Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Remove Card Quickly

Remove Card Quickly. That's what is displayed at every pre-pay gas pump I've been to. Including this morning's.

Why? Does leaving the card in there damage the system? Will it charge you double? I actually slip the card in and out quickly, hoping to avoid the message. Nope, still get the flashing message even if you use Superman Speed.

I'd like to talk with the software engineer who put this message in. Then beat the sh*t out of them for annoying me. Why rattle one's nerves for not being able to sneak the card out fast enough? Just think if pop machines did this. "Quick grab your pop!!! Quick you dumb as*!!!"

My thoughts are they put this message in because some research showed that if they did, people would leave fewer cards in the system. As a person who once left a card in a system, and have the $500 in fraudulent charges at Wall Mart, Super America (three times in fifteen minutes) and Rainbow to prove it, I should appreciate the message. And I would if it ever let you win (i.e. quit saying Remove Card Quickly). But it doesn't and thus upsets me.

3 comments:

Adam Fokken said...

I think the magnetic strip needs to pass through the reader at a minimum speed in order for it to process.

http://money.howstuffworks.com/question503.htm

Mac Noland said...

Mr. Fokken are you saying that the request to "move quickly" is simply to ensure the human "swipes" the card fast enough for the reader to "read"?

Adam Fokken said...

Yes. I think a better approach would be to display the message after the attempt fails.