#Debit Card Swipe Rate

[liliran]

在银行 At the bank

some vocabulary i taught my student the other day

银行 yínháng, bank

取款机 qǔkuǎnjī, ATM

汇率 huìlǜ ，兑换率 duìhuànlǜ, exchange rate

柜台 guìtái, counter

出纳员 chūnàyuán, teller

换钱 huàn qián, to exchange money

收到钱 shōudàoqián, to receive money

提款 tí kuǎn ，取钱 qǔqián, to withdraw money

存款 cúnkuǎn, to deposit money

账户 zhànghù, bank account

开户 kāi hù, open a bank account

货币 huòbì, currency

外汇 wàihuì, foreign currency

硬币 yìngbì, coin

纸币 zhǐbì, note

找零 zhǎolíng, change

零钱 língqián, small change

现金 xiànjīn, cash

支票 zhīpiào, check

信用卡 xìnyòngkǎ, credit card

借记卡 jièjìkǎ, debit card

刷卡 shuā kǎ，划卡 huákǎ, to swipe card

[sin-djarin]

Imbibe Chapter 3: Stir (Joel Miller AU x F!reader)

Pairing: Mixologist!Joel Miller x F!Reader

Rating: Mature for this chapter but still 18+. MDNI.

Word Count: 3.5k.

Warnings: AU, swearing, reader is over 25, Joel is late 40s, mentions of alcohol, alcohol consumption, elements of self-dount, mention of failed relationships, bad dates and awful dating app experiences, my spelling and grammar probably, no use of y/n, Joel in a white shirt and the apron.

Chapter Summary: Your return to the bar leaves you with more questions than answers.

A/N: Any thoughts, reblogs and comments are hugely welcome! I'm excited and nervous about this but I hope you enjoy! Your drinks menu and some music suggestions are at the bottom. There is a drink in this chapter that hasn't been named so please, feel free to name it. Cheers!

PLEASE PUT YOUR AGES IN YOUR BIO!

Chapter 1: Prep

Chapter 2: Build

Chapter 3: Stir

Chapter 4: Shake

There is no headache. There are no dry eyes. No dry mouth. No coating of sugar sticking to your teeth as you stretch your limbs across the soft sheets the next morning. The low winter sun is welcome in your room – there’s no trace of a hangover trying to pull you away from it.

Your head starts to buzz without the threat of a headache. It’s awhirl with questions rather than pain. Why had Adam not texted? Why did he not turn up? Was it something you said or didn’t say? Did you send the wrong message at the wrong time? Did you come across too strong? Why did he squeeze the orange rind over the glass and not into it? How does he work an entire shift by himself and not ache?

To answer your first question, you pick up your phone from the nightstand. The weather notification from last night still sits there beside an email from work. Your thumb swipes them both away to open Bumble. There are no new messages from Adam. There are no messages from him at all. Scrolling through your profile, you can’t find evidence that you’d even spoken before.

User not found.

Blocked.

The weight of your heart dropping to your stomach is heavy. You sit upright in the bed and hurriedly tap the screen, scouring every corner of the app, every menu and sub menu for a reason why. The hasty search doesn’t yield any results. The first guy you wanted to give a chance to. You thought he seemed different than the profiles you swiped left on. Everything is different offline.

The answer brings more questions with it. Did he meet someone else? Did he plan two dates? Was he talking to more people than just you? It’s likely. Was he even real at all? Did he just get a kick out of letting women down? Maybe.

Exiting the app you stare at it on your home screen in your hand, thumb hovering over it. You press down and make it tremble.

Uninstall.

In the brief moment of bitterness you experience, you would have like to have blocked him first, but you weren’t to know. You were just won over by his niceties. Total deletion of all potential suitors – digitally at least - provides a little bit of catharsis.

But it still hurts. Adam hasn’t left you with a gaping wound, he’s just poured salt into the one that’s still healing.

You sit with the disappointment for a few minutes and let it wash away. When it leaves, your mind wanders back to the happier events of last night – your newly discovered hideout.

In theory, it shouldn’t be engrossing, but it is. The way he knows how to pair a garnish with a spirit. Your only equivalent is how to match peanut butter to jelly. There’s history, alchemy, and wisdom at play behind a single drink.

Content with your recollecting, you drag yourself up from the confines of your mattress. Your jeans are strewn across the seat of the chair that sits in the corner of the room and your jacket hangs over the back of it. Padding over to it, you go through your pockets to look for your debit card before it got thrown in the laundry. A piece of paper is wrapped around it – your check from last night. $36 on the nose and a note scrawled in ballpoint on the top of the receipt.

11.30. Thanks.

Your brain runs a quick scan through the memories of twelve hours ago. Laughing, people clinking their glasses together, that sweet fucking cherry. Then onto how your evening ended – with an invitation to do it all over again. Your stomach flips in the opposite direction this time. To feel the bass of the music rumble through your chest, to marvel over the décor from an unknown period. To see your bartender once more.

The rest of the day is nothing out of the ordinary, you work your way through the usual weekend to do list – laundry, watering the plants, preparation for the week ahead. There’s no dinging from your phone to distract you from it anymore.

Unlike last night, there’s no rush to get ready. Time is on your side but it feels odd not getting started until around nine o’clock. There’s enough time to apply a full face of make up if you wanted but you don’t. You keep it simple again – just mascara and the same lipstick from last night – no pressure to make a first impression. After getting a feel for the dress code – or lack thereof – it’s an easy decision of all black. A black skater dress, black boots and the same black leather jacket.

The cab stops at the same spot it did last night but you’re ten minutes early. The air is just as cool but there’s no sense of danger in it tonight – you know how it works – the buzzer, the password. Other than the gravel crunching under your as you walk down the dark alley way, it’s deathly quiet compared to the inside of the building.

“Hey”

“Fuck!” you gasp and it bounces off the surrounding walls and into the night.

Frozen to the spot you’re standing in you look for the voice. Squinting through the darkness, you see Joel is squatting against the black wall under the metal stairs with a cup of coffee between his legs as you clutch at your chest.

“M’sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you” he groans, straightening up to stand.

“No it’s…wasn’t expecting anyone down here”

“C’mon” he says, throwing back the last of his coffee with a hard swallow.

He takes the lead and whips out a set of keys from his pocket to open the sliding metal door that seemed like a fortress last night. Stepping inside, he closes the door behind him. You bypass it all this time; the hosts, the reservation confirmation. This time, you’re ushered through the busy tables, through the floor to your seat. All with a large palm resting at the base of your spine guiding you. You’re warmed through before an ounce of liquor passes your lips.

Your spot for the evening is at the opposite end of the bar than you were at last night. The stool itself doesn’t match the others. With a tray full of empty glasses to your right, and the entrance to the bar to your left, you realize you’ve been seated at the service area - or what was the service area. Still, you hope it means you won't have to listen to other couples’ wedding plans again.

It doesn’t take away from the mood though. The room is just as busy, just as electric with new patrons arriving for the last slot of the night. Joel takes his place at his station and adjusts the sleeves of white shirt that are rolled tight around his elbow. After he prepares himself, he brings a bottle of water and glass over to you and pours a small measure of it.

“Welcome back” he smiles, reaching underneath him to produce and places it along side your water.

The menu is more inviting tonight. It doesn’t seem as weighty as it did previously. It’s intriguing now. Opening the cover, you delve into segments of history printed on the pages inside under the guise of beverages. The cocktails that started out as sugar, water and liquor to the explosion of cocktails in the 1920s – sours and bubbly drinks and then turn into a variety of more tropical drinks by the mid-century.

Before you have a chance to even consider any, a large hand slides a drink towards you across the marble. You were so glued to the pages of the menu, you didn’t even hear the crashing of ice or the rattle of metal instruments against glass. You’ve just been served another amber-colored drink in the same glass as the old fashioned with a lemon peel on resting on the rim. You don’t even get an opportunity to say thank you because he’s already straining out two more drinks.

The waft of the fresh citrussy rind makes your mouth salivate, feeling the tartness of it in your jaw as it sits pretty in front of you. Bringing it to your mouth, first sip is different than the two drinks you had last night. This is fiery and ashy. The wet flames of the ginger that lash across your tongue are followed by the taste of smoky liquor that leaves a sooty coating across your lips.

It's a big drink. A sip feels like a chug. He’s not seeking any approval from you this time. All of his attention is focused on slapping a sprig of mint together between his palms ahead of making sure its leaves fan out perfectly across an ice cube. And you’re glad. It’s crafted beautifully again, it’s just a packs a strong punch you weren’t anticipating.

