Obama's credit card declined at fancy restaurant

[mfcorey1]

(CNN) -- Ever had your credit card turned down at a fancy restaurant?
President Obama can commiserate.
Speaking to workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington on Friday, he recalled a moment last month when, at the end of a dinner out in New York City, his plastic was declined.
"I guess I don't use it enough, so they thought there was some fraud going on," he said. "Luckily, Michelle had hers. I was trying to explain to the waitress that I've really been paying my bills."
The President and first lady dined at Estela in downtown Manhattan during Obama's stay in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly session in September.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/17/politics/obama-credit-card/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

[B2G]

1. Michelle probably cut it off

Lol.

[ladjf]

2. The manager should have covered the bill and if need be get the White House accounting to

pay the bill later. It's possible that some idiot was attempting to embarrass the President.

[B2G]

3. No he shouldn't have and he didn't have to. nt

[ladjf]

9. I will rephrase my statement. I believe that the restaurant manger should have

respected the Office of the President enough that he would have made other , more courteous moves that rejecting his credit.

No, he most definitely "didn't have to", as you put it. This is America. Unless there is a specific law against it, one is free to do or say anything they wish.

Throughout his Presidency, the Republicans have missed no opportunity to disrespect the man. They've insulted him in every way possible. Had I been the manager, I would have been pleased that the President was dining in my establishment and I would most definitely not charged him anything for his dinner or anything else he wanted.

[tritsofme]

10. I'm sure the president would have insisted on paying for his meal

And the restaurant has something of an obligation to notify a patron that there was a problem with his card.

He tells this story because it's kind of a cute anecdote about him being an everyman, not because there was any offense taken in any direction.

[B2G]

11. He probably didn't have a chance to

He probably apologetically returned the card and Michelle immediately presented hers.

I think you're assuming a lot of things about how this was handled and how the manager reacted.

[ladjf]

12. I "assumed" nothing.

1. I said what I would have done in the same situation.

2. I said "It's possible that some idiot was attempting to embarrass the President." "Possible" meant there is a chance that
someone , as has been done throughout his Presidency, might a seized the opportunity to socially attack the President.

What I know is that the President of the U.S. was dining in that restaurant. That is a rare opportunity for any restaurant in the World. There was no need to reject his card. If the manager really had to collect the money, he could have handled more tactfully.

Yes, the President is writing it off as a funny incident. What else could he have done.

I've said all I have to say on this subject and I understand totally what you are saying.

[B2G]

13. You don't know he wasn't 'tactful' and

HE didn't reject the card. The credit card company did. Was he just supposed to say nothing?

Whatever.

[Logical]

16. Make believe is fun! nt

[scarystuffyo]

26. .

[woo me with science]

18. LOL.

More weird, authoritarian messaging encouraging hyperdeference and hyperrespect toward "leaders," rather than good old American appreciation of presidents as fellow citizens and public servants.

"This is a rare opportunity for any restaurant in the world." What utter silliness. And there is nothing wrong with a president being embarrassed once in a while. Reminds all of us that they're human, which is what we look for in a representative.

Sorry, we're not looking for a Dear Leader, and hopefully we never will be.

[ladjf]

19. http://thegrio.com/2012/05/03/obama-star-power-shines-on-businesses/

http://thegrio.com/2012/05/03/obama-star-power-shines-on-businesses/

[woo me with science]

20. LOL. So what?

That the president is a celebrity doesn't warrant the absurd bids you are making for deference here.

Lots of famous people go to restaurants. They should pay for their own steaks or chili dogs.

You carry on now...

[treestar]

34. It's not deference. It's just reality.

The President is a known person. Impossible that he would get away with not paying. Yes, it would matter to most people that the POTUS was in their restaurant, and they would remember it more then other people. NO one said anything about a deal leader - that is a straw man that hides an apparent inability to respect anyone else, especially those who are most well known and most successful.

[woo me with science]

36. Fancy meeting you here on this topic.

What a dreary occupation that must be.

Here. A diversion for you, if you're permitted:

https://m.

Don't let it kill your soul.

[treestar]

37. I'm mature enough to admit the POTUS is known

to most people in the country, or in fact, in the world, and not get resentful about it.

It must be awful to have to distrust and hate everyone from the boss to the cops to every elected official and every professional.

[dionysus]

38. geez, you know woo is delighted this happened...

[woo me with science]

43. And the predictable backup arrives,

to appear to huddle and mock.

The defensive PR *must* prevail, even on a thread as inconsequential as this.

How sad. How predictable.

How depressing and embarrassing in the USA.

