Fun Stuff > CHATTER
When in Rome, do as the Romans do
Redball:
I use very little cash and use a credit card for most purchases, paying it off monthly. I used to have a $5 lower limit, but with the ubiquity of card readers at fast-food places, I've dropped that to $2 or so. When I drive from MI to AZ, stay a couple of months and drive home, I take maybe $200 in cash, and typically come back with $150. My credit card puts miles on my American Airlines frequent flyer account. I looked last night: 374k.
bhtooefr:
--- Quote from: ankhtahr on 12 Sep 2013, 09:39 ---In Germany that's the nonverbal way of saying that you've finished eating. Having the cutlery crossed on the plate means that you want to continue eating.
--- End quote ---
Here in the US, leaving the cutlery on the plate at all signifies that you've finished eating any dishes that require that cutlery, whereas placing it on the table signifies that you want to continue eating.
--- Quote from: Jace on 12 Sep 2013, 21:34 ---Especially since there's signs and stuff in shops that encourage tipping and its just so weird to me.
--- End quote ---
In my area, a local barbecue chain actually has signs saying "tipping is for cows" - they prohibit tips. They've also got excellent (counter) service and food.
Also, regarding US payment processing, because some of this works differently between different countries... jwhouk already covered this but I'll elaborate.
US payment cards have a magstripe that has all of the card info, and some of the info embossed on the front. (This allows payment networks to differentiate between a manually entered transaction and a card-present swipe transaction, which are billed at different rates due to the fraud risk.) Chip-and-PIN isn't a thing here, the few cards that have it are marketed towards people who travel to Europe, where (as I understand) magstripe transactions are now almost unheard of.
When you swipe the card, if it's a debit card, you're often given a choice between having the card processed as credit (through a credit card transaction network, and the merchant pays the fees) or debit (through a different debit transaction network, and your bank pays the fees I believe). Businesses that accept tips always ring it up as credit, however.
Credit's main security measure is that the merchant is required to get a signature for most transactions that are $25+ (exceptions are card-not-present transactions (online primarily), and pay-at-the-pump fuel purchases), so that if there's a question, the merchant is required to present their copy of the receipt with signature. How this works in a restaurant workflow... the card is swiped, total is entered, the terminal verifies that the transaction is approved, a hold is placed on the card for that amount, and the receipt is printed. Then, you're given the receipt, and write the tip amount, new total, sign it, and leave. I think the receipts are then entered back into the terminal with the tip amount, then, and the funds taken with the addition for the tip, but I've not actually worked with that end of things.
Debit requires PIN entry (so it's a "stripe-and-PIN" system, although with no crypto whatsoever), and no signature. You can also choose to get cash back with a debit transaction, in many places. (Obviously, this doesn't work for businesses to accept tips, because the tip is collected after the authorization has already been made, and they don't want to do a second transaction to get the tip.)
As far as charging different rates for credit/debit/cash, the credit card providers don't allow charging more than the advertised price for using credit, but you are allowed to charge LESS than the advertised price for using cash.
Also, debit/credit card usage is extremely widespread in the US. As has been mentioned, many credit cards have rewards for using them, and some debit cards do as well.
snalin:
--- Quote from: Barmymoo on 14 Sep 2013, 04:46 ---I don't have a credit card and hope never to get one. I can't really think of any reason why I would have to, to be honest, but perhaps someone can enlighten me.
--- End quote ---
If I'm going to other countries, I use a credit card for restaurants and such. If someone overcharges me (by say adding a zero to the end of the bill), I can cancel the payment later on by contacting my bank. I'm not so much worried about that here at home, because I could just go report it to the police and get it fixed.
--- Quote from: bhtooefr on 14 Sep 2013, 08:34 ---Chip-and-PIN isn't a thing here, the few cards that have it are marketed towards people who travel to Europe, where (as I understand) magstripe transactions are now almost unheard of.
--- End quote ---
Here, cards still have the stripe, but the chip is used everywhere. If the chip is failing for some reason, you can use the stripe.
I think all of the cards that only had a strip is outdated and useless now. I'm happy with the chips - the magnets had a tendency to fail if they were exposed to other magnet sources, and not very strong ones either. Although with chips, cutting the card in two pieces to destroy it no longer really works, so that might be a problem.
Barmymoo:
When I travel I don't use my cards! I get charged every time I use them, plus a percentage of the transaction amount, so I either take cash or a travel card that I believe basically functions the same way as whatever the standard method in that country is (in the US I had one of these and I could use it as credit or debit in the way people have been describing, but I didn't know what the difference was).
Thrillho:
Americans can correct me on this, but someone I know once came back from America and said that basically, where she went they didn't have manners in the traditional sense - like, for service staff, you just ask for what you want instead of requesting it. In the UK you say 'can I have a beer please?' and in the US, or this state/town, you say 'Give me a beer.'
This led to the following exchange:
'Can I please have another martini?'
*barman slams hand on the bar*
*extremely friendly, but incredibly loudly* 'OF COURSE you can have another martini, this is AMERICA, THE LAND OF THE FREE!'
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