Still, you nurse it, becoming accustomed to its peated intensity while you reacquaint yourself with the room you left twenty four hours ago. Your head finds the right tempo to nod along to the music and the open fire wraps its warmth around you. The conversations happening around you that mold together into one steady timbre finds your ears and your drink continues to find your lips.

Everyone orders drinks quicker tonight and he has to pick up his pace to keep up. A constant stream of servers come and go from the bar counter to collect and drop tipples to tables. You thought that maybe you might have a chance at a conversation tonight, that he might be a little more forthcoming with the names of the drinks he’s serving you. But at the rate he’s working; pouring, stirring and shaking through gritted teeth to get them onto a waiter’s tray despite himself, it begins to look like a big ask.

Almost as if he could read your mind, like he could sense the hunger for knowledge emanating from you, he leans his body over the counter, pausing the drink he’s shaking in one hand to state;

“Penicillin”

“What?”

He doesn’t explain. He just nods at the glass in your hand to tell you it’s official title.

He’s too busy. Too busy doing his own dance in the small space his body occupies behind the counter. Too busy grabbing and stretching, twisting and lifting his limbs. He doesn’t move in time to the music coming through the speakers but rather to the rhythm of the specs of each drink he’s come to know by heart. None of his actions answer any of the questions that came to mind themselves this morning. You think you might just have to Google why whole eggs go in drinks.

Your impromptu reservation had been scheduled later than you would normally go out. In fact, when you did, it’s usually a time you’d be in bed already. Even last night proved that to be true. The hour of the day, the unexpected emotion that a blocking from a stranger brought and the drink in your hands that you carry on consuming, brings along a fatigue that makes itself known to you.

From your improvised seat at the bar you can see Joel is tired too. The sweat that grasps onto his hairline and the strands of it sticking out of place makes you wonder how long his shift is. Other than the quick break you met him on, he hasn’t stopped moving. When there aren’t drinks to be made, there’s fruit to chop or a fridge to restock. The only time he leaves his workspace is to replenish his ice wells.

On one of those trips, he manages to take a second to check in. It’s good timing too; there’s hardly anything left in your glass but melting ice and lemon.  

“You allergic to anything? Can make you somethin’ else?” he proposes, almost breathlessly.

You bite down on your bottom lip trying to squash a grin before it has a chance to paint itself across your face.

“Penicillin” you chuckle truthfully.

“I’ll keep that in mind” he purses his lips together, standing with his hands on his hips again.

Swiping the glass away from you, he dumps any remaining contents into the sink below his waist before setting it on the tray. His grip lingers around it and his thumb rubs at the stain of your plum lipstick on the edge, smearing the oil of it further around the rim. His eyes settle on your lips before darting upwards to meet your gaze under a furrowed brow as you look on intently.

“What’s next?” he sighs, wiping his hands on the cloth that hangs from the side of his apron.

“I…have no idea” you admit. You did look at the menu, but draw a blank on all of it.

He carries on studying you while he formulates a drink with your pleasure potentially at stake. You thought he might know what you like and what you don’t, what makes your mouth water and what dries it out. It won’t matter what he puts in front of you, you’ll try it.

You can tell he’s made a decision when he proceeds to turn away from you and begins to gather materials. Glassware, three bottles of various shapes and sizes all poured over crushed ice tied together with two of those cherries on a skewer. There’s no stirring or shaking involved – no show.

In all, it probably takes under a minute before he serves it in front of you, leaving again only to come back with a red and white striped paper straw. He slides it down the edge and leaves you with that signature nod. It’s a silent cheers. A silent you’re welcome. A silent enjoy.

Learning to leave those cherries until the end, you take them off and set them on the napkin. They’re to be savored.

The drink itself is a deep crimson. On first taste it’s all cherry. Then a hint of vanilla follows and after that the slight flavor of the alcoholic base that could be vodka or gin. It’s difficult to tell over the sweetness. It’s the sugar rush you need and decadence you crave. Your eyes close at the combination of delicious flavors all running over your tongue.

As you open your eyes, he’s watching this time. Taking in how your lips keep wrapping around the straw and how the liquid moves down the glass, down your throat while he pops the cap off a bottle of beer with a bar blade clenched in his fist. You can feel your cheeks beginning to burn under his glare, turning shades to match the color of the drink.

Averting your gaze, you open and flick through the pages of the menu again to find its name. It looks similar to the one you considered ordering yesterday. There are cocktails with the ingredients in them separately but not together.

You want to ask, you want to pick his brain about all of it but you lose him to another onslaught of orders. Each drink at his fingertips is made to be cherished. None of them are drinks you knock back in a mouthful.

They’re made to be laughed over, to reminisce over memories with, to accompany a deep conversation, and to be discussed themselves. Why certain elements of them compliment each other and why some don’t. He knows all of these things. So far, you’ve only come to know what you like and what you could take or leave – a lesson of sorts in itself. Though your mouth is content, your thirst for answers hasn’t yet been quenched.

Time seems to move faster inside these four walls. Like you aren't just coming to the end of your second drink. Like you haven't spent most of your night watching a stranger do their job because just as you lift the cherries to your lips, the lights flick on and off twice signally last orders.

Eventually, waiters start to drop checks to tables and customers pay their tabs. The tip jar beside the register starts to fill with bills. Slowly, people start to peter out of the building to carry on their night somewhere else or head home satisfied. You fish your own debit card out from your jacket pocket and absentmindedly tap the edges of the counter waiting on your check, preparing to say goodbye again. Somehow, over everything, he hears it.

“Hang around for thirty minutes. I can give you a ride home” he offers, taking your card and running it through the register as he carries on speaking.

“I can get an Uber don’t worry about it”

“Tough ‘round here on a Saturday. Trust me”

"Alright. Thanks" you accept.

As the evening draws to an end for you and everyone else, the same applies to your bartender. His earlier choreography slows down to a lazy waltz. He’s not frantically reaching for bottles from the shelves behind him or mixing anything. He doesn’t have to crack the heel of his palm against solid steel to open tins.

One by one, he polishes his own fingerprints off the bottles he’s used so they continue to gleam under the lights. All of the fresh fruit goes back into the fridges behind him. His tools get thrown into another tray along with the glasses that waiters collect and bring to the back. The stainless steel gets dismantled, sprayed, and wiped down. Lids get screwed on jars of olives and cherries. Everything has its place.

When the curtain closes behind the last couple to exit, the host turns up the lights and the room illuminates. The details that the candlelight failed to highlight are visible. He’s visible now. There’s more shades of gray in the scruff around his jaw than you caught sight of last night. The little cuts that have healed and turned into shiny scars on his hands where he’s nicked himself with a knife shine under the bright fluorescence and the shirt that's survived another round of battle against his the expanse of his shoulders.

The saxophones and pianos stop playing next. It makes the deep breath he takes through puffed out cheeks more noticeable while he stares out at the empty venue - a decent night's work. It’s quickly followed by the sounds of the metal clasps holding his apron in around his legs being undone. He lifts it over his head and soothes his chest where the strings had been pulled taut against his frame all evening. His white shirt sticks to patches around his chest with sweat and he pulls the tails of it out from his black jeans.

“Fifteen minutes, tops” he promises you, taking the cash drawer from the register and disappearing through a door at the far end of the room.

While you wait, the waiters work their way through the last tasks of their shift around you, scraping candle wax off tables and rearranging chairs. Even with the crowd gone there’s a warm atmosphere that hangs around – there’s still an odd sense of belonging regardless of the fact you’re not meant to be here still.

It’s easier to read some of the labels on the bottles and admire their logos and shapes. Between two bottles of coffee liqueur there’s a tiny plush sheep. With everything else that surrounds it should look out of place but it doesn’t. It looks at home just as much as the art deco light fixtures.

Joel returns just as he’s pulling down a black t-shirt over his stomach with one hand and a throwing a backpack over his shoulder with the other.

“Ready?”

“Yeah” you answer through the smile that seeing the sheep brought upon you.

He does one last lap of the floor, flicking switches and setting alarms.

“Let’s get out of here” he says, beckoning you towards the exit.

After giving him your address, the drive is quiet. People still line the streets of the downtown area, some are probably only beginning their night, some are ending it but you’re happy with the way yours is closing.

“You ever hear from your guy?” he quizzes, eyes narrowed and fixed straight ahead on the road.

“No”

“Fuckin apps” he curses, shaking his head in disapproval. “Should stay off of ‘em”

“That’s why you brought me back, Joel? A lecture?” you tease.

“No. I wanted to apologize”

“For what?”

