Digressed

February 14, 2006: Signing, Dining and Boarding

The UK today begins its push for PIN-authorized credit card transactions in favor of the customer signed slip. There have been constant reminders on the media about this so here’s to hoping everyone remembers their PIN tonight when they go to pay for their valentine dinner. And here’s to also hoping for a minimal amount of trouble with foreigners who do not have a clue whether their credit card has a PIN associated with it. Away from this moment in UK financial history, the times that Europe has not been consumed with the current cartoon controversy, they’ve been all eyes on Torino. With that, I give you the following bits courtesy of a few weeks abroad for work:

Not Valid Unless Signed

As everyone surely has experienced, the number of vendors that actually give a damn whether the signature on the back of your credit card matches the one on the slip is far from impressive. You know: look at slip; make motion to turn card over; optionally place card in line-of-sight; provide customer with proof of purchase.

Consequently, it made sense then, when I saw Thor’s See Id-on back technique to hopefully encourage the request for proof of identification when making purchases. It seemed to help in some places but I still had a vast amount of people who would glance and, amazingly enough, verified my signature even though the card wasn’t even signed. A bit worrisome, yes, but at least it helped with only one exception: the US Post Office where Not Valid Unless Signed seems to be their standard practice.

So this begs the question: what is the validity of a card if the holder legitimately forgets to sign it? I went to make a purchase at a Debenham’s and the clerk refused to take my AmEx because it had See Id written on the back instead of my signature. I thought no problem as I grabbed my MasterCard only to notice I had neither signed it nor See Id‘d it. I apologized, tried to explain things as I offered my Florida ID and US passport as proof that it was really me but the clerk would not have it. I found the situation to be more comical than anything and was actually chuckling most of the entire time. Exactly, how is it that a signature in the card make this a valid transaction? According to the clerk, I could have just found the card and, coincidentally, it had the same name as mine.

Ed Porras. Right.

At this point the clerk suggested I visit a cash machine given it was not enough proof that the name on the card matched my two forms of ID (maybe I found them next to the card as well) but, unfortunately for me, it was about closing time so this just wasn’t going to happen this night. I asked the clerk to place the items on hold so I could pick them up the next day and then, out of curiosity, also asked if the card would be accepted if I just signed it before I returned to the store. I guess that’s one way to look at it was his reply.

So with my freshly signed 3-year old card, I felt all dandy returning the following evening only to be asked by the clerk (a different one, mind you) to wait while they called AmEx to verify the card. I’m not really sure what the person on the phone said considering that, as far as I could tell, they could not see me, my card or my passport and ID but it worked. And whatever it was, it definitely carried more weight than the physical presence of both forms of identification, one of which I used to enter the United Kingdom. I don’t know about you but I’m guessing the immigration folks need to put someone on this cause, if I’m any sort of example, who knows who the hell they’re letting in the country.

The Brasserie

Excerpt from a conversation with Carrie about dining in Reading:

[18:57] edporras: I think this is my fave place in Reading:
[18:57] edporras: http://www.londonstbrasserie.co.uk/menu.html
[18:57] edporras: i had the sea bass tonight
[18:58] edporras: and the tuna loin last week
[19:00] carrie: looks yummy
[19:00] edporras: tonight they had a special i really wanted to try but they
were out
[19:00] carrie: Baked goat’s cheese crottin, orange & watercress
salad, baby beetroot, garlic croutons, walnuts
[19:00] carrie: damn!
[19:00] edporras: i'm sayin'
[19:01] edporras: Vanilla panacotta with mango soup, mango & orange
[19:01] edporras: seriously
[19:01] edporras: wtf!
[19:01] carrie: ooohh. i'm soooo jealous.. i've been wanting to try/make
pannacotta forever!
[19:01] edporras: Passion fruit & mango vacherin meringue, berry coulis,
chantilly cream
[19:01] edporras: i don't have a clue what the hell a coulis is..
[19:02] edporras: but it sounds damn good when it's flanked by a mango
meringue and chantilly cream
[19:02] carrie: puree of fruit/veggie
[19:02] carrie: like tomato coulis is tomato puree
[19:02] edporras: yeah ok
[19:02] edporras: it's flanked
[19:02] carrie: :)
[19:02] edporras: by mango meringue
[19:02] edporras: and chantilly cream
[19:02] carrie: what's vacherin?
[19:02] edporras: who cares!
[19:02] edporras: it's flanked!
[19:03] edporras: by mango meringue!
[19:03] edporras: and chantilly cream!
[19:03] edporras: hello!
[19:03] carrie: never mind..  A dessert consisting of several crisp MERINGUE
rings stacked on top of each other and placed on a meringue or pastry base.
Alternatively, the rings may be made with almond paste. This container
may be filled with ice cream or crème CHANTILLY and/or various fruits.
[19:03] carrie: vacherin = above
[19:03] edporras: see?
[19:03] carrie: yumm.
[19:03] edporras: it's just a positional thing
[19:03] carrie: so, have you had it?
[19:04] edporras: no
[19:04] edporras: i've been so stuffed
[19:04] carrie: dude!

High-Flying American Girls

I was in luck and caught the women’s half-pipe final runs at Torino and was completely blown away when Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler did their runs. After watching some of the other competitors, the contrast in the height of the jumps was jaw-dropping. That was definitely some mad air caught by both and nobody else seemed to come even
close!

It was also awesome watching Teter beat her first run’s already gold-winning 44.6 score with an amazing 46.4. Congratulations, ladies.

I’ve got to get to a slope somewhere soon.