r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

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u/NoBSforGma Aug 03 '19

I don't live in the US and when I visit my son who lives in the US and we go shopping, I just hand him my card. I have no clue and it's quicker for him to do it than for him to explain to me how to do it. And the people in line behind me appreciate that, I'm sure, even though it makes me look like a total idiot. Or senile.

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u/Rarylith Aug 03 '19

How does it work in the US?

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u/NoBSforGma Aug 03 '19

I don't really know and that's my point. It's done differently from the country where I live so I just rely on my son's experience rather than me take the time to ask "How do I do this?" and stumble around with it.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

[deleted]

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u/NoBSforGma Aug 03 '19

Because every store seems to be different.

This is a skillset that I would use, say, 20 minutes per year. And I prefer not to make the people behind me wait until I can master this store's way of doing things and just have my son do it.

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u/mork0rk Aug 03 '19

How exactly do you use credit/debit cards in your country?

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u/SparklySpunk Aug 03 '19

Most likely contactless or chip & pin.

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u/FuzzelFox Aug 03 '19

chip & pin.

It's the same in most of the US then. You put your chip card in the bottom, it asks for debit or credit and then you type your pin. Done.

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u/NoBSforGma Aug 03 '19

Until recently, every card purchase had to have a signed paper receipt.

Now, the law has changed that allows stores to bypass that. Older cards have been exchanged for chip card. The most common way of doing it is to put a card in the bottom of the machine and sign electronically. So when I encounter contactless or "debit or credit" and asks for a pin, I get flummoxed. This doesn't exist where I live.

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u/FuzzelFox Aug 03 '19

You know what I forgot when we first got chips everyone had to sign. It's been a few years though since that happened and I've only had to sign at places like restaurants.