Ever use your newfound SDMB knowledge with not-so-stellar results?
Yesterday at the Portland airport:
::Hands credit card, with my signature on it, to gift shop person::
“May I see your ID?”
“No, I have signed the card.”
“I still need to see your ID.”
“No, you do not. The contract with VISA states that it is illegal for you to ask for a photo ID if my card is signed, and it is illegal for you to make showing my ID a condition of acceptance. Therefore, I will not be showing you my ID.”
::long pause:: “Sir, we have to card anyone who buys cigarettes.”
It’s almost as if, when I tell my wife that I learned something on the SDMB, that it becomes invalid. Nevermind that she can’t produce evidence that I’m wrong, and I’ve never been found to be wrong. If I learned it on the SDMB its automatically wrong just because.
The legality of asking to see your ID aside, it is really a simple safety measure that costs you nothing but a few seconds of time. Why would you fight with someone who is trying to prevent credit card fraud?
My nitpick: Civil Law vs Criminal Law. Illegal acts are crimes and prosecuted by the State, a breach of contract is a civil tort for which the offended party may sue for damages. Another way of looking at it is: Nobody goes to jail for breach of contract, a person can go to jail for robbery.
dba Fred (not a lawyer)
p.s. I registered just to reply to this
I’m not saying that the clerk can go to jail for breaching the merchant agreement. All I’m sating is that the words “legal” and “illegal,” while perhaps heavily implying criminal acts, are not limited to that implication.