“If Rico could have just held on, you could have gotten another drink”

“I did, didn’t I?”

The rest of the drive is silent. There’s no music on the radio, the only sounds come from other cars whooshing past and the tapping of his thumb on the steering wheel when he hits a red light. He probably needs the lack of noise after a shift, after people shouting in his ear and listening to ice cubes thumping off each other all night so you write of the idea of asking the questions that had been brewing in your mind since early morning.

It’s not long before he turns onto your block and his truck pulls to a halt at the corner.

“This you?”

“This is me” you lie. You live around the corner but you’d walk the rest of the way. From previous dates, old habits die hard. “Thanks, Joel. For tonight”

“No problem”  

“Hey. The sheep. What’s that about?” you ask, indulging yourself in one question.

“A pipe dream” he answers, calmly.

Music Suggestions

Just for a Day - TM Juke

Roy Roy - Twit One

Because - The Cancel

I Wanna Go Back - Onra

Song For Her Joy - Q Funktion

Menu

ALWAYS DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

Penicillin

Ingredients:

2 oz / 60mls of scotch (Chivas Regal, Johnnie Walker)

¼ oz / 5-10mls of single malt scotch (Ardbeg)

¾ oz / 20mls of lemon juice

¾ oz / 20mls of honey ginger syrup**

Lemon rind

Method:

Pour the scotch, lemon juice and syrup into a shaker with ice and shake. Have fun with it, dance with it, lean with it, rock with it.

Strain into a tumbler filled with ice. Over the top, add the malt scotch and garnish with a lemon peel.

**Honey ginger syrup recipe:

A decent piece of ginger root, peeled

½ cup of water

½ cup of honey

Method:

Put it all in a pot and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes and allow to cool. Strain it and keep it in the fridge. This is really good in teas in winter.

The Imbibe (TBD)

Ingredients:

2 oz / 60mls vodka or gin

¾ oz / 20mls of cherry liqueur (Cherry Herring)

¾ oz / 20mls of vanilla liqueur (Galliano)

Luxardo cherries

Method:

In a tall glass filled with ice (doesn’t have to be crushed, just whatever you have) pour all the above in and stir. Garnish to your heart’s content with the amount of cherries. That’s it. Easy peasy. You can mess around with the amounts of liqueurs depending on how you want it. Almond liqueur would also work in place of vanilla.

Non-alcoholic Mule

Ingredients:

2 oz / 60mls pineapple juice

1 oz / 30mls lime juice

Ginger beer

Method:

Fill a glass with ice. Pour over the pineapple and lime juice and top with the ginger beer.  Again, you can mess around with the amounts of the juices here to your liking. Voila!

ALWAYS DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

[sisterspooky1013]

Gaslight, Chapter 22/48

Rated X | Read it here on AO3

Ellicott City, MD

Don’t know how you do what you do, I’m so in love with you. It just keeps getting better.

I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side, forever and ever.

Every little thing that you do, baby I’m amazed by you.

She snaps off the radio, then pulls Tiffany’s scarf off her head and tosses it onto the passenger seat. What is she supposed to do now? Where is she supposed to go? Her instincts tell her to run, but what about the children? She is the reason they’re involved in this in the first place, and guilt sinks heavily from her heart to her belly as she imagines what might happen to them now that the jig is up. Will they be discarded like trash? Will they be leveraged against her, used as pawns in an even more disturbing way? She wants to protect them, but to this point it’s her very proximity to them that has put them at risk. Though it goes against every maternal instinct in her body, she comes to the conclusion that the best thing she can do for them right now is to get as far away from them as possible.

Eyes on the road, one hand on the wheel, she digs around in her purse for her cell phone, finally pulling it free and flipping it open with her thumb. Her hands are still trembling, but she manages to dial. Lunch hour traffic means she hits every red light possible, and she can’t stop looking at the vehicles and sidewalks around her, waiting for another black suit to appear.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” she mumbles to herself, checking the rearview mirror obsessively.

“Dana?”

“Cal,” she says, relieved to hear his voice. “I’m on my way home, and I’m going to need to go away for a little while,” she begins, but he cuts her off.

“I’m already at home,” he says in a small, fearful voice.

“What? Why?” she asks, checking her blindspot before she switches lanes.

“I couldn’t—I just couldn’t,” he says tightly, and she realizes that he’s crying.

“Cal, I’ll be home in ten minutes, okay? Wait for me, and don’t open the door for anyone,” she says, finding confidence she didn’t realize she had within her. “Is your car in the garage?”

“Yeah,” he says in a near whisper.

“I need you to move it to the driveway so I can park in the garage, can you do that?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Okay, move the car, and then go inside and lock the door. I’ll be home soon.”

Twelve minutes later, she pulls into their driveway and jumps out to open the garage before parking Tiffany’s car inside it. When she enters the house, she finds it stonily silent and still.

“Cal?” she calls out, half expecting the smoking man from the hospital to appear instead.

“Over here.”

She follows the sound of his voice to the stairwell where he is sitting mid-flight, his head in his hands. She approaches slowly, sitting on the step just below him and laying her hand on top of his knee.

“Hey,” she says softly, and he sucks in a sharp breath.

“I’m all fucked up, mija,” he whimpers, followed by a wet sniff. “I’m just—I don’t know what to do.”

She moves one step up, wedging herself between his body and the bannister, and wraps her arm around his shoulders. He leans into her, and she rubs her palm up and down over his upper arm comfortingly.

“What happened?” she asks.

He sniffs and swipes his hand across his nose, composing himself.

“Everything is off,” he explains. “Nothing feels right. I couldn’t remember the PIN for my debit card to get gas, and then I got to work and I sat down at my desk and—it’s like it fell out of my head, Dana. Like it’s just gone.”

“What is?”

He sits up and looks at her. His eyes are bloodshot and swollen, his bottom lip quivering.

“Everything,” he says gravely. “I don’t know how to code. I can’t even fucking understand the code I wrote yesterday.”

“Oh,” she says, understanding.

“What’s happening to me?” he asks, and the pain in his voice makes her heart ache.

“I can only tell you what I was told, and I can’t be sure that what I was told is entirely accurate,” she says, her hand resting on his back.

“Just tell me, please,” he begs.

She looks away, running her tongue across her bottom lip as she decides how to explain it. She suddenly understands how challenging it was for Alex to relay the same information to her.

“I’m not your wife,” she says evenly. “You’re not my husband. Abby and Peter aren’t our children. This whole thing,” she says, gesturing to the house around them, “is a lie. A farce. Whoever did this to us…they went to very great lengths to make us believe that this life is ours.”

She pauses and turns to look at him, finding a somewhat vacant expression on his face. She can empathize, and knows that the questions are too numerous to even begin asking them. She has to keep talking.

“The chip in your neck contained memories. Memories of how we met, Abby and Peter’s births, your training in software engineering. Every single detail since 1992. And whatever they did to us, and whatever was in that medication, helped ensure that we wouldn’t remember what really happened. So that we’d believe it, the lie. And by removing your chip, I also removed those memories. That’s why you can’t remember how to code.”

“Or that pancakes are waffles,” he says absently.

“Right,” she confirms.

He stares off into the middle distance for a moment, allowing this new information to sink in.

“They’re not ours?” he asks, turning to look at her with a kind of disbelieving hurt on his face.

She shakes her head gently, her lips pressed together sympathetically.

“Not biologically, no. But they don’t know that. They still have their chips, and as long as they do, all they know is us,” she tells him, and he nods, looking away again.

“I don’t think I’m a good guy, Dana,” he says after a moment, and she narrows her eyes at him.

“What do you mean?”

He drops his head, staring at the carpeted step between his feet.

“They were cleaning the windows in the office and the smell of it—kind of like ammonia, maybe? It did something to me,” he says hesitantly.

“What did it do?”

“It made me remember something,” he says very quietly. He lifts his hands, forming loose fists. He moves them closer to his face and she realizes that he’s miming smoking from a pipe. “It wasn’t pot,” he says shamefully.

She sighs and moves into the space between his knees, kneeling on the step just below him. She grabs his hands, holding them in her own and looking him straight in the eye.

“Listen to me,” she says sternly. “I don’t know who you were or what you did before they did this to you, but it doesn’t matter. To me, you are Cal. You’re a good man, and a wonderful husband and father.” She feels her throat constrict and she swallows against it. She needs to be strong for him. “Whoever did this is looking for me, Cal. They came to the hospital, and it’s only a matter of time before they show up here. I’m not safe here.”

His eyes widen and his mouth falls open, but she stops him before his mind wanders too far.

