Chip and PIN etiquette, rude staff or was I at fault?

[Nagel]

I went to pay for my petrol at Sainsburys Archer Road store today and put the card into the machine when asked to.

 

Then I waited to be asked to enter my PIN number. I looked at the bloke and he stared back at me. A bit of time passed. A looked at him again and he stared at me again, so I asked if the machine was ready for me to enter my PIN.

 

"Ready when you are" he said, obviously a bit p+ssed off. By that time the entry had expired and he had to enter it all again which seemed to really p+ss him off.

 

 

So what's the normal etiquette at check-outs? I can't read the digital display, unless it's the back lit type. Was I correct in thinking him rude and a bit weird?

[Bypassblade]

I use Asda a lot and they always say, can you put your pin in now please, this is after asking if you want cash-back. He just seems like he was having a bad day, so decided to be rude, no excuse I may add.

[geared]

Perhaps he's just used to people being able to read the display and didn't realise you couldn't?

 

He probably should have been on the ball and realised if you were both staring blankly at each other then nothing was going to happen.

[Bethsmummy]

He sounds like a grumpy bum. You didn't do owt wrong, don't worry.

[irenewilde]

In my experience staff usually say "enter your pin" and I think they should. They can see what's going on on what is presumably a bigger screen. Sometimes the display on the device we type our numbers into is absolutely minute and almost impossible to read. And sometimes there seems to be a lot of faffing about at their end while they hit various buttons on the till.

[francypants]

I shouldn't let it bother you, there are worse things happening in the world.

[angel22]

I work in a Sainsbury's Petrol Station (not the one the OP went to though) and i always say 'pin number and enter please'. But quite often, customers get annoyed when we say it. We get responses like 'i'm perfectly capable of reading it myself' or 'i know what to do'. I still say it though because most customers are too busy reading the paper thats on the counter instead of looking at the pin pad!

 

---------- Post added 17-04-2013 at 17:42 ----------

 

And sometimes there seems to be a lot of faffing about at their end while they hit various buttons on the till.

 

Thats usually when a customer puts their card in too early and it confuses the till and cancels the transaction so we have to start again. Or in the case of Sainsbury's, we have to answer all the daft questions that we get prompted on the till before we can get to the stage of payment. For instance, 'Does the customer have a nectar card?' and 'Is the customer collecting active kids vouchers?' And our tills are quite slow to start with anyway so that doesn't help!

[Cyclone]

I went to pay for my petrol at Sainsburys Archer Road store today and put the card into the machine when asked to.

 

Then I waited to be asked to enter my PIN number. I looked at the bloke and he stared back at me. A bit of time passed. A looked at him again and he stared at me again, so I asked if the machine was ready for me to enter my PIN.

 

"Ready when you are" he said, obviously a bit p+ssed off. By that time the entry had expired and he had to enter it all again which seemed to really p+ss him off.

 

 

So what's the normal etiquette at check-outs? I can't read the digital display, unless it's the back lit type. Was I correct in thinking him rude and a bit weird?

 

A lot of places have stopped prompting, which suits me, I don't need someone to say "enter your pin" when I can read it on the machine.

 

If you can't read it though then I can see why it would be difficult. Perhaps you should mention it though if they don't say anything soonish...

[irenewilde]

I work in a Sainsbury's Petrol Station (not the one the OP went to though) and i always say 'pin number and enter please'. But quite often, customers get annoyed when we say it. We get responses like 'i'm perfectly capable of reading it myself' or 'i know what to do'.

 

I'm sure you do. I'm sure whatever you do it won't suit some people.

 

 

Thats usually when a customer puts their card in too early and it confuses the till and cancels the transaction so we have to start again. Or in the case of Sainsbury's, we have to answer all the daft questions that we get prompted on the till before we can get to the stage of payment. For instance, 'Does the customer have a nectar card?' and 'Is the customer collecting active kids vouchers?' And our tills are quite slow to start with anyway so that doesn't help!

 

I wasn't suggesting you (or anyone else who has to press all those buttons) was at fault here, I meant that some machines seem incredibly quick and some very much slower which makes it harder to judge when to put your pin in if you're struggling to read the display!