Bank Check Aviation

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 22:28:25 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
wrote:

he proper way to
make change. If you've been taught the one simple trick (counting it out
backwards from pennies up)

This began to go out of the knowledge base when calculators became
common. (And was cemented when cash registers began to provide the
return-change information.)

I told you not to get me started...

The part about this that drives me nuts is that the counting-up way is
*both* faster *and* easier than counting down. It takes you a few minutes to
get the hang of and then you'll never forget how to do it. The math required
is even easier and less prone to error, which is the whole point. I learned
it working the counter in a New York pizzeria where if it took you more than
a few seconds, you'd have ten people in line screaming for your head.

I was once in a supermarket when the power went out. The cashiers all
stood are slack-jawed: nobody knew how to add up a bill!

This is easy until you have to deal with taxes. It's easy enough in Mass.
(5%) but in places like NY where it's odd numbers like 7.5% it's kinda
tricky.

-cwk.

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 22:05:50 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
wrote:

A few days later, "Morris Goldstein" calls up the store, absolutely
rip****.
It turns out he was getting ready to leave town on a business trip and had
sent one of his workers down to the store with his card

Serve him right! I'm astounded that stores are so lax with credit
cards. A month or so ago, we sent a lad up to Portland to buy a $4,500
life raft. Nobody with a company credit card could make the trip, so
we gave him one of ours and paved his way by calling ahead. I was sure
he would return empty-handed, but my more cavalier (optimistic?)
daughter insisted that it was okay. And so it was.

Similarly, my wife regards it as a point of honor that she can take my
credit card into any store at all and roll it without a peep.



For quite a while I was writing as large as possible on the signature line
of all my credit cards "CHECK ID."

In the 15 or so years I was doing that I only once had someone ask for my ID
and he did it after reading the message on the back. (He was even kind of
sly about it.) I was at a record store buying a single CD. I immediatly
asked to see his manager, which kind o freeked him, and when she came up I
explained that she had the most observant employee out of the 1000's that
had taken my credit card.

I go to the Post Office and roll the card......

Dan, what's the etymology of "roll the card"?

Is it common usage up there? Never herard it here in PA.

vince norris

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 14:50:49 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
wrote:

I learned
it working the counter in a New York pizzeria

I was on the produce stand in a First National market in a summer
resort. The only calculator we had was a paper bag, and the manager
instructed us that we were to do our adding on the NEXT person's bag,
not on the one in play, so the customer couldn't check his order when
he got home.

I assume that the manager told us about counting change out backwards.
I however am responsible for realizing that you could add up a bunch
of 39 and 19 cent items by rounding them up, adding them in your head,
then subtracting the pennies at the end.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 20:43:13 -0500, vincent p. norris
wrote:

Dan, what's the etymology of "roll the card"?

My wife's college chum, Marianne. Dunno where she got it. (MA is from
MA.)


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

"vincent p. norris" wrote:

Dan, what's the etymology of "roll the card"?

When credit cards came out, they had machines to create the charge ticket. The
tickets had carbon paper between the layers, and machines had rollers that
pressed the tickets against the raised letters on the cards. Put the card in the
machine, place a ticket over it, and slide the roller across the ticket. There
were no magnetic strips.

Every once in a while you still run into a place that uses this system.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:
"vincent p. norris" wrote:

Dan, what's the etymology of "roll the card"?

When credit cards came out, they had machines to create the charge
ticket. The
tickets had carbon paper between the layers, and machines had rollers
that
pressed the tickets against the raised letters on the cards. Put the
card in the
machine, place a ticket over it, and slide the roller across the
ticket. There
were no magnetic strips.

Yep. The 21st century version is "swipe the card".

Every once in a while you still run into a place that uses this
system.

If you visit my airport (KCHD) and buy fuel from the truck, they
still "roll the card" on their old fashioned machine. The office is too
much of a trek from most parking spots, and it's also closed long
before the fuel truck stops selling fuel for the night. Since the
truck is not equipped with the communications equipment required to
swipe a credit card, it's the only way they can conveniently sell fuel.
John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

"Cub Driver" wrote

I however am responsible for realizing that you could add up a bunch
of 39 and 19 cent items by rounding them up, adding them in your head,
then subtracting the pennies at the end.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

I do the same thing with adding and subtracting fractions, throwing extra
sixteenths around. (carpentry math)
--
Jim in NC

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote

When credit cards came out, they had machines to create the charge ticket.
The
tickets had carbon paper between the layers, and machines had rollers that
pressed the tickets against the raised letters on the cards. Put the card
in the
machine, place a ticket over it, and slide the roller across the ticket.
There
were no magnetic strips.

Every once in a while you still run into a place that uses this system.

Along with getting the imprint of the raised letters of your card, they have
their own "place of business information" on the machine with raised
letters, so there is proof of who is to get the money you just charged.

Today, some places keep one for when their electronic system is down.

I have also see places that are having electronic difficulties, but don't
have a "roller", place a piece of paper over your card and run the side of a
lead pencil back and forth over the paper (on top of your card), thus
creating a darker copy of your numbers.
--
Jim in NC