# 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:** 5
### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/81 "2015-11-17T00:25:37Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#):
>
> 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.
Back when I was studying law I worked in retail on the weekends. By the end of the weekend, it was highly unusual _not_ to have an anecdote to tell my family or friends about something silly or weird a customer had done.
Then I started working as a lawyer (with large corporates as clients, not retail law) and at a certain point I looked back and realised I could now go months if not years at a time without gathering a new anecdote.
---
### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/82 "2015-11-17T00:28:43Z")
> [@UltraVires](#):
>
> 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?
Maybe this was the only card she had that wasn’t maxed out. Maybe her aggression was masking embarrassment and frustration. Or maybe she was cynically playing the race victim card in hopes of getting better treatment.
None of us knows what was in her mind, nor what happened to her or what she did before this interaction.
All of you mind-readers and type-definers should just take a step back, and consider that this was a person, behaving badly, maybe having a bad day, maybe the kindest person you would ever meet under better circumstances. You don’t know. I don’t know.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/83 "2015-11-17T00:38:07Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> All of you mind-readers and type-definers should just take a step back, and consider that this was a person, behaving badly, maybe having a bad day, maybe the kindest person you would ever meet under better circumstances. You don’t know. I don’t know.
How do you feel about all the mind-readers and type-definers willing to call everyone racist at the drop of a hat?
Do tell.
---
### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/84 "2015-11-17T00:48:38Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> Back when I was studying law I worked in retail on the weekends. By the end of the weekend, it was highly unusual _not_ to have an anecdote to tell my family or friends about something silly or weird a customer had done.
>
> Then I started working as a lawyer (with large corporates as clients, not retail law) and at a certain point I looked back and realised I could now go months if not years at a time without gathering a new anecdote.
Oh, I get that. She seems to run into the crazies at her retail jobs or on public transport, so there’s definitely a ring to truth to that. It’s just that the crazies she runs into are so _aggressive_…always screaming and ranting. It’s rather bizarre.
---
### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/85 "2015-11-17T00:51:45Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#):
>
> 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.
Oh no. There’s a zero percent chance any of this happened. But the telling of this beautiful black woman acting perfectly belligerent and entitled, of course with the unprovoked accusation of racism, followed up by Annie’s oh-so-clever response, causes my eyebrow to raise. And in case you missed what was clever about Annie’s rejoinder, everyone laughed!
Overall good story. Could have involved more belligerence, or our Anne being hoisted on everyone’s shoulders. I guess she was going for subtlety.
---
### Author:  [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/86 "2015-11-17T01:07:02Z")
> [@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. It seems quite likely to me that race influenced your determination, even if it was entirely subconsciously and unintentional.
My experience, though decades ago, was different. It was about a 50/50 split. I can’t remember a racial divide in that, however, if there was one. Most common scam was the “I gave you a $20” when they only gave you a $10. The more they complained, the more likely it was a scam. Next was return policy abuse (especially people trying to return items the store had never stocked).
---
### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/87 "2015-11-17T01:32:03Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> Oh no. There’s a zero percent chance any of this happened. But the telling of this beautiful black woman acting perfectly belligerent and entitled, of course with the unprovoked accusation of racism, followed up by Annie’s oh-so-clever response, causes my eyebrow to raise. And in case you missed what was clever about Annie’s rejoinder, everyone laughed!
And Annie then quipped in her ardor and everyone laughed and went home.
---
### Author:  [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/88 "2015-11-17T01:42:00Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> My store always has to have a male cashier waiting somewhere in the wings. Some (Muslim & Jewish) men refuse to do any business with a woman.
>
> I am always amazed at the world’s ignorance.
I would like to live in a world where such customers were told to go find another store.
Sadly, I live in this one where the sale is more important.
---
### Author:  [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/89 "2015-11-17T01:48:12Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> And Annie then quipped in her ardor and everyone laughed and went home.
Quiet, you!
---
### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/90 "2015-11-17T01:56:50Z")
> [@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.
BBBW?
---
### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/91 "2015-11-17T02:03:20Z")
> [@OldOlds](#):
>
> I would like to live in a world where such customers were told to go find another store.
>
> Sadly, I live in this one where the sale is more important.
Can’t be a sale if they can’t process the card.
Added so I can feel like I’m part of the crowd: And if those Jew owners weren’t so cheap and racist, they’d be able to take that ghetto-fabulous Nubian princess’s AMEX card.
Is that how this game is played? 😉
---
### Author:  [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/92 "2015-11-17T02:03:26Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Well, if it turned out it was some small ugly asian woman screaming that I for one would be even more perlexed.
No, I say UIGHUR! You deaf now too?
---
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/93 "2015-11-17T02:12:33Z")
> [@Penfeather](#):
>
> No, I say UIGHUR! You deaf now too?
Why you gotta drag the Muslims into this?
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/94 "2015-11-17T02:21:25Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> Why you gotta drag the Muslims into this?
Yeah! This discussion is about the foibles of low-albedo famine-resistors!
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/95 "2015-11-17T02:29:53Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> Oh no. There’s a zero percent chance any of this happened. But the telling of this beautiful black woman acting perfectly belligerent and entitled, of course with the unprovoked accusation of racism, followed up by Annie’s oh-so-clever response, causes my eyebrow to raise. And in case you missed what was clever about Annie’s rejoinder, everyone laughed!
>
> Overall good story. Could have involved more belligerence, or our Anne being hoisted on everyone’s shoulders. I guess she was going for subtlety.
Oh for sure she seems to be employing tired stereotypes, in particular the large and loud black woman…but in her world people scream a lot, so it’s hard to say if she’s employing a stereotype or just her usual overly exaggerated description of events.
---
### Author:  [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/96 "2015-11-17T02:41:12Z")
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> Can’t be a sale if they can’t process the card.
>
> Added so I can feel like I’m part of the crowd: And if those Jew owners weren’t so cheap and racist, they’d be able to take that ghetto-fabulous Nubian princess’s AMEX card.
>
> Is that how this game is played? 😉
Er, I am afraid not.
I was referring to needing to keep male cashiers handy for those who won’t deal with a woman cashier. Nothing to do with the Jew Owners- just the fact that most businesses (regardless of ownership) will happily sell out the dignity of their employees for a sale.
---
### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/97 "2015-11-17T03:00:06Z")
Well, THAT’S a given!
---
### Author:  [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/98 "2015-11-17T03:12:27Z")
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> Well, THAT’S a given!
OK I admit- I don’t know if I am being wooshed, or if you didn’t notice that I quoted that specific statement regarding keeping male cashiers handy.
Clarification please?
---
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/99 "2015-11-17T03:15:25Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> 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.
I get your point, but at the same time there is something to be said for painting a picture.
How boring would literature be if we left out all the unnecessary details?:
Book title: “Boy meets girl”
Boy meets girl.
boy _gets_ girl
Boy looses girl
Boy gets girl back.
The end.
---
### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/100 "2015-11-17T03:19:06Z")
> [@Grrr](#):
>
> I get your point, but at the same time there is something to be said for painting a picture.
>
> How boring would literature be if we left out all the unnecessary details?:
>
> Book title: “Boy meets girl”
>
> Boy meets girl.
> boy _gets_ girl
> Boy looses girl
> Boy gets girl back.
> The end.
Oh she was loose before she ever met him.
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