# No, dumb bitch, we don't take anyone's American Express card
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 16, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697 "2015-11-16T15:09:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/61 "2015-11-16T22:19:43Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> T
>
> There _is_ something wrong, however, with gratuitously pointing out that the customer was overweight, or gratuitously assuming that she was probably a criminal. If all you meant by your post was _“You know, people who get loud and abusive about credit cards being refused are often thieves who have stolen the card from somebody else and think that acting aggressive will throw the clerks off-balance so they won’t check the transaction carefully”_, then that’s what you should have said at the start.
>
> Don’t troll with racist stereotypes and then dodge when you’re called on them by explaining that you were actually referring to an unrelated issue that you very carefully neglected to mention in your initial baited-hook post.
I can agree with a lot of this.
Honestly though, I wasn’t trolling. As I said, the race part wasn’t really what I was focused on; to me it is just a story about a person behaving unusually obnoxious and belligerent and giving the a lot of shit needlessly to the cashier.
This might sound crazy to you, but the stereotype about black people not having credit cards unless they are stolen is a new one to me. I think it is a pretty ridiculous stereotype considering in all my years of retail I never noticed any significant difference in black people using cards; almost everyone used cards very few people of any race paid with cash.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/62 "2015-11-16T22:24:10Z")
> [@desertmonk](#):
>
> Why would somebody trying to use a stolen credit card draw a lot of attention to themselves?
It could work. Some stores have the capability to take Amex but do not because of the higher fees. That was not the case in this situation, but perhaps the lady thought if she made enough of a stink she could get what she wanted.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/63 "2015-11-16T22:26:46Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> He assumes she stole it because she was… _loud_. Yes, that’s it. Loud.
No, fat. Everyone knows fat people are gluttons. Relevant information, which is why the OP included it in the OP.
I’m curious as to when **Annie-Xmas** will make the point that mentioning the fatty fat was fat was so relevant to the OP.
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### Author:  [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/64 "2015-11-16T22:52:01Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> He assumes she stole it because she was… _loud_. Yes, that’s it. Loud.
While there is no evidence one way or the other regarding the proper ownership of that AmEx card, one strategy a LOT of store scammers use is being loud and aggressive and playing race, sex, and I’ve even seen disability “cards” to get harried clerks and managers to acquiesce just to make them go away. It has been a long, long time since I worked retail, but after the first 6 or so months, I started assuming that any belligerent customer was really just trying to cheat the store (not that I cared on my $3 and change minimum wage).
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/65 "2015-11-16T22:53:50Z")
I swear, asking why a black tattoo on a black person’s arm appears dark green, instead of black, will ring alarms at the racist police headquarters around here.
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### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/66 "2015-11-16T22:55:13Z")
> [@desertmonk](#):
>
> Why would somebody trying to use a stolen credit card draw a lot of attention to themselves?
By that time she would have known they wouldn’t be seeing it anyway. And her behavior might have been the result of anger and frustration due to having forked over $25 or $50 of what little money she had to buy the card on the street only to find she can’t use it…or at least not in an easy and convenient way.
On the other hand she might have been given the card to use to pick up something for someone who owned the card and her anger was due to hyper sensitivity to racism. However her behavior makes it unlikely she’d be associating with/employed by most Am Ex cardholders…unless perhaps said cardholders were in the music business. 😛
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/67 "2015-11-16T22:57:51Z")
Are you somehow under the impression that Amex cardholders are some exclusive group? I don’t know if that was ever the case but it hasn’t been so for decades.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/68 "2015-11-16T23:00:10Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Are you somehow under the impression that Amex cardholders are some exclusive group? I don’t know if that was ever the case but it hasn’t been so for decades.
It certainly WAS the case back in the day. Heck, even their ads promoted such thinkery.
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### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/69 "2015-11-16T23:05:59Z")
Guilty as charged. I should have realized the change when I read Am Ex functions like regular credit cards now. My mistake.
