# 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:** 9
### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/161 "2015-11-18T20:04:58Z")
**GrandWino** wins the thread, shut it down, there’s nothing else to say.
---
### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/162 "2015-11-18T20:05:56Z")
> [@octopus](#):
>
> You the fat police?
I’m the Annie is full of shit police. If she wants to pretend she didn’t want to paint a nasty image of a fat black lady rather than just an obnoxious customer, she’s free to, but she’s full of it. The story was cuntily told, on top of which I later remembered Annie has a history of telling (probably made up) stories of colored women behaving in an unsavory fashion. I look forward to her next tale!
> [@UltraVires](#):
>
> So when telling a story, we must include only the essential details which are absolutely necessary to understand the point? No background, no scene setting, nothing?
Yawn. We went over this already.
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> : raises hand : Was a cashier for a few years back in the day and then I did telephone customer service for a few years too. I have no problem believing the stories. You people (that’s right, I went there) would not _believe_ the amount of crazies that came out on a daily basis.
I’ve worked retail. I’ve seen crazies. I believe crazy stories. I do not believe \*this \*story. And there’s nothing you can do to convince me she was everyone in the store was ever so amused by her quip!
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/163 "2015-11-18T20:11:16Z")
> [@Elret](#):
>
> Huh? I think this quote of Senegoid’s is being unfairly denigrated. Just as we can acknowledge that all customers are not always right, why is it so shocking to point out that not all service givers are sainthood candidates either? He’s right – it’s an unskilled job often held by uneducated people who are doing it purely because they have no other options, and that’s not exactly a recipe for dedication and excellence.
>
> I am in no way saying this is all of them (I did it for years too, and I was damn nice), nor is he. I am just pointing out that fair is fair – if we can allow that customers can often be ignorant, entitled assholes, we ought to be also able to admit that there are a lot of workers out there who, by virtue of being young/stupid/unmotivated/uneducated/unsupported/what have you, make shitty decisions in carrying out their duties.
>
> Do you legitimately expect the same level of quality, attention to detail, judgement, and accuracy from a fast food worker as you do from a brain surgeon?
Your opinions are way out of context. Read a little about the thread and the story and I think you’ll find the reason for the denigration.
The story is about KFC workers acting callously and cruelly to a little girl. **The story has absolutely nothing to do with attention to detail, quality etc. Senegoid is saying, in no uncertain terms, that these low level workers are likely to be horrible, insensitive human beings based upon the fact that they are currently working as cashiers.**
He was wrong, trying to whitewash his comments in this way is ridiculous.
---
### Author:  [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/164 "2015-11-18T20:15:51Z")
> [@Chimera](#):
>
> Just goes to show you.
>
> You can never tell a story on the SDMB without some ass coming out of the woodwork to pick on your choice of words.
>
> Miserable tiny little people who live for picking at others to make themselves feel superior.
Yep, starting a new Pit thread is basically an invitation to have your entire life mis-examined by people peering in through the window of a single OP.
Responding to a Pit thread is a sport, where the winner is the person who most excellently tells the OP why they are an idiot for thinking the way they do. An adults version of a toddler’s “nuh-uh” game.
---
### Author:  [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/165 "2015-11-18T21:20:40Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#):
>
> Your opinions are way out of context. Read a little about the thread and the story and I think you’ll find the reason for the denigration.
>
> The story is about KFC workers acting callously and cruelly to a little girl. **The story has absolutely nothing to do with attention to detail, quality etc. Senegoid is saying, in no uncertain terms, that these low level workers are likely to be horrible, insensitive human beings based upon the fact that they are currently working as cashiers.**
>
> He was wrong, trying to whitewash his comments in this way is ridiculous.
I did read it, and it is you who is misrepresenting what he said. People were doubting that a fast food worker could possibly have behaved in such a rotten way (just as some people in this thread doubted a customer would be such a jerk).
Senegoid said SOME people work in a low level job because they are not smart enough to do something else, and that it was believable to him that someone like that would lack the judgement to not make such an idiotic decision.
That in no way equals “low level workers are likely to be horrible, insensitive human beings”. It means simply, as he said, that low level jobs do not require the intelligence of some other jobs, and therefore some people who work them are not terribly intelligent and could conceivably do unintelligent things.
