This evening I planned to go on a walk after stopping by Walgreens to pick up some gift cards for a birthday-celebrating relative. So I only had my keys, my credit card, and my iPhone with me.
I went to pay for the gift cards and the cashier guy, who I will refer to as "De La Soul" because he reminded me of one of the rappers in that group (Trugoy/Plug Two, if that means anything to you -- except this guy had a big ol' Afro), asked for my ID. I told him I only had my credit card. He said that the policy for gift cards was that a second form of ID was needed because apparently there's been quite a rash of people stealing credit cards in order to buy gift cards... or something like that.
"But I bought a gift card here last week with this credit card and no one checked my ID," I protested. (That was the truth, too.)
De La Soul was very nice, but he wasn't budging.
"I have my iPhone and can show you how all of my emails are to the same name that's on my credit card... how about that?" I offered.
De La Soul got on the phone to ask his manager, who was hiding somewhere else in the massive store. The manager denied my request -- I had to have an ID.
For about two seconds I was really annoyed. But then I thought, No. I am not going to throw a hissy fit at this kid because 1) he has really cool hair, 2) he is a sweetheart, and 
3) HE IS JUST DOING HIS JOB. I bet there are a great number of people out there in this world who have had their credit cards stolen and really wish that a cashier would've compared signatures or asked the thief for a second form of ID or something.
So I ran home, got my license, went back to Walgreens, paid for the gift cards, and told De La Soul that he did the right thing. Then I decided that going forward, I'm going to always let deserving people know that I've noticed and appreciate their efforts to fight the good fight. Most of us only get feedback when we've done something wrong, so if we want the De La Souls of the world to continue to take their jobs seriously and follow the rules, we need to give them some encouragement. Who's with me?
- e
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
How Dare You Do Your Job
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4 comments:
I don't want to believe that Plug Two works at a Walgreens! Sad sign of our economic times for sure. I think he was my favorite member of De La Soul. It would have been really hard for me not to ask him about being in a cool rap group or if they are going to get back together. I bet when he does price checks he's tempted to make them rhyme.
I think any word of encouragement you can pass onto him has to make him feel better about himself. Keep it up!
P.S. I'm going to make it a point to listen to 3 Feet High and Rising tomorrow or maybe the next day.
I couldn't agree more, e! A good attitude and a good column :-)
It is true in so many jobs that you only get feedback when people are unsatisfied but it's especially true when your job is to clean. I clean offices for a living and when I do my job well, no one even notices it. No one gives one thought to the fact that while they were at home having dinner with their families, their office magically became clean. It really does put me in a great mood for the entire day in the rare occasions that someone gives me good feedback.
I wish that the "rules" were consistent.
At Costco this week, I didn't even have to sign the reciept because my purchase was under $50.00
Some places want to see ID, others don't. You can use your card at a gas station pump without ID or signing. On-line purchases are another matter altogether.
Personally, I would prefer more security rather than less in case my card or my card numbers fall into the wrong hands, they can't do too much damage.
My MasterCard has a smartchip in it and for vendors that have the updated card readers, all I have to is enter my pin to authorize the charge and no signature/id is required. I like this, but there is no pressure on vendors to use these new readers and most of the time the card gets swiped the old fashioned way and I have to sign.
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