[dionysus]

45. projection fail, young Woo. you're a pretty good hand at projecting your ODS though... in the name

of... "principle"

[wavesofeuphoria]

27. Would you have done the same if it were G.W. Bush?

[ladjf]

49. Of course. My comments had nothing to do with the President's

performce or my support or lack of support of him. Also, I was thinking about the commercial aspects that would enhance profits
for the restaurant.

[Logical]

15. I disagree. Obama can afford dinner. And should pay like anyone else. nt

[dionysus]

47. of course he can, almost assuredly did, ect. DU is just like DI in that the detractors are having a

field day. However, over there, it's RWers making derp-worthy comments, while here on DU, it's people trying with a straight face to make it about principle or project their crap in more subtle ways.

[ZombieHorde]

29. Do you think the Office of President deserves

more respect than nurse's aids, garbage men, and other hard-working people who make their communities a better place to live? If so, why?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

42. Obviously! Do you think the "idiot" was a US citizen?

[Renew Deal]

51. There was no need

[yeoman6987]

52. How many times must we remind all that

President Obama is not king. Thank goodness he was required to pay. Presidents have enough perks.

[underpants]

4. CNN it was a joke but you call it embarrassing

It is no longer even odd to read this type of crap anymore.

[Rex]

14. They don't have to report factual news anymore. Infotainment rules the ratings now.

I refuse to call them news stations, it is an insult to real news organizations around the country.

[hfojvt]

5. no, never

because I would never eat at a fancy restaurant.

I don't like paying more than $10 for a meal. Usually I go out of my way to pay much less.

[LawDeeDah]

8. I was talking to a friend today

about how our tastes and money habits have changed over the last few years and we both agreed on a couple things:

1. It feels great not to buy as much crap as we used to. It's like a cleansing, a fast. There are so many things we need but there are countless more we do not need.

2. Going out to restaurants is Not a treat any more - The food is usually crappy and overpriced and I won't be guilted into going out for the sake of the 'economy'.

[hfojvt]

23. Eating out never was a treat for me

There's probably too much food that I don't like, and I always looked at the costs. The only exception is that pizza is a treat for me, and I am going to get some today, and also to hang out with some siblings.

[LawDeeDah]

25. Years ago I used to go the the Pancake House here in town.

It was always a wonderful treat so we decided to revisit it a few months ago and take Mom. I think Mom enjoyed it well enough or wouldn't say, but we thought it was absolutely comically horrible! and pricey.

I swear the 'ham' that came with one meal was sliced so thin you could read a newspaper through it.

Never again, my homemade breakfasts or breakfast dinners are about a hundred times better tasting with nothing special done. Eggs, sometimes with hollandaise (ooo mama so good) sausages done really well (fried first then low oven for a couple hours) to get rid of the grease, maybe some hash browns if I have some potatoes left over from another meal, onions and garlics and chives sometimes dill added, ok that is enough I got to go eat now..

[ZombieHorde]

30. I love pizza sooooo much.

Definitely a vice for me. Eating pizza two or three times a week can't be healthy.

[big_dog]

6. POTUS said the card was from JP Morgan so it may have been the hack

he's just like everyone else

[Stellar]

17. I didn't hear him say anything about JP Morgan, or ...

were you being facetious?

[procon]

7. I had that happen with a store credit card

that I only used for holiday shopping sprees. I had several hundred dollars in Christmas gifts and got dinged. They never bothered to notify me, and after the clerk confiscated my card they were pressuring me to fill out another application, and when I refused they wanted me to use another card and still buy all their merchandise. I left everything on the counter and walked out, and I've never shopped there since.

[treestar]

21. This is a clear example of a bureaucrat following rules slavishly

where common sense would do!

Um, dummies at restaurant, it may be fancy, but did you really have a problem with identity of the person using the card? Because that's the whole point of the rules to prevent fraud.

Hey maybe it was an impersonator! Along with a Michelle impersonator and a bunch of people pretending to be security guards.

[Mariana]

22. If it was an employee who ran the card

I certainly understand it. Employees are usually threatened with termination if they deviate from the rules under any circumstances.

[treestar]

33. This person being terminated for this?

If the employer did that, they would only get bad publicity. If I were the employee, I'd take my 15 minutes of fame.

[Cal Carpenter]

31. When a credit card is declined, the restaurant/store can't magically override it.

I'm not clear what you are trying to say, but you seem to think the restaurant made the decision to reject the card or something. That's generally not how it works. They swipe the card and get a declined code. They can't undo that.

[treestar]

32. Well isn't the point to stop someone else using the card?

It would protect most of us from someone else using our cards. But it's not like they can have a problem identifying President Obama. It would be a dumb system if there was no way to override it where you know the person is the person who owns the card.

