The other day my bride and I were in the car waiting in line at the Burger King drive-thru. We were getting chicken nuggets for E, who was sitting in the back seat. (Yes, he still eats pizza, too.)
She handed me the credit card, which I then handed to the young male employee inside. A moment later, he handed me the slip to sign. After I returned the signed slip to him, it was some time before he returned my credit card and receipt to me. He apologized for having taken so long, but it was necessary in order to confirm that my signature on the slip in fact matched the signature on the card. Only slightly vexed by the delay, I drove off after having received our food.
It was only then that she informed me that it was her credit card I had handed the young man. It took a moment to sink in. This fine example of America’s youth had expended considerable effort convincing himself that my signature and hers were in fact written by THE SAME PERSON!!!
My bride signs her name carefully, with each letter clearly distinguishable in both her first and last names. Her first name is distinctly female. My signature is a scribble with certain letters accentuated. ANY reasonable person would conclude that these signatures are nothing alike. Look at my photo, above. MOST reasonable persons would agree that I am not, nor have I ever been, a female.
What must have been going through that young man’s mind? Surely the fact that he took a long time deciding whether the signatures matched indicates that he knew they didn’t? He must have been thinking about his boss’s specific instructions regarding checking credit card signatures. Was he deciding whether to challenge me, and then chickened out? Was he trying to figure out how he could possibly make it through this transaction without appearing a complete idiot? Maybe just this once, the boss won’t notice…
I hope he’s not lying awake at night, wondering if he’ll lose his job because someone bought chicken nuggets using a stolen credit card, and he could have stopped them, but instead of doing the right thing, he did the easy thing.
On second thought, I think it would be better if he is losing sleep.
Hopefully, he is a regular reader of Sifferblog, so he will recognize himself and his conscience will lead him to repentance.
Yes, teenagers like myself do things like that quite often actually. And I think it’s mostly because we don’t really care about our jobs because the bosses that we work under don’t care about us; we’re just dumb teenagers looking for easy money. There are plenty of teenagers looking to work at the drive-thru window to check signatures, and managers know that. If they think a teen employee is slacking, they can fire him and get a new one.
But in the same sentence, it can also be said that because our bosses don’t care about us personally, they don’t really care about what we do while we’re on the clock, as long as we look like we’re getting the job done. It’s important to learn a good work ethic now as a young’n rather than when I’m in my mid-twenties, but when my potential jobs are flipping patties, organizing products, or working at the drive-thru window, I realized that my job isn’t as important as the training videos say it is.
Anyway, I actually wanted to comment on how hopeless the future America is going to be if this is what we’re getting, but then I thought about my job and how all I do is organize shelves, help people check out quickly, and grab carts, and how it’s not essential to my life’s education or purpose at all really. This part-time job will not affect the career I choose after college. The only thing I will take away from this job are memories, and they’re not that great of memories anyway.
Alright well, this comment is really sporadic in content, but those are some thoughts that your post made run through my mind. I guess I kind of veered from what your post was actually about and how someone could have just gotten away with a stolen credit card because that kid didn’t match the signatures correctly. But the fact remains that almost no s take teenagers seriously, unless the teenager has serious talent in what he or she does.
Wow, this could turn into a really long rant instead of just a comment conveying some random passing thoughts. I won’t let it go that far though. Thanks for the thinking, Dad!
-C
C is completely right, I guess the “workers” are just trying to make money without REALLY doing their job… They just have to look professional while the manager is around… then they can slack off when-ever and how-ever they want… but I still think it’s kinda funny that my Dad got away with that signature. 😀
– E
I thought you said “Boy E” couldn’t put a picture of himself up on the internet, Dad.
-C
I think he’s got perhaps the best Xanga photo yet.
You want me to buy you whey?
Chicago was nice, really smoggy in the airport though. I haven’t been in Chicago since Thursday evening though, Dad. Freeport is really nice. It’s not nearly as awkward as it was last year when I didn’t know anybody, and now I have a little circle of friends that I know.
I went on a jog with Anna Marie yesterday and we were running pretty slowly. When we got to her road I asked her to race, and after she was convinced that I wouldn’t give her a headstart or let her win (which, if I did give her a headstart I wouldn’t have let her win anyway still) and we went off. It was probably about 120 meters to her house and I beat her by maybe 12 or 15 seconds. She was a little surprised at how much I won by.
Anyway, I’ll call you and Mom tomorrow or Tuesday. Bye!
-C