“This isn’t about you,” she explains. “This is about me, and a man I used to work with. You and the kids were used to distract me, to make me believe the lie. I don’t have any reason to think they’ll harm you, unless they think they can use you to get to me.”

“What do we do?” he asks.

“I have to leave. I’m not going to tell you where I plan to go because you can’t be forced to provide information that you don’t have. I need you to take care of the kids, okay? You can call my mom for help if you need to. She has no idea any of this is happening, so just tell her that I had a work emergency or something. If anyone asks, say that you’re taking the medication, and do not tell anyone that I removed your chip, okay? Can you do that?”

He nods, but it’s lacking confidence.

“Will we see you again?” he asks hoarsely, and her chin puckers.

“I hope so,” she whispers, and he opens his arms, pulling her into a hug.

She hastily packs a bag with a few changes of clothes and basic toiletries, plus the Sam Cooke CD and the rest of the Numerol. She wishes she could take Cal’s chip for evidence or eventual analysis, but if Alex was right that it can be used to track her movements, it would be unsafe to do so. She remembers finding $800 cash stuffed into a cookie tin during her initial investigation of the house, and she takes that too. She loads her bag into Tiffany’s car and then turns back to Cal, who is standing in the doorway between the house and garage.

“Where did you get the car?” he asks, and she smiles thinly. “Never mind,” he says with a sigh, realizing that it’s the least of their worries.

They stand there for a moment, looking at one another. There’s so much she doesn’t know about him, so much he doesn’t know about himself, but he is still the person she trusts most in the world right now. The only person she trusts, really. She wishes that she didn’t have to do this alone. She suspects that he wishes the same.

“I’ll be in touch when I can,” she says, and he nods. “Give the kids big hugs and kisses for me, okay?”

His face crumples and he looks at the floor. She turns to get in the car, but then changes her mind and walks the handful of steps to where he is standing. She grabs his hand and he lifts his head, absolute agony in his eyes.

“You’re going to be okay,” she assures him, and his jaw jerks to the side.

“What about you?” he asks, his shoulder jumping.

“I hope to be,” she says, forgoing empty promises.

She pushes up onto her tiptoes and presses her lips to his cheek. Before her resolve can crumble any further, she climbs into the car and starts the ignition. Cal walks slowly alongside the driver’s side window as she backs out of the garage, and then follows her down the driveway. Before she turns the corner she takes one final glimpse in the rear view mirror at his tall, trim frame silhouetted against the backdrop of a suburban neighborhood.

It was a beautiful lie they created for her, and part of her is sad to leave it behind. But she chooses to look forward in hopes that she might be able to find her past, and the missing piece that she’s been mourning since the moment she woke up in the hospital.

He. Him.

Mulder.

She heads south, flipping the radio back on so she doesn’t feel so lonely. Her chest aches in the persistent, heavy way that only loss brings, and she hates just how familiar the sensation has become to her.

She’s worried about Cal, about the kids, about herself. She wonders if Mulder has any idea what’s happening, or if he is blissfully ignorant. She starts to think about the most effective way she can explain it to him, if she has the chance. And if she does explain it, and he doesn’t believe her, then what? Or, even worse, what if he does believe her but chooses his new life, his wife, over whatever they had and lost?

Scar tissue that I wish you saw,

Sarcastic mister know-it-all.

Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, ‘cause

With the birds I’ll share

She feels slightly lightheaded suddenly, and she blinks rapidly and shakes her head back and forth to clear it away.

With the birds I’ll share this lonely view.

With the birds I’ll share this lonely view.

She flips on the turn signal and pulls off to the side of the road, her heart racing. She feels like she might be having a panic attack.

Push me up against the wall,

Young Kentucky girl in a push-up bra.

I’m fallin’ all over myself

To lick your heart and taste your health, ‘cause

It slams into her like a punch to the gut, making her head ache above her left ear. She can physically feel the synapses reaching out, connecting, pulling it up from the depths. Memories, unearthed like buried treasure.

“What are you saying?” he asks, flashing his eyes between her and the road with a haughty little smirk on his mouth.

“The song,” she answers, pointing to the radio.

“Sing it for me,” he requests, and her cheeks burn.

“I know I’m a terrible singer, Mulder, you don’t have to rub it in,” she grumbles, turning towards the window.

“I’m not making commentary on your vocal stylings, Scully, just tell me what the lyrics say,” he insists.

“With the blood that’s shed, it’s a lonely view,” she says flatly, and he chuffs a laugh. “What?”

“That is definitely not how the song goes,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s ‘with the birds I’ll share this lonely view’.”

She pauses, listening to the final chorus of the song.

“Hm,” she says.

“Hm?” he repeats. “Hm, you’re totally right, Mulder? Hm, those lyrics make a lot more sense?” he teases, reaching across the console to poke her arm with his index finger.

She turns her head sharply and gives him her very best irritated glare.

“Gloating is extremely unattractive,” she informs him, and he laughs.

“Does this mean you’re not coming over tonight?” he asks cheekily. “‘Cause I had plans for you, Scully.” He looks at her until she meets his eye, then adds, “Big plans.”

She rolls her eyes and looks out the passenger side window.

“Shut up, Mulder.”

She grips the steering wheel so tightly that her fingers go numb, her chest heaving and her heart pounding. Slowly, slowly, she returns to earth, to the shoulder of US-29-S, to the driver’s seat of Tiffany’s Escalade. As soon as the panic subsides, the tears come, running in torrents down her cheeks and keeping her stationary, unfit to operate heavy machinery in her current state. She wants more, so much more. She wants it all. She wants him.

Eventually, she feels ready to return to the road. She finds a seedy motel just outside the city that she’s confident won’t ask for ID, and lays clean-smelling towels over the top of the questionable-looking sheets before she curls up on the bed and begs for the respite of sleep. It’s early, but she’s exhausted, and feels like she needs the freshness of a new day in order to think clearly.

Tomorrow, she will return to the city she left behind against her will and try to find the torn edges of her stolen life. Tonight, she will pray that he meets her in her dreams, at least until the day she can return to his arms.

Tagging @today-in-fic

[asirensrage]

Title: Where All Roads Meet Rating: T Pairing: Steve x OC x Bucky Fandom: MCU/Avengers Warnings: Soft!Dark!Steve. Soft!Dark!Bucky. Technically sortaDark!Tony? Kidnapping. Biting. SoulmateAU (implied). Summary: For most, finding soulmate is impossible. Which is why when soulmates are found, they trump everything - including your emergency contacts and even guardianship. But soulmates reap what they sow. If you're not happy, neither are they. - She doesn't know why they took her off the street, but their first mistake was refusing her coffee.

Notes: Please READ THE WARNINGS. To be honest, this came from a dream about escaping and then going about my day.

She must look a sight. She knows this and yet she’s far too tired and irritated to care. All she wants is a cup of coffee and one of those chocolate croissants she sees behind the glass. Thankfully she managed to hide her debit card. She’s not entirely sure why they didn’t check her socks but whatever, she’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She figures they didn’t expect her to be a threat, especially with the way they pulled her off the street. They were looking for someone to keep. She didn’t bother asking why. 

“Are you…okay?” the barista asks. It’s sweet of the girl to ask. 

“Yeah, just fell on my way here.” It doesn’t look like the kid believes her but she didn’t lie. She just didn’t completely tell the truth. She fell…out of a window. She also managed to shimmy through a gap that they probably didn’t think she could. She ripped part of her shirt and the tights that they let her keep on. 

The kid finally hands over the coffee and she takes a sip, ignoring how it burns just so she can taste it. Sweet relief. She takes the croissant and sits down, facing the door. She’s not close enough to the window that she’ll be easily seen if they walk by. She can’t make it too easy. 

She probably should be more concerned about the fact that she was basically stolen by a bunch of heroes but if she’s honest, it felt a bit like a vacation. She didn’t need to worry about work because they had locked her in a room. Sure, her family was probably worried sick but they didn’t talk every day regardless so hopefully there was a bit of time before that. She’s not sure how long it’s been since they found her, since they mentioned giving everything to the world and wanting something in return. Not that she knew why she was apparently part of that plan. She’s seen pictures in the news. They could have whoever they wanted. 

She muses on the thought and orders another croissant and coffee once she’s done the first. She should probably eat something more substantial but with what she’s been through, she deserves it. At least in her opinion. 

 She’s considering what her next step is going to be, when an arm reaches past her heading for the croissant. She turns and bites down, as hard as she can. 

“Shit!” 

