Pointless Procedures

Most of us have credit cards. Anyone notice how more and more locations have signs indicating that you must hold out your card and show it (and ID) to the cashier? If so, have you noticed how rarely the cashier actually follows this procedure? A few years ago, I wrote ‘Check ID’ on my credit card, as I have no problem if a cashier asks me for some photo ID along with my purchase. In fact, I like it.

The problem I have is that they don’t. Nearly everyone flips the card over to check your signature line, but very few actually read it, and fewer still compare it to what’s on the card. Just seeing some scribble of ink there apparently means that it’s okay. Those few who do ask me for ID almost invariably look at the ID and check the name on the card to see if it matches. Anyone notice a missing step here? They rarely, if ever, actually look at me to see if I may in some way resemble the person on the ID. Think that might be a useful step?

What about when you’re in a grocery store of some sort, and the cashier needs to void something because it rang up incorrectly? Ever see the manager come over to fix the problem? How many times have you seen the manager give the keys to the cashier, then seen the cashier verify the manager’s code, and then proceed to fix the problem themselves? The manager, now on the hook for fixing problems, has no idea what just transpired under their watch.

I don’t have a problem with procedures. I do have a problem with procedures that don’t have any effect. Why bother with implementing more and more red tape if it’s just going to be ignored? I guess so that when people complain, they can introduce more procedures, designed to speed things up again. Maybe the best idea isn’t to throw bureaucracy at a problem, but really try and solve it in a way that makes sense. Is that really too much to ask?