Cash, credit, or YOUR IMMORTAL SOUL?

You know I'm getting sick and tired of these Visa commercials which show large groups of people moving through various commercial transactions smoothly and easily. Person after person pruchases their coffee, flowers, etc, using a simple swipe of their Visa card. All is well with the world until one person goes to pay for their purchase with something that is *not* a Visa card! Suddenly, order and reason is flung out the window as the well-oiled commercial machine crashes to a halt. Imagine the horror of having to wait for more than three seconds while somebody takes the time to fill out a check!

Well, that was the plot of the first version of the ad. And honestly, I don't really disagree with that particular plot convention. After all, who hasn't had to sit around and wait for some old woman to write out the check to the grocery store, and then fill out the entry in the register, taking a just as long to pay for her groceries as it did for her to walk the store and find all the stuff that matched her coupons that week?

But in the latest version, the "problem child" consumer is not the one who pays with a check, but rather pays with (heaven forbid) cash! Now reality has obviously gone out the window. After all, with very few exceptions, I have never had a cash transaction that took as anywhere near as long as the whole "swipe, wait for approval, sign" ballet. Of course, now that kids suck so much at math that even basic subtraction is an AP subject, maybe someday soon the simple act of buying flowers will take longer with cash because Billy working the till can't make change for a $20 without a calculator.

Comments

towwas said…
Lord. I bet retailers hate that ad, too.
ThatIsMeWhat said…
These commercials are definitely a jump from reality. Until they get rid of the ridiculous little slips to sign, cash will be the best. Even retailers prefer cash because they don't have to pay a kickback to Visa, MC, etc..