Janet CollinsPIN or sign?
May 20th 2010 08:01
If there is any reflection of how harried or how hurried life can be it is doing a transaction at any store. “Pinorsi?” Followed by a quick glare as if to say “chop chop” answer me was what I was confronted with today.
What the cashier was actually asking was “PIN or sign” asking me if I would rather pin in a number or sign for my credit card transaction. It is this rushed sort of transaction that reflects very well the modern life.
It was a pretty ordinary transaction, so to speak. There was no one behind me in the queue and I didn’t see any need for the hurried transaction that the cashier was pushing for.
Don’t get me wrong. I can be a real perpetrator of getting things done quickly and I am often just at fault about hurrying people up with mundane purchases. I get particularly tense when I am in a queue and someone at the front decides to have a general discussion with the cashier, that has nothing to do with their purchase but leaves many waiting in the queue behind them for much longer than I need to, particularly if I am in a hurry to get somewhere else.
There are other times this reckless “hurry up” attitude really gets on my goat. Take for example the outlets where you have to swipe your own card and it takes a few goes for it to work. Often the cashiers look at you as if you came out of the Dark Age. All the machines are different and sometimes you have to put it in one way and on others you have to swipe it the other way. So why the rolling eyes?
Of course, this added burden to cashiers was brought about by the security crisis with credit cards. At one point it was deemed a signature was not that secure and everyone was encouraged to have a pin with their credit card as well but rather than forcing customers to use a PIN, they are now given the option of this or signing.
So the cashier now has to ask the customer something else. It is often mumbled together with the "need a bag?" question too. As more and more stores are now discouraging the use of plastic bags over bringing your own, cashiers are left with countless repetitions of "PIN or sign? Need a bag?"
Sydney as a city is quick and harried. Slowly machines are being installed to get rid of the cashier altogether. In some supermarkets you can serve yourself if you want to. I hate them personally but it makes more sense that a cashier in any outlet would want to engage with you even if it only is for a minute.
After all if the trend for computerized cashiers continues, there will be no human cashiers one day.
Maybe a few words as well as “PIN or sign?” may be a really good thing. Or maybe just saying “PIN or sign” a little slower so that customers actually understand what they are asking might be a good thing.
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