Blog Indiana 2008

The Rocky Mountains Credit Card Signature

I find the whole idea of so-called security hilarious; the invented things that supposedly make things safer - like Airport Security. One of my favorites is the credit card signature.

Its been years since I’ve actually signed the back of a credit card for this reason. Most of the time, the checker at the Wal-mart doesn’t look at it anyway. Ever since I read the Credit Card Prank, I have gotten a bit more daring - at the self-checkout lines anyway. Sometimes I try to sign with an “X”, “I Hate Wal-Mart”, and, as an ode to my eldest son, “I Like Monkeys”.

Today, I was at Shop-Ko and I went through one of the self-checkouts. It seemed faster - I only had light bulbs, printer paper, highlighters and a new toothbrush - and I wasn’t in the mood to chit-chat with the checker one lane over.

I put my purchases on the ol’ credit card, and signed it with what looks like the pattern on Charlie Brown’s shirt. I bagged my stuff and headed to my car. As  I passed the self-checkout attendant, she commented, “Nice signature… it looks like the Rocky Mountains”.

Now, I was a bit flattered that she said something, but where’s the enforcement? I could have been using a stolen credit card. She should have called in the store security. They could have thrown me up against the wall and have me frisked until the situation was all sorted out. If I weren’t me, that’s $30.19 for which I’d be liable.

Security? Yeah, right.

I wonder what I should sign when I’m back at Shop-Ko later today.

Posted on March 19, 2006 in Spectacularity.    

3 Comments

  1. Dan said:

    Wow, that is wild. I read the credit card pRank thing and was baffled. The other day, I actually got held up a bit as the person insisted on checking my signature. I thanked her for her dilligence and told her I wished all tellers would do that. She smiled. She does that to everyone, she says, so it wasn’t a personal remark. That is rare, though; I’ve noticed, too, that people don’t give a damn about the signature.

    March 20th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
  2. Dan said:

    BTW: watch out, I’ve heard of the owners of Peanuts getting pretty crazy about their stuff appearing elsewhere on the web. Remember the “Hey Yeah?” debockle?

    March 20th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
  3. Rob said:

    Sign the back, and write “Check Photo ID”. This combo is the best simple, free step you can take to protect your card.

    April 17th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
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