---
### Author:  [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/166 "2015-11-18T21:31:29Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> I work in a store owned by Chassidic Jews. We can stay open and sell anything on Sundays, being exempt from the county’s blue laws. It’s been an easy day. Then a big beautiful black woman tries to pay with her American Express card.
>
> Me: We only take Visa, Master Card and Discover
> Her: Well, all I have is American Express
> Me: We don’t take it.
> Her: You don’t take it. Why not?
> Me: It’s store policy. I’m sorry.
> Her (getting loud enough to attract attention and bring the manager over to my register and the workers out of the aisles): Well, all I have is this card and you are going to take it.
> Me: I’m sorry, but I cannot take American Express.
>
> Her (screaming) YEAH, YOU WON’T TAKE IT FOR A N\*\*\*\*R, BUT I BET YOU TAKE IT FOR ALL YOUR FUCKING JEW FRIENDS.
>
> At that point I have to clamp my lips to keep from laughing. The manager comes over, cancels her sale, and says in a very quiet voice “Please leave the store and do not come back.”
In my experience with customers, your boss ended things too soon. I’d expect a bit more loud ranting and then the customer saying “Mastercard okay?” Most people were just upset that they were getting their way, no matter how miniscule the inconvenience. Forget Hitler, my time machine trip will be to off whoever came up with “the customer’s always right.”
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### Author:  [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/167 "2015-11-18T21:42:38Z")
> [@Elret](#):
>
> I did read it, and it is you who is misrepresenting what he said. People were doubting that a fast food worker could possibly have behaved in such a rotten way (just as some people in this thread doubted a customer would be such a jerk).
>
> Senegoid said SOME people work in a low level job because they are not smart enough to do something else, and that it was believable to him that someone like that would lack the judgement to not make such an idiotic decision.
>
> That in no way equals “low level workers are likely to be horrible, insensitive human beings”. It means simply, as he said, that low level jobs do not require the intelligence of some other jobs, and therefore some people who work them are not terribly intelligent and could conceivably do unintelligent things.
I think my interpretation of:
" . . . likely coming from some doofic front-line employee acting on his own initiative. There’s a reason that some people work at fast-food joints instead of being rocket scientists or brain surgeons."
is more accurate since he is using the exact word likely. He is saying very clearly that it likely that an employee would act this way.
---
### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/168 "2015-11-18T21:47:03Z")
I worked in a grocery store right out of high school. Started as a grocery bagger often loading groceries into customers’ cars and then became a checker. Worked there about eight months. Never encountered a belligerent or angry customer nor experienced cursing coming from a customer. On the contrary almost everyone was smiling, considerate and polite.
This was in 1967. People were raised much differently then and behaved accordingly.
(This board has shown me the error of my ways though and now I realize people were only well-behaved back then because racism, so save yourself some electrons, I already know the rebuttal.)
And yes, **Annie** is the poster who wanted two young black girls to give up their seats on the bus because at age 59 with a sprained wrist she was ‘elderly and handicapped’. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/169 "2015-11-18T22:08:02Z")
That woman has a point. We know that Jews are God’s chosen, so that when a Jew pays, either there will be a Jew button that the clerk would instinctively press, or the clerk would suddenly have knowledge of how to do that transaction, or the clerk would simply see it as a visa card and ring it through.
But her issue is not with the store, but God’s favoritism.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/170 "2015-11-18T22:11:56Z")
Favoritism is not what Chosen people means.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/171 "2015-11-18T23:10:04Z")
I was in a Wal-Mart once, and had to use the bathroom. At the sinks were two young ladies, employees. One had her arm around the other, who was sobbing, her face all red and swollen. I did what I came to do as fast as possible, but heard the one girl crying, “Why did he have to talk like that, I’m only in training. He threatened to HIT me!” I felt so bad for the kid. Customers have no right to be hateful to clerks.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/172 "2015-11-18T23:24:57Z")
I don’t think anyone doubts that there are customers who are nuts. When I was working at the Science Center, I once had a woman freak out and call me a psycho bitch because I asked her to throw her gum away. I also remember the time at Kmart when two women started arguing in front of my register and one called the other a “black bitch”. :smack:
However, it seems stuff like this happens to **Annie-Xmas** every freaking day. She’s always either running into crazy people, or making big scenes in public. So either she somehow attracts drama everywhere, or else she’s a liar, or she’s fucking nuts herself. _shrug_
Common denominator and all that.
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/173 "2015-11-19T00:43:01Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#):
>
> I don’t know who started that idiotic notion but it needs to be quashed. The customer is often very, very wrong.