The arm yanks back and she digs in just enough to break skin before she lets go. She turns back to her coffee, grabbing the croissant and taking a bite if only to help wash the taste out of her mouth. 

“If you liked it rough, all you had to do was ask.” The person who made the attempt to steal her food moved, lowering themselves into the seat across from her and lounging as though he belonged there. 

She stared at Tony Stark. “Aren’t you rich enough to buy your own food?”

“You really put us out for a spin,” he said, ignoring the question. “Rogers demanded I get Friday to look for you. You know, cash would have been a better option if you wanted to stay under the radar.”

She knows. She could have swiped someones wallet, stuck to the side streets and gotten someone to order for her. She doesn’t say that though, sticking to drinking her coffee. 

 He peers at her over his glasses. “You know I’ve been told people wanted a piece of me but I don’t think they meant it as literally as you did.” 

She ignores him. It must grate on his nerves because it’s not long before he’s leaning forward, still staring at her. 

“You could have gone anywhere. Gone home, I mean sure, first place they would have looked, but why here?” 

“I wanted coffee.” They had refused to give it when she asked. Sticking to water and other healthy alternatives. She was pretty sure it had been drugged but she took what she could and left as soon as she was able. It’s not her fault they weren’t good kidnappers. 

He stares at her like he doesn’t understand. “Huh.”

She glances around. People are staring and talking to one another, likely wondering why Tony Stark is sitting across from a woman who looks homeless. Oh the things she could say. She’s pretty sure someone is recording. She waits. 

Stark seems to notice the others as he pulls out his phone and starts typing. She’s not sure if he’s contacting the others or disrupting any feeds that showcase them as they are now. She knows she’s not getting out of this, but she didn’t expect to. Not when she knew who had taken her in the first place. 

She tunes Stark out as he starts talking. She’s sure she could probably pick apart some of what he says, but they’re in public and despite the image he presents, she’s pretty sure he knows there are things they shouldn’t say…like how they know each other. Sort of. She’s never actually met Tony Stark before this moment. She can’t say that she missed much. 

A hand touches her shoulder and she looks just enough to see that Captain America has joined them. He leans down and kisses her cheek. She doesn’t lean into it but she also doesn’t recoil and she sees his pleased smile at that. 

“Here you are,” he says. “We’ve been looking for you, sweetheart.” 

She stares at him, a little amused at the slight frustration she hears in his voice. She wonders how long it would have taken them if she didn’t use her card. 

A chair scraps forward and she feels her chair shift, just enough so that there’s one on each side of her. She’s being blocked in and she has no doubt there are others. Not like she could get away from the two supersoldiers guarding her. Not like this. James Barnes sits on one side, silent but present and carefully watching the other patrons of the place. Steve sits on the other, turned slightly so he can face her. He looks as though he’s going to try and give her his patented disappointed look that she’s seen on youtube videos. The ones they showed teenagers in school. 

“Gotta watch this hellcat,” Stark says. “Already took a bite out of me.” He shows them his arm which she notices still has her teeth marks. She tries not to look too pleased at that. 

“Shouldn’t touch things that aren’t yours,” she says. 

The men all look at her in surprise. She hasn’t said much through the whole experience, preferring to watch, listen and wait. 

“Tony…” she hears Rogers say. “You touched her.”

Stark somehow looks like he lounges further into the chair. She’s tempted to nudge it. See if he falls off. “Please, I’m innocent. I went for the food, not the girl. ‘Sides, Pepper would kill me.” 

It’s interesting, she notes, that he’s afraid of Pepper for touching her but not for being a part of this thing. He’s not worried about helping them.  

Rogers turns back to her, glancing over her as she sips at her coffee. She’s going to push this as far as she can, make sure she can at least enjoy this cup if it’ll be her last. 

“Why did you leave?” 

“Why did you kidnap me?”

“We didn’t-” she pins him with a look, cutting him off. Rogers takes a deep breath as they both ignore the amused billionaire across from them. “It was explained.”

“I didn’t listen,” she says. “I left because I was refused coffee.”

“You didn’t go home?” Barnes asks quietly. 

“I wanted coffee,” she repeats. 

“You boys caught yourself an addict,” Stark says. 

She remains silent. Even as Barnes puts his arm on the back of her chair. She can feel the heat of it. At least it isn’t the metal one. She’s not sure how that would work against hair and she has no desire to test it out and end up with a bald patch. 

“Sweetheart,” Rogers says. “You can’t just–”

“Do you know my name?” she cuts him off as she asks. 

“Know you–of course we know your name.” He gives it with ease, as though he’s said it a thousand times before despite her hearing it from him now for the first time. It answers some of her questions. They know her. She wasn’t a sudden choice, being just unlucky enough to walk by. She was chosen because they know her. She takes another sip of coffee, thinking about that. 

Rogers’ knee knocks against hers as it presses closer. She’s more closed in than before, with each man next to her shifting closer. It’s almost as though the walls are pressing in on her. It’s not unexpected though. Not since she was locked in that room. 

The soldiers radiate heat. It’s not uncomfortable, at least not yet, but it lulls her into a state of complacency. Or it would if she hadn’t drank two cups of coffee after not having caffeine for how long. 

“Well, isn’t this cozy,” Stark says, looking at them. “Who knew your plan would work? I mean she’s not running. I would have expected her to run though. Further than this. Not that it would have mattered.” 

“Stark,” Barnes’ voice was hard. “Leave.” 

“Alright, Terminator, don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“Tony.” Rogers’ does not sound impressed. 

Stark rolls his eyes and gets up. “Sure, only call me when you need to track someone down. You sure you don’t want to chip her?” 

“I’m not a dog,” she says, deadpan. 

Stark turns to her, looking like he’s about to say something, when Rogers’ stands up. “I’m leaving, I’m leaving.” 

She focuses back on her coffee, ignoring the quiet conversation that sounds like threats between the two men standing. Would they let her get another? Maybe a latte? Something with cinnamon….

“How many have you had?” 

She looks at Barnes who is staring at her. “Hmm?”

He frowns slightly but nods towards the table. “Just the two?”

She narrowed her eyes back at him. “Three once I get the next one.” 

His gaze darts down. “Not four?”

“It’s still early.” 

He grins at her and her breath catches. He looks younger when he smiles, more carefree. Even as his arm moves slightly closer to her shoulders. If they were alone, she knows that he would not hesitate to touch her. She’s surprised he’s holding back now. He doesn’t have to. Not with the laws that are in place. 

Rogers sits back down next to her. “You scared us, doll.” 

“You locked me in a room,” she replies. She doesn’t look at either of them. Instead she looks over the others in the coffee shop. They’re still staring and talking. She wonders if any of them have figured it out yet. Or they think she’s been rescued by them. 

“Just for a bit,” Barnes says. “Had to make sure.”

She doesn’t bother responding to that. 

“Sweetheart,” Rogers leans in slightly closer. “Come home.” 

She needs a shower and she should probably eat something else than just croissants and coffee. Not that she’ll ever admit it out loud. 

“We’ll make you coffee.”

She looks at Barnes next to her out of the corner of her eye. “What kind?” 

“Whatever you want.” 

“Well…” Rogers trailed off as she noticed Barnes look over her head at him. “Only the good stuff. We can steal it from Tony.”

She snorts slightly into her cup. “Can’t fault that,” she murmurs. She sighs slightly and looks at the men she’s stuck between. “You kidnapped me.” 

“We did,” Rogers agrees. She looks at him in surprise. She wasn’t expecting him to admit it this quickly. “You know why.”

“Hmm,” she doesn’t admit that. “Do you drink coffee?” she asks, diverting the subject. 

“Yeah.”

“How?

“Black,” Rogers says. 

“Same here, doll,” Barnes agrees. 

“Ugh,” she stands up. They follow until she waves them down. “Wait here. I’m ordering more. If we’re going to do this, we need to expand your horizons.” 

She can feel their eyes on her as she orders a couple different drinks, one super sweet just to see their reactions. There’s no way to slip out of here undetected and no use to sound an alarm. So she’ll wait. They might not underestimate her as much, but they’ll get complacent and then she’ll have another chance. If only to keep them on their toes. 

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Choose the network if the crypto is available on multiple networks

Continue with your transaction on Sardine

Once you confirm your order on Sardine, you’ll be taken back to Robinhood Wallet

Swap crypto

You can swap crypto on the Ethereum and Polygon networks via 0x API and LI.FI, which are decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregators. Keep in mind, you can only swap tokens that are supported on either the Ethereum or Polygon networks, and available through 0x API or LI.FI.

