Topic: I hate small businesses

[Touti]

The governments of Quebec, all the other provinces and territories of Canada and United States consider that my driver's license is good enough for me to be allowed to drive a car anywhere in North-America.

The government of the United Stats considered until very recently that my driver's license was good enough to let me enter their country.

The small independent video club near my place considers that my driver's license is not good enough as a proof of residence to give me a membership card because it was not made this year.  They want a proof of residence no older than July 2009.

They have a better selection of Blu-Ray movies than Blockbuster but they won't renting any to me ever because I won't be going back with a fucking proof of residence...


Fucking morons !

[Touti]

I apologize for the outburst and the bad language but the stupidity of some people really makes me mad sometimes.

[addicted2dvd]

Could be worse Eric!

When I was working in the small local video store (I was manager for several years)... we would have accepted that ID with no problem... but it wouldn't have been enough. Due to the rules the owner set forth we not only needed the id for proof of address but also that month's or the month's before phone bill to prove your phone number!

Of course in our case it was a necessity as the customers did it to themselves... where we were the only video store in the area didn't help much either... but so many people gave us fake phone numbers and stole the movies from us (which is hard on a small business) that we had to start requesting proof of phone number too. Of course we were flexable to though and accepted stuff like business cards and what have you.

We still lost many movies within a year... but it did help. It seemed as if people were less likely to steal from us the more information we had on them. So something in this order could be a problem they are having at this time too.

[RossRoy]

I just had the exact opposite experience with a smallish company.

I went to buy 3 computers - or actually parts to build 3 computers - and because the total exceeded 500$, they wanted to see TWO different ID cards (how that helps them to confirm the identity of a credit card owner, other than the name on the card, is beyond me).

When I took out my Permis Plus (a special driver's licence issued here in Quebec with a chip in it that allows me to go to the US without the need of a passport) they said it was ok, without even looking at the ID!!

Go figure ...

[Dragonfire]

That does seem a bit extreme.

[Jimmy]

they wanted to see TWO different ID cards (how that helps them to confirm the identity of a credit card owner, other than the name on the card, is beyond me).

At least they ask you an identification, here I've never seen a store asking for one when I pay with my credit card. Not even the big one like Walmart or Archambault

[DJ Doena]

they said it was ok, without even looking at the ID!!

It was a bluff call, they didn't really want to see your second ID. But if the CC were stolen you probably would have reacted differently.

[Kathy]

During the summer I go to a lot of local markets and outdoor businesses. I pick up fresh fruit, veggies and homemade things. A couple of them even sell household/pet stuff like blankets and pet toys. About half of businesses don't have anyone working, you just get what you want and put the money in a box on the counter. They trust and customer and the customers keep their end of the bargain. I've been going to these places for close to 20 years and will continue to do so until they aren't open any more. I pay a bit more but to me it is worth it for many reasons.