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> Any individual consumer is often wrong. The consumers in general, however, are exactly right for as long as you want to stay in business, because once you deem them to be wrong, you go out of business.
yeah. “The customer is always right” is probably one of the most misunderstood axioms in existence. what it _means_ is “if you aren’t offering the product or service your customers need, you’ll go out of business because they’ll shop elsewhere.”
Unfortunately, your average rando idiot thinks it means “You’re here to be my bitch and I’m entitled to treat you like shit.”
---
### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/174 "2015-11-19T01:01:36Z")
The term originated with business owners who recognize that there’s nothing to be gained by trying to prove to the customer that they’re wrong because the customer will very likely take their business elsewhere, and that without their customers they won’t be in business very long.
The term is intended as verbal shorthand to let employees know they aren’t to argue with customers, rather than to imply or state as fact that customers are indeed always right.
Employees and customers who aren’t aware of the term’s origin often take it to mean what it says literally and either think the notion is ridiculous if they’re employees because of course customers are sometimes wrong, or if they’re customers they think it gives them carte blanche to behave any way they like because “the customer is always right”, being blithely unaware that there are limits even to business owners and they can find themselves tossed out on their can if they go too far over the line.
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### Author:  [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/175 "2015-11-19T01:45:42Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> I said nothing to this ignorant, man.
You have some Zen-ass self-control.
---
### Author:  [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/176 "2015-11-19T07:10:00Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#):
>
> I looked at him and said “I did not yell and swear at the customer. And even if I did, which I did not do, you have no right to come in here and yell and swear at me.”
>
> The left, with him muttering something about “The customer is always right.”
And then everyone cheered, right?
---
### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/177 "2015-11-19T13:37:14Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> However, it seems stuff like this happens to **Annie-Xmas** every freaking day. She’s always either running into crazy people, or making big scenes in public. So either she somehow attracts drama everywhere, or else she’s a liar, or she’s fucking nuts herself. _shrug_
>
> Common denominator and all that.
As another data point, here’s **Annie-Xmas** ’s [I asked a random stranger if I could stand under their umbrella, and they said No! How rude is that?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=693749&highlight=umbrella) thread/poll.
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### Author:  [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/178 "2015-11-19T15:10:56Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> More fun to take the credit card and wave it near the machine, then tell the lady it’s maxed, and she’ll have to call AmEx cardholder representatives on Monday.
You don’t have to wait until Monday. I’ve called Amex on Sunday afternoon regarding a billing payment issue I had with my company-issued card. Best customer service on the planet. The rep advised me to have a nice latte, relax, and enjoy the rest of my day (after giving me an extension on payment and waiving the late fee).
---
### Author:  [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/179 "2015-11-19T16:01:51Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> I was in a Wal-Mart once, and had to use the bathroom. At the sinks were two young ladies, employees. One had her arm around the other, who was sobbing, her face all red and swollen. I did what I came to do as fast as possible, but heard the one girl crying, “Why did he have to talk like that, I’m only in training. He threatened to HIT me!” I felt so bad for the kid. Customers have no right to be hateful to clerks.
A favorite time-waster for me is reading [notalwaysright.com](http://notalwaysright.com) (and it’s opposite: [notalwaysworking.com](http://notalwaysworking.com)). I “did time” working in fast food as a teen, so I am no stranger to customer abuse. However, in reading the stories on that site, it really appalls me how many customers seem to think it’s acceptable behavior to throw things at clerks.
---
### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-dumb-bitch-we-dont-take-anyones-american-express-card/737697/180 "2015-11-19T16:20:57Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> The term originated with business owners who recognize that there’s nothing to be gained by trying to prove to the customer that they’re wrong because the customer will very likely take their business elsewhere, and that without their customers they won’t be in business very long.
>
> The term is intended as verbal shorthand to let employees know they aren’t to argue with customers, rather than to imply or state as fact that customers are indeed always right.
>
> Employees and customers who aren’t aware of the term’s origin often take it to mean what it says literally and either think the notion is ridiculous if they’re employees because of course customers are sometimes wrong, or if they’re customers they think it gives them carte blanche to behave any way they like because “the customer is always right”, being blithely unaware that there are limits even to business owners and they can find themselves tossed out on their can if they go too far over the line.
There’s another sales aphorism:.“Win an argument, lose a sale.”
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