Search for the token you’d like to swap

Select Swap → Sell or Buy

Enter the amount you’d like to buy or sell

Select the token to swap

Select Review → Swipe to swap

Your swap may execute with a rate that is either guaranteed or estimated.

A rate that is guaranteed is locked in for 30 seconds before they automatically refresh. 0x API or LI.FI try to fill your order by routing to a market maker. If a market maker is offering a competitive quote, it’s a guaranteed rate. When rates are guaranteed, there’s no difference, or slippage, between the quoted price and the execution price.

Keep in mind, orders will only execute if they fall above or below the slippage tolerance (a percentage of the total swap value) that you choose.

A rate that is estimated is continually refreshed to give you the best price possible. If no market makers have a quote available, 0x API or LI.FI route your order to a network of automated market makers (AMM) to find the best available rate. Your order will execute if it falls within the slippage tolerance that you select, which means the executed price may differ from the quoted price. The order won’t execute if the rate goes beyond that threshold above or below the quoted price.

Your balances will automatically update after your transaction has been processed on the blockchain.

Fees

Robinhood currently doesn't charge service fees on token swaps. Fees are subject to change. Network fees, or gas fees, are blockchain transaction processing fees. These required fees are submitted to the network along with your transaction. These fees fluctuate based on the volume of transactions, confirmation speed, and transaction size for that network. Network fees may apply for token approvals, transfers to an external wallet, and interacting with dapps. Robinhood Wallet doesn’t collect any part of the network fee.

[josnashak69]

A long text of 10,000 words, four-stage cashier design

Every day we complete various transactions through various checkout counters. A smooth experience may make you feel that payment is just a checkout counter. I want to design a checkout counter with a HE Tuber good experience in different scenarios. Let’s take a look at the introduction of this article together.

Every day we complete various transactions through various checkout counters. A smooth experience may make you feel that payment is just a checkout counter. However, good products are all the same, bad products are all weird, and many checkout counters with poor experience will make you think "Why can't even a page be done well?" Today I will introduce to you a standard version of the checkout counter product. By understanding the standard form, you can draw inferences and design a checkout counter with a good experience in different scenarios.

[Old rule, if you find it simple or long-winded, just turn to the end to read the summary]

1. Introduction to payment cashier

1. Cashier terminal

The purpose of the payment terminal is to provide users with a good operating experience through scene adaptation, and to ensure user payment security.

1) Scene adaptation

Nowadays, there are many transaction scenarios such as mobile phones, counters, self-service equipment, and websites, so it is necessary to provide cashiers that adapt to various scenarios for customers to use.

2) Operation experience

The original payment methods are interfaces that require technical development, so various terminal pages are needed to ensure a smooth user experience, so as to bring better payment conversion rates to merchants.

3) Payment security

Payment security mainly includes two aspects. On the one hand, it ensures the security of user payment by adding "password, face brush, fingerprint, security certificate" and other methods. On the other hand, through the binding of "terminals and channels", the opportunities for routing arbitrage by intermediaries and service providers are reduced .

2. Cashier payment method

Behind a simple and easy-to-use cashier is the "payment method", and behind the payment method is the packaging of the payment products provided by the payment channel. On the one hand, the function of the payment method is to show the user what payment channels he can use, and on the other hand, it improves the user's payment efficiency and experience through packaging such as wallets, QR codes, and facial recognition.

The payment method has gone through a relatively long development process from cash to QR code. All payment methods have developed from the early over-the-counter cash transactions such as cards, discounts, wire transfers, and letter transfers. The ones that can carry out online and mobile payments are mainly divided into three categories: "card base, account base, and barcode".

1. Card-based payment

Card-based payment refers to the form of payment using bank cards as the medium. This is also the most basic payment method. As long as you have a debit card or credit card, you can pay.

1) POS card swiping

This is the earliest electronic payment method and an offline payment method. POS machines allow you to pay with cards in offline stores and supermarkets. Later, products such as hand swiping and smart POS payment evolved.

2) Quick payment

This is the earliest mobile payment method. Online payment and consumption can be carried out by binding the card online. It is also the most popular payment product for mobile payment, because it can get rid of the shackles of physical cards and pay conveniently through mobile phones.

3) Online banking payment

In the early days of online banking payment, you needed to jump to the bank's online banking through a PC to make large payments. Now online banking payment has gradually begun to develop in a mobile direction. Traditional PC-based online banking is more commonly used in large-amount payments and corporate payments.

Although card-based payment played a role in promoting early mobile payments, it is not very convenient to use. For POS card payment, you need to bring your bank card with you. For quick payment, you need to bind the card to different platforms. For online banking payment, you need to install it. Encryption plug-in or carry U-shield. Therefore, account-based payment came into being.

2. Account base payment

The account-based payment method is mainly a wallet account packaged in a bank account, a payment account, and a digital currency account. This payment method relies on a large number of real-name authentication user systems on the Internet payment platform. Through the account system they provide, users do not need to undergo cumbersome real-name authentication after merchants access it, and can directly make purchases.

For example, e-commerce platforms generally have access to payment products such as WeChat, Alipay, and Cloud QuickPass. Since users have completed their real names, the transaction conversion rate is very high.

This mainly refers to the integrated payment method for online order codes, offline machines, code plates, etc. for various QR codes. Of course, it is essentially a deep aggregate packaging of bank cards and accounts. The QR code here is divided into three forms according to the "merchant" and "user" dimensions.

Merchant static code : This is a QR code generated from the merchant number of the payee. It is mainly used to make static code plates, cloud speakers and other forms. The user scans the code and enters the amount for payment. This QR code is suitable for making aggregate codes and supports many APP to pay.

Merchant order code : This is a QR code generated based on the product order received by the merchant. The user can pay directly according to the order without entering the amount. This type is mainly used on self-service equipment and websites for users to pay.

User payment code : It is a payment code generated based on the user's payment account. The merchant uses a code scanner or box to scan the payment code displayed on the user's APP to complete the payment.

[nickgerlich]

Wave As You Go By

I remember to my fleeting days of youth how we paid for things in stores and restaurants. You either had cash, or you handed over a credit card to some guy who then laid it atop a cumbersome manual device. He then slid the arm over your card to capture an imprint—ka-chunk!—and handed you the carbon copy. A few weeks later it might show up on your bill, after much more manual processing.

Later we enjoyed the ease of simply swiping our plastic, be it credit or debit, greatly simplifying and speeding up our transactions. Over-use of your credit card could result in it becoming “swiped out,” meaning the magnetic stripe on the back becomes very scuffed from repeated use.

But in the last few years, the rate of change has magnified. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others all decided they wanted to be part of the payment eco-system, thereby grabbing a very small sliver of each transaction, but also providing convenience.

Then came tap-to-pay, which makes buying things ridiculously easy, whether in a store or at the gas pump. No need to worry about nefarious people installing credit card skimmers to steal your data.

Then there’s QR-pay, which I use in restaurants whenever possible, since I don’t want to relinquish my card to a total stranger for 10 minutes while they disappear to a hidden place. That’s risky business, and has also resulted in much fraud. Heck, I used QR-pay last night at Walmart, a handy feature of my Walmart+ membership. Talk about being in control, I not only scanned and bagged my own items, but then used my phone camera to pay for it from within the app. Easy peasy.

But wait, there’s more.

Biometrics are rapidly becoming the new cool way to pay. Last fall Amazon-owned Whole Foods announced it was rolling out its pilot program of hand scanners across the entire chain. Now when I go to a Whole Foods—mind you, we will never have one in Amarillo, but I shop there whenever I am in a larger city—I just wave my hand, and off I go.

Sure, it is its detractors, mostly those who contend that Big Data—meaning every big company that collects customer data—already has too much of our information. I reply, “But unless someone has me handcuffed against my will, or has chopped off my hand, this is exceedingly secure.” Your palm print is unique. I know. There is no perfect system, just like someone could have stolen my wallet 50 years ago with its cash and plastic, but I feel good about this.

And now Tencent, the Chinese firm behind their social media site WeChat, is doubling down on palm readers. This is not to be confused with American rapper 50 Cent, and I seriously doubt the Chinese entity has ever rapped. As much as we Americans love to be suspicious of anything the Chinese are doing, I must say they are leapfrogging much of the world with this effort. I recall China having QR-pay when we visited in 2019, and we were left scratching our heads and digging for RMBs to pay our lunch tab. Now they are reaching for the stars.

Tencent sees a hand-waving future in this, and not just for payments. Imagine being able to enter the subway or bus with a simple wave. Opening the front door of your house. Or entering your secure corporate campus and office. Even Google employees today have to “badge-in” and “badge-out.” Badges are so 1990s.

