicate a card has been inserted. Putting something in this space closes the gap, and applies more pressure against the wheel.
]]>We did regularly "clean" the debit machines with the cleaning cards, but some machines just had more difficulty reading cards than others. Different cashiers used different tricks. Some used receipt paper to encase the card, some would put a strip of till tape across the magnetic strip. I personally preferred to "heat up" the strip by rubbing it back and forth between two of my fingers, which seemed to work the best when the other two methods didn't.
Also, cashiers can't put in card numbers manually. Supervisors can type in credit card numbers, but nobody can type in ATM card numbers.
]]>Is it gross? Maybe. But I work in a place where I wash my hands nonstop, so it doesn't really bother me. Honestly, I don't know why it works so well. It just does. And I'm pretty sure no one is gonna die from my spit.
]]>Check out the bagger!
]]>I love it. If she HADN'T been able to get the card to work, there would have been a story about how the cashier was inept and didn't do everything she could to help the consumer. LMAO at this stuff anymore.
I can see the post now..."And this stupid unhelpful cashier didn't even TRY to lick my card to make it work..."
That's so fucking hot...seriously.
]]>LOL yes I have, although I don't have the picture unfortunately...greatest picture ever.
You might want to try ebaumsworld or collegehumor.com for it. I'm sure one of them has it.
]]>So do hands, counters and credit cards. Calm yourself.
]]>How would it have been easier? That makes no sense.
]]>Yea, Austin TX is banning paper bags now, I guess we can expect to see more licking stories in the future =)
]]>But about 50% of the time the customer looks at me like I'm going to take the dirty piece of tape (because it is always filthy) and magically steal their identity from them. Hell if I had the knowledge to do that I wouldn't be standing behind a counter taking your credit card as payment for a $4 sandwich.
]]>Saliva carries bacteria, better kept to yourself.
Any cashier can manually enter the numbers and keep the transaction sanitary.
]]>mmm.. smells like BO..
*Lick*
*faint*
//Thank you next please
]]>Me thinks I'm going to Costco for a free lick.
]]>The closest I have ever seen to any sort of a plastic bag that isn't filled with a product is the bag that you put a dozen bagels in.
]]>@gomakemeasandwich: Did you ever see the picture from the Masters when the feminists protested? I've been trying to find it all day...
]]>That said, don't ask me why licking them helps. I have no official answer for that question. Possibly the same reason, possibly not.
]]>Costco + bags? I don't remember them having bags around anywhere.. just boxes when I go.
]]>Maybe the plastic acts as a polishing tape - like some of the old cassette cleaner tapes.
So, it's cute if a dog licks your card, but not a cashier? What if she's cute?
]]>@seamer: yes, this. more sanitary and guaranteed to work.
]]>I've been waiting for this magic moment!
music video: "Mr. Big Spenda" by Licky
//double bonus points?
]]>So you shoot down all of their ideas, but admit you have no idea why it works? I love it.
]]>I can't imagine why the bag trick works, but there seems to be a fair amount of anecdotal evidence to show that it does. I suspect it either has to do with a slight change in the magnetic flux level from having a few microns of extra space between the stripe and the reader head, or keeping the dirt on the stripe away from the reader head.
]]>Sitting on your credit cards all day won't reduce the thickness much compared to the amount of wear it takes from swiping. Though, if it's a cheap ass card, then some electronics or magnets that may be kept in or near a wallet can demagnetize it, even other credit cards can do it. But it takes time and the card has to be super cheap--not credit cards, more like those damned pass cards at Disney World that can't seem to stay magnetized for a day.
]]>Don't be silly, no one has credit cards in Bulgaria. Or money.
]]>Fitting the growing problem of drug resistant bacteria in to a post about a customer using her spit to lube a credit card...I'm impressed.
]]>Some cashiers would use wet paper towels or sponges instead of licking their fingers. Seems like a good idea, but in reality those sponges and paper towels are even better breeding grounds for germs.
Really, I think we're way too obsessed with germs. I'm a fairly clean person, but people freak out to much about that sort of thing. There's anti bacterial EVERYTHING, and all it's doing is just giving us stronger bacteria as a result.
]]>I heard you can get AIDS from cashier spit on credit cards. It's true.
]]>A freak. A freak you'd want to marry. Think about it.
]]>If she's that dirty on shift, imagine what kind of freaky shit she's in to after she get off work.
]]>Me too actually.
]]>Yeah, it was valid if you care about 4oz of sugar water.
]]>@Juggernaut: Shouldn't it be gomakeasandwichsoicaneatitbitch? Otherwise you'll wind up transformed into a sandwich. Trust me, I should know.
]]>From what I've always heard the reason behind why some of these tricks work is that when you stick these cards in a wallet the pressure flattens them after a while. Its expecially true for men who not only have all that junk in the wallet pressing against the cards but sit on it all day long.
Thats why the bags, paper, tape etc work. They give it just that much more thickness so that the card hits the reader correctly.
There was an old consumerist article on making "custom" credit cards with iron ons. They mentioned in that too that the extra bit of thickness from the iron on actually helped the cards read better.
]]>Easy: MacGyver.
I bet you he's already figured out a way to make it work with Chili's funky chunky sour cream too.
]]>You wrap the plastic around the card like a condom and swipe it that way.
]]>@gomakemeasandwich, its not the same at all. The McDonalds story was valid, paid for a large and got a medium, make sence? No.
]]>Card Won't Swipe? Rub Saliva On It!
]]>I didn't want anyone to be offended.
]]>@gomakemeasandwich: Sorry! Isn't it supposed to be gomakemeasandwichbitch?
]]>@discounteggroll: @Megatenist: @
These posts are killing me but it does make a Friday go by a little quicker.
href="#c5617367">gomakemeasandwich:
Isn't it supposed to be gomakemeasandwichbitch?
"I think Costco should have a policy about employee licking. "... um, yes, of course!!!
also, yes lets be happy the card worked, but really- someone elses spit i'm only willing to deal with if it involves a nice dinner paid for beforehand and perhaps some loving feelings afterwards over a glass of wine and wheel of fortune.
]]>There is none, except that we have yet another retarded story to comment on.
]]>I would go back and ask for her phone #
Seriously,she didn't actually lick it,but that's going...uh.."above and beyond" good customer service
]]>By the way, is it wrong that this story kind of turned me on?
]]>That sounds like good customer service to me.
You could always clean it later if it bothered you.
]]>Where's the issue here?
]]>Bad headline. She didn't lick the card. She licked her finger then rubbed the card.
I have done this to my own cards but not to someone elses.
]]>This actually does work.Helps when you're at checkout in your local supermarket when the card reader is too finicky.
Also helps if you're single and alone on a lonely night.......
I'm just saying
]]>I did have this happen to me before (my card not working), and the cashier spooled out some receipt paper and covered it with that, then swiped my card. This apparently worked. I wonder what makes it work?
]]>