DU would probably be pissed at "the banksters" were they unable to use their own cards, even if they aren't immediately recognized. If you have your ID on you, there is no way to get around the reject code? That's going to end up with some pissed customers if it happens to ordinary people.

[Cal Carpenter]

35. I'll try to clarify. The merchant (restaurant employee, retail clerk) etc swipes the card

Their system lets them know it is declined. It may or may not provide some code as to why it was declined (eg it is over limit, it is expired, it is cancelled, the pattern of usage is suspicious** etc --- it's often not some assumption about identity)

Regardless of the reason, the merchant cannot override it. The issue is between the cardholder and the bank that issued them the card or the third -party processing company.

** Declined cards due to 'suspicious' activity seems to be much more common lately in response to the major amount of security issues there have been with credit cards in recent years - due to massive data theft (like with Target stores a year or so ago) or individual 'identity theft' type cases. This seems to be the case with Obama's card. Doesn't matter if he is the president or some average person. If his card was used in a decidedly atypical manner ('red flags', like a charge overseas, or in a state you've never used it in before, in multiple states in one day, thousands of dollars in one day by someone who rarely uses it, etc.), the bank decides it is suspicious and it is declined. There isn't a person making that decision on the spot, I'm sure there is some formula that banks use. Generally a quick phone call to the 800 number on the back of the card will get the issue resolved. But it isn't uncommon. Sometimes this does seem to piss off DUers because I've seen threads here complaining about it but it seems most people go for the 'better safe than sorry' reaction.

I want to reiterate - there is nothing the restaurant people could have done to make that credit card go through.

[pitohui]

39. that's not true, i've had it fixed right in front of me

they just ask you a question to confirm your identity and then the charge goes through

so what you're saying is not correct in my personal experience, i'm not saying you're making it up but you don't know what you're talking about so stop pushing it

if they pretended there was nothing they could do it was for the publicity or because they're haters not because they couldn't fix it

it's a real quick fix on the telephone

[WillowTree]

44. And just what makes you think that it was declined because of a suspicion about the user's identity?

That's the only reason why they would ask the identifying question and I seriously doubt that the card was declined in this instance for that reason. Call it a hunch.

From the story, it sounds as if the card was declined by a machine which was probably declining the card due to an arbitrary rule regarding frequency of use or lack thereof. Again from the story, I believe that's what the President himself suggested. The bank may have restrictions limiting how long their cards can sit unused. Many of them do these days. And that's something that the merchant can do nothing about. The cardholder will have to straighten it out with the bank.

[Cal Carpenter]

48. I suggest you reread my post.

You say: "it's a real quick fix on the telephone". I said above "Generally a quick phone call to the 800 number on the back of the card will get the issue resolved".

I'm not sure why folks are trying to make this such a contentious issue, LOL. I'm simply trying to clarify because I deal with this day in and day out - the merchant cannot make a judgment call and override the decline, it is not possible. I didn't like seeing the restaurant staff being called "dummies" or lacking common sense about it. It's not that deep.

I will repeat - the merchant often has no idea why the credit card was declined. It is not always suspicions about identity fraud - it could be a credit limit issue, a cancelled card, any number of things.

And as with the case of the Obamas at this restaurant, most people find it easier to pull out a different card or cash to pay with rather than call the credit card company about the one that doesn't work.

I find it so odd that you insist I don't know what I am talking about and that I am 'pushing it'. I swipe dozens of credit cards on a good day. I am a (very) small business owner who runs my shop 65 hours a week with my spouse. I deal with declined cards regularly, and it is none of my business why they are declined.

I'm bowing out of this discussion, because it is absurd at this point. I swear, people will argue about this weirdest shit around here.

[Initech]

24. Wow, even the president isn't immune from credit card fraud!

I was a victim, this is proof that it can happen to anyone at any time. What does that say about bank security?

[alphafemale]

28. Can you imagine being the wage slave having to tell the POTUS his credit card was declined?

That would be horrible beyond imagination.

[pitohui]

40. read my post upstream, this was a publicity stunt

it's a matter of a quick question and answer to get an override and put the card thru

they ask you something really idiotic like your mother's maiden name or your previous telephone number

pretty sure obama could prove who he was

[Jeffersons Ghost]

41. I think the FBI is doing a bad job...

If I was Obama, I would fire Director Comey. Obviously, the Commander In Chief has suffered identity theft! Who's next, maybe Dirctor Comey of the FBI will be more responsive when the same thing happens to him.[DoD response]

[philosslayer]

46. Disgusting

The POTUS shouldn't have to put up with this nonsense.

[dembotoz]

50. am happy SOMEBODY payed

would like to think they tipped.
Would HOPE they tipped

the restaurant can comp a meal but the wait staff would have gotten screwed.

and issa would hold congressional hearings over it.......