The long and the short of it is that we would not need to tote as many things as we have been doing, such as wallets and keys. I would stop short of saying we won’t need to carry our phone, because that would kind of negate the benefit of having such a handy mobile device. I mean, unless you simply do not want to be reachable.

Once again, there will be a transition period, and the hardware and software expense will be huge up front for businesses and anyone else using it. We just saw gas stations in the US transition to chip card readers (as mandated by law), and only some of those have tap-to-pay. All of that would be scrapped with a palm scanner.

And what of the Luddites who do not want to go along with any of this? My brother still prefers cash, and is loathe to use anything else. Going to pro sports and concerts these days is practically out of the question, because those venues no longer take cash, and ticketing is done electronically via your phone. When he saw me pay for my Whole Foods purchase a week ago in Orlando, he shrugged in a negative kind of way.

So does this mean businesses will have to retain legacy systems for those who do not want to adopt palm scanning? Tough question, because it would be even more expensive for companies. Perhaps what needs to be done is a concerted education effort to convince everyone of the merits of the new way, and demonstrate how that, while nothing is perfect, it is a step closer in the right direction.

Just be careful where and when you wave your hand. You may be paying for someone else’s dinner or groceries.

Dr “Ya Gotta Hand It To Them” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[visbankingnews]

Are bank customers now expecting more than just balance management and conducting basic transactions?

The other day, as I was going about my usual business, and I had a persistent thought. The world has evolved so much in the past decade that banking is no longer limited to the four walls of a building. We've entered an era where banking is becoming more digital, and our customers are expecting more. The way we used to think about customer service has changed immensely. It isn't just about helping customers transact anymore; it's about providing a wholesome experience that makes people feel secure and taken care of while they handle their financial affairs. And this goes beyond just the typical banking hours. Customers now have new needs: they want to be able to manage their finances anywhere at any time, thus requiring banks to step up their digital game. They want security that's not too intrusive but sufficient enough to keep them protected against frauds. There's also an increasing demand for financial literacy which banks can play a major role in fulfilling. So what does all this mean for us at the helm of leading such changes? It simply means that we have an opportunity to forge stronger relationships with our customers by meeting these evolving needs. By marrying technology with excellent customer service skills, we can redefine banking and set higher standards for others to follow. We must remain laser-focused on these new customer needs + expectations; don't get stuck in the ways of the past. 💡 Let’s stop just collecting data. Let’s start making it work for us. Let’s transform banking, together. 💡 🔔 Follow Brian on Linkedin: Brian Pillmore Related Links: - Are U.S. Consumers Expecting Accelerating Inflation? - Goldman Sacks, BofA Predict 3 More Interest Rate Hikes in 2023 - FedNow Real-Time Payment System Expected to Launch By Mid-2023 - Your product will never reach its full potential if your customers have no say in development. - Federal Reserve Expected to Propose Lowered Cap for Debit Card Swipe Fees Read the full article

[payment-process-services]

Unlocking Financial Potential: Navigating the World of Credit Card Merchant Accounts

In the bustling realm of commerce, where swift transactions and seamless payments reign supreme, the significance of credit card merchant accounts cannot be overstated. These financial gateways serve as linchpins connecting businesses with the global economy, fostering growth, and streamlining financial operations. Let's delve into the intricacies of credit card merchant account, exploring their pivotal role, functionalities, and the impact they wield on businesses of all sizes.

The Crucial Nexus: Credit Card Merchant Accounts Explained

At its core, a credit card merchant account is a specialized bank account that enables businesses to accept credit and debit card payments. It acts as a conduit, facilitating the transfer of funds from the customer's account to the merchant's account, seamlessly bridging the gap between buyers and sellers. This electronic payment mechanism has become the lifeblood of modern commerce, revolutionizing the way transactions unfold.

Streamlining Transactions: How Credit Card Merchant Accounts Work

The mechanics behind credit card merchant accounts are intricate yet efficient. When a customer swipes, dips, or taps their card to make a purchase, the payment information embarks on a digital journey. The merchant's point-of-sale system securely transmits this data to the credit card processor, which acts as a liaison between the merchant, the issuing bank, and the payment network.

The issuing bank verifies the transaction and assesses whether the customer has sufficient funds. Once approved, the funds are transferred to the merchant account. Despite the seemingly swift process, a behind-the-scenes ballet of encryption, authentication, and communication unfolds, ensuring the integrity and security of every transaction.

Empowering Businesses: The Benefits of Credit Card Merchant Accounts

The adoption of credit card merchant accounts confers an array of benefits upon businesses, irrespective of their scale. Firstly, the convenience offered to customers is unparalleled. With the ubiquity of credit and debit cards, businesses that embrace this payment method cater to a broader consumer base, enhancing their market reach.

Moreover, credit card merchant accounts accelerate cash flow, mitigating the challenges associated with delayed payments or checks. The prompt transfer of funds enables businesses to reinvest in operations, seize growth opportunities, and stay agile in the dynamic marketplace.

Security Paramount: Safeguarding Transactions

As businesses transition into the digital age, concerns about data security loom large. Credit card processing prioritize security, employing robust encryption protocols to safeguard sensitive information. This commitment to data protection not only fosters customer trust but also shields businesses from the devastating repercussions of data breaches.

Choosing Wisely: Selecting the Right Credit Card Merchant Account

Navigating the sea of options when selecting a credit card merchant account requires a discerning eye. Factors such as processing fees, transaction rates, and contract terms necessitate meticulous consideration. It's imperative to align the chosen account with the specific needs and aspirations of the business, ensuring a symbiotic relationship that fuels growth.

The Future Beckons: Evolving Trends in Credit Card Merchant Accounts

The landscape of credit card merchant accounts is dynamic, with continual evolution driven by technological advancements. The integration of contactless payments, mobile wallets, and emerging technologies like blockchain herald a future where transactions are not only efficient but also increasingly secure and decentralized.

Furthermore, the advent of artificial intelligence is reshaping fraud detection mechanisms, enhancing the overall security of credit card transactions. As businesses brace for the future, staying abreast of these trends becomes a strategic imperative, ensuring they remain at the forefront of financial innovation.

Conclusion: Empowering Businesses, Transforming Transactions

In the tapestry of modern commerce, credit card merchant accounts emerge as catalysts of transformation. Beyond being conduits for financial transactions, they empower businesses to transcend boundaries, embrace digital evolution, and cater to the diverse needs of today's consumers. As technology continues to advance, businesses that harness the power of credit card merchant accounts are poised not just to survive, but to thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of global commerce.

[differencebetweenpediaa]

Difference Between Credit and Debit Cards

From Swiping to Spending: The Key Variations Between Credit and Debit Cards

In today's increasingly cashless world, credit and debit cards have become ubiquitous tools for making payments, both in-person and online. They provide convenience, security, and flexibility in managing our finances. However, understanding the fundamental differences between these two types of cards is essential to make informed decisions about how we manage our money. In this blog post, we will explore the key variations between credit and debit cards, helping you grasp the distinctions and choose the right option for your financial needs.

Payment Source:

 Debit Cards: A debit card is typically linked directly to your checking or savings account. When you make a purchase with a debit card, the money is deducted immediately from your account. It's essentially electronic cash.

 Credit Cards: Credit cards, on the other hand, allow you to borrow money up to a certain credit limit. The money you spend is essentially a short-term loan from the credit card company. You're required to repay this borrowed amount, usually with interest, by the end of the billing cycle.

Spending Limits:

 Debit Cards: Your spending limit with a debit card is determined by the available balance in your linked bank account. You cannot spend more than what you have in your account, which can be a useful way to control expenses.

 Credit Cards: Credit cards have a predetermined credit limit set by the card issuer. This limit is usually based on your creditworthiness and financial situation. You can spend up to this limit but doing so may result in interest charges if you don't pay the balance in full.

Interest and Fees:

 Debit Cards: Debit cards typically don't involve interest charges because you're using your own money. However, some banks may charge fees for overdrafts if you spend more than your account balance.

 Credit Cards: Credit cards often have high-interest rates on unpaid balances. If you don't pay your credit card bill in full each month, you'll incur interest charges. Credit cards may also have annual fees, late payment fees, and other charges.

Building Credit:

 Debit Cards: Debit card usage doesn't directly impact your credit history. Banks typically do not report debit card activity to credit bureaus.

 Credit Cards: Responsible use of a credit card can positively impact your credit score. On-time payments and maintaining a low credit utilization ratio can help build a strong credit history.

