It’s about 2:30 in the morning and a thought popped into my head. I don’t know why it did, but I felt like sharing it. On the back of my credit card, next to my signature, I’ve written the words “Please check ID” in permanent marker. Most stores these days allow the shopper to swipe their own card through a reader without even asking to see the card, let alone an alternate form of ID. Of the stores where the cashier does the swiping, only two have actually asked on a routine basis to see my ID before accepting the card. There are several stores where I know the cashier saw my request to check ID, but ignored it, handing the card back to me with a blank stare which seems to say “I don’t get paid enough to care if you are who the card says you are. Just hurry up so the people behind you don’t get pissed off at me because I don’t get paid enough for that, either.”
It got me thinking… what if I didn’t actually have some form of ID on me? (Note that in my case this is a hypothetical since the credit card and my driver’s license are in the same wallet; if I don’t have one, chances are I don’t have the other.) But what if. Would they go through with the sale, anyway, to avoid inconveniencing/annoying a customer or would they apologize and say they couldn’t accept the card without proper ID and risk creating a scene? I would prefer the latter, obviously — I wouldn’t have put the note on my card otherwise — but I suspect the former would be the common resolution to the situation.
I’ve become increasingly aware of the risks of identity theft over the last couple years. I keep a close eye on my credit card statements and credit report, and have a healthy amount of paranoia about what information I put “out there.” It annoys the crap out of me when I have to leave a credit card receipt on the table at a restaurant because most of them are an ID thief’s wet dream: credit card number, expiration date, name, and signature. All on one convenient little piece of paper which is simple to grab as you walk past a table. Assuming it does stay in the possession of the restaurant, I have to assume (and hope) that at some point that piece of paper is destroyed rather than simply being tossed in a dumpster somewhere, but I will probably never know its fate, nor how many people have access to it until it meets its ultimate fate. No matter how careful I am with my information, I’m still at the mercy of the laziness/stupidity/ignorance/unethical behavior of others. That really bothers me.
“It got me thinking… what if I didn’t actually have some form of ID on me?”
I went to a restaurant last week to see what they would do if I failed to produce my ID with my checkcard. (Mine also says “see ID” and 19/20 times they do not ask for it) The restaurant would not take my card without my ID. And they did not say ‘no’ politely.
I’m glad to hear that. Well, maybe not the impolite thing, but that fact that they refused the card. I wish more companies and restaurants were like that. I went to Arby’s a couple months ago and had to pay with my credit card since I ran out of cash that week. What happened there scared the shit out of me… I didn’t even have to sign the receipt. They swiped my card without asking for ID and then let me walk to my table and eat without so much as a signature.
I understand why they do this. It speeds up the order-taking processes, but it gives security a big middle finger. I actually wrote — and snail-mailed, amazingly — to Arby’s headquarters to say I will no longer eat at Arby’s because of this policy and explained in detail exactly why it is such a concern. Unsurprisingly, I have not received a response.