ETA: That was to **Dewey Finn**
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/70 "2015-11-16T23:07:14Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> One aspect to the story that suggests the card was stolen is that she seemed to have _only_ the Am Ex card. I’d wager that somewhere around 100% of Am Ex cardholders also have at least one other credit card as well, if not several.
This, along with the ultra-aggressive posturing once the store policy was announced. If you tell me that you don’t accept AMEX, then okay, here’s the Visa or a debit card. If I go absolutely apeshit because you don’t accept AMEX, then that is probably the only method of payment I have available, and I am desperate to complete the purchase now.
Really? I went straight for more prestigious card, with an annual fee, and more stringent credit qualifications instead of the Chase Bank Visa? I cancelled all of my cards except for the one that everyone knows is not accepted in a lot of places?
And I just must have this item at this particular store and cannot wait until all the stores are open on Monday?
Or I stole it and need to make the purchase before the owner cancels it? Which is far more likely?
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/71 "2015-11-16T23:12:34Z")
What was the zaftig Nubian goddess trying to buy, anyway?
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/72 "2015-11-16T23:13:33Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> What was the zaftig Nubian goddess trying to buy, anyway?
Summer’s Eve mouthwash.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/73 "2015-11-16T23:19:40Z")
_\_
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/74 "2015-11-16T23:23:48Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#):
>
> I can agree with a lot of this.
>
> Honestly though, I wasn’t trolling. As I said, the race part wasn’t really what I was focused on; to me it is just a story about a person behaving unusually obnoxious and belligerent and giving the a lot of shit needlessly to the cashier.
>
> This might sound crazy to you, but the stereotype about black people not having credit cards unless they are stolen is a new one to me. I think it is a pretty ridiculous stereotype considering in all my years of retail I never noticed any significant difference in black people using cards; almost everyone used cards very few people of any race paid with cash.
The stereotype is that black people are thieves and criminals who would try to scam you, not that they specifically steal credit cards. I’d absolutely love to live where you live if you’ve never heard of this stereotype.
And the idea that belligerent customers are usually thieves doesn’t match up with my experience nor with the stories I’ve seen about others. They’re usually just really entitled. It seems quite likely to me that race influenced your determination, even if it was entirely subconsciously and unintentional.
Anyways, in my opinion, the best response is to apologize for offending and to say that, now that you know it could be perceived as racist, you’ll be more careful in the future.
What you said is definitely the type of joke I’ve heard my racist relatives make.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/75 "2015-11-16T23:25:19Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> _\_
Lucky bastard… you got out just before BigT showed up…
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/76 "2015-11-16T23:28:09Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> And the idea that belligerent customers are usually thieves doesn’t match up with my experience nor with the stories I’ve seen about others. They’re usually just really entitled.
Not buying into the racist thing but this particular point I don’t agree with. Extreme entitlement very often goes with criminal behaviour, since many such people have absolutely no understanding of the concept that they may not be entitled to do whatever they want.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/77 "2015-11-16T23:36:55Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Anyways, in my opinion, the best response is to apologize for offending and to say that, now that you know it could be perceived as racist, you’ll be more careful in the future.
>
> What you said is definitely the type of joke I’ve heard my racist relatives make.
Maybe if a poster I respected had said something like this I would consider it.
But in response to your idiotic sanctimonious nonsense I only have this:
**Fuck off**.
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### Author:  [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/78 "2015-11-16T23:59:50Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> Yes, to establish her using “the n-word.” And she looked like a stereotypical big, black beautiful woman. Had to outweigh me by at least fifty pounds.
I see. In that case, you may want to change that to “Foul-tempered Hottentot.” For clarity, of course.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/79 "2015-11-17T00:02:37Z")
Annie may or may not be racist, but either way I would take the whole story with a grain of salt. Annie either wildly over-exaggerates the interactions she has with people out in public, or she has the misfortune of constantly running into the rudest, most wildly inappropriately behaved people that most of us might encounter only once or twice in a lifetime.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/80 "2015-11-17T00:04:30Z")
So as long as we’re discussing the behavior patterns of gravitationally-enhanced melanin-hoarders…
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