Swipe Towards…

November 3, 2009

Does the following ever happen to you?

Q: I would like to pay for these things I bought without embarrassing myself, can you please explain to me what this awkward little symbol means in regards to the orientation of my debit card in relation to this awkward little slot?

A1: swipe with the stripe towards me

A2: swipe with the stripe towards you

A3: Give that card to me you idiot

A4: Look, we don’t get it either. See how we taped a cute/annoying/non-helpful note over the device to try and aid you?

My Proposal

This may sound crazy but stick with me. I am informally proposing the creation of:

THE TWO SIDED CARD READER

That’s right, it reads that little black stripe no matter which way it faces. Why the hell doesn’t this exist?

I’m certainly no debit-card-swiping-machine engineer but based on my wikipedia reading habits I feel this is within reach 4-5 years from now.