Rewards and Perks:

 Debit Cards: Debit cards generally offer fewer rewards and perks compared to credit cards. They are primarily focused on providing access to your own funds.

 Credit Cards: Credit cards frequently offer rewards such as cashback, points, or travel miles, making them attractive for those looking to benefit from their spending.

In conclusion, while both credit and debit cards offer convenience in making payments, they serve different purposes and come with distinct features. Debit cards are essentially a means of accessing your own funds and promoting responsible spending, while credit cards provide the flexibility of borrowing money with the potential for rewards and perks but require careful financial management to avoid accumulating debt. Understanding these key variations is vital in making informed financial decisions and managing your money effectively.

[billsby23]

Chargebacks: Why and How They Can Impact The Top Line Growth Of Your Business?

Brands are becoming naive to the dynamic shift of the market. Chargebacks are one of the most influential elements of any business operation when it comes to profit standstill. Though these chargebacks are known to cater to high losses in the market, the companies may need to withhold them to ensure they stay competitive.

Here is a brief guide covering the crucial aspects of chargeback meaning and highlighting the potential areas of concern related to the concept.

What is a Chargeback: All you need to know

A Chargeback is a charge that is usually returned to a payment gateway after a customer dispute has occurred. Chargebacks can occur with both credit card and debit card payments, as well as other forms of payment infrastructure, so they’re crucial to all businesses. This means the chargeback could be a Paypal chargeback or bitcoin chargeback for example. It’s the chargeback fee that is one of the most growth limiting factors for businesses.

This has been one of the exhaustive and cost-consuming tasks that can ruin the figures of growth and opportunities for scale in the market. You may think it would be easier to not allow chargebacks to occur, however, there are specific reasons behind supporting chargebacks. Here is an example of this:

A customer has ordered a product from a specific brand, but when the product arrived it was damaged. Or, while charging the card, the merchant charged the card twice by mistake. In any of these scenarios, the businesses must release chargeback to the customer.

Irrespective of how the transaction made (credit card, debit card or banking) the customer can ask the bank to refund the chargeback.

Reasons for Chargebacks: Know before it happens

There are multiple reasons for being acquainted with PayPal chargeback or debit card chargeback. So let us go through them one by one to understand them better.

Ranging from the arrival of defective products to fraudulent transactions, various reasons explain why chargebacks are common these days. As a business provider, if you can understand the core reasons why chargebacks are becoming prominent in your business operations, you might be able to control them and keep a check on your business revenue.

Fraudulent Transactions:

A credit card charged without the owner's consent is termed a fraudulent transaction. In the case of fraud occurring, there’s a chance that the customer will reach out for a refund. It also allows the customer to arise a dispute and ask for the chargeback.

This has become one of the market's most common causes of a chargeback. If you are willing to prevent the loss caused by these chargebacks, make sure you read the next section.

How to prevent it?

1. Always use a secure point of sale instead of chip payments or contactless payments, such as Apple pay, Google pay

2. Instead of swiping cards, encourage customers to use chip and pin. This will help prevent the first line of fraud, which is currently doing ground in the market

3. Give your employees the relevant training and procedures to identify and resolve any fraud that occurs

4. Always send an email with the receipt to the customer to ensure they’re aware of the transaction. Delivery and pricing issues:

Shipping, delivery, or pricing issues can also cause chargebacks- Imagine a cardholder has ordered an item but has not received the item. In such cases, the customer is entitled to opt for a chargeback. While shipping or during delivery, the item can be misplaced or not handled carefully and reaches customers damaged.

This can upset the customer and encourage them to ask for a chargeback. It can be a tough choice for the brands as it leads to losses in terms of money, stock, and customer satisfaction rates.

In another scenario, there are possibilities that the card is being charged twice by mistake. Again, this can be a possible reason to further lead to a chargeback. When the cardholder never receives an ordered item or has been charged twice; it becomes a pure chargeback in both cases.

How to prevent it?

1. You need to keep a regular track of every order that’s out for delivery.

2. It’s essential to have access to your stock and have complete visibility of it’s management as well as payments that are processed.

3. Get enrolled in a delivery service that asks for proof of delivery or e-signatures. This gives you a clear picture of what and when to expect in case of any conflict.

4. Make sure you have good, competitive pricing.

Payment processing issues:

If credit or debit cards are not processed correctly this can lead to the business having to honor any charge backs that are requested.

How to prevent it?

1. Make sure you choose a reliable system to handle credit and debit card payments

2. It is essential to outline sales policies to ensure that the return, refund, and cancellation remain in line.

Sneak peek at how to avoid chargebacks

We have already discussed chargebacks and the reasons that make them a significant concern for all businesses, but there are ways that they can be avoided. Here are a few strategies that you should integrate into your existing system to prevent chargebacks.

1.Make sure you have a simple returns policy

At first, it might seem as though having a simple returns policy will promote returns, but in actual fact having a good returns policy makes customers more confident and comfortable buying your products and services. It can lead to both gaining new customers as well as improving the retention of your current customers.

2.Creating a customer retention policy

Customer retention policies are vital for businesses to adopt in order to promote business growth. By introducing customer surveys, tailoring customer communications, and having a good customer service experience you can dramatically improve a customer’s experience, and as a result, reduce the likelihood of chargebacks.

3.Make sure orders are delivered on time

One of the most effective ways of preventing chargebacks is to make sure that orders are delivered on time and products are not damaged during delivery.

As mentioned above, when products are damaged during delivery or not delivered at all the customer is entitled to a chargeback. To achieve a delivery service that customers are happy with you should look for any delivery partner that can offer you timely fulfilment and proof of postage.

4.Maintain strong communication with your customers

Customer communications provide you with a channel to meet, understand and resolve your customer's queries simultaneously. It also allows proactive identification of the issues and resolving them before it becomes a possible cause of chargebacks.

It is advised for businesses to stay confident and compatible with communication to build up a strong reputation with its customers. In addition, it helps decrease the ratio of chargebacks and gives the brand a new chance to explore and capture the economic growth opportunities as a whole.

Say no to frauds

If you are connected with digital payments or looking for payment reconciliations, keeping yourself updated with the latest information on fraud prevention is essential. You must be at hand to quickly identify any red flags during a customer transaction.

Most established payment solutions have built in fraud detection and management features, but it’s essential to check for these when choosing to integrate with a given payment provider.

How are chargebacks processed?

The chargeback process generally varies dependent on the payment processor that’s in use, but it often takes 60–90 days to resolve. It can be initiated by either the merchant or the cardholder's issuing bank.

If prompted by a merchant, the process is similar to a standard transaction; however, the funds are taken from a merchant's account and deposited with the cardholder's issuing bank.

If the issuing bank instead starts a chargeback, the chargeback is facilitated by communication on the issuing bank's processing network. After receiving the signal, the merchant bank authorizes the funds' transfer with the merchant's consent.

In some situations, the issuing bank may offer the cardholder a chargeback while also forwarding the claim to a collection department, such as with fraudulent charges. In this situation, a bank assumes the risk and deducts the chargeback from reserve funds while investigating and resolving the issue.

Chargeback transactions are often included with a fee by merchant acquiring banks. This fee tends to be higher than regular payment and refund processing fees, but the individual merchant account agreement will specify the fee. Fees are usually imposed with each transaction to support the processing network's expenses.

Chargebacks may also result in additional penalties and may differ from bank to bank too. This explains how damaging it could be to comply with chargebacks in your business. If you are looking for further assistance, feel free to jump for a call with our experts.

The major difference between chargebacks and refunds

Chargebacks and refunds often sound similar but they do in fact differ. For example, though both processes involve the return of funds, customers can usually request a refund from the merchant directly if their refund policy allows it.

In some cases, such as the merchant stating a product is not damaged when the customer said it was, the retailer can actually refuse the refund request. If there continues to be a disagreement, this is when the consumer would request a chargeback.

When a customer files a chargeback, the bank (not the business) is contacted to reverse the payment. The chargeback process is more time-consuming and involves more steps than a refund. In addition, chargeback fees are much higher than those linked with a refund so this should be kept in mind.

Conclusion

Chargebacks should be a concern for businesses as they can inhibit growth. If you own a business, you need to check your business's operational costs when it comes to chargebacks and refunds. Chargebacks, if they remain uncontrolled, can create the vicious cycle of making it challenging for your business to scale and expand.

Source- Chargebacks: Why and How They Can Impact The Top Line Growth Of Your Business?

[savefees]

Save Merchant Services FEES with us

Save Merchant Services FEES with us

"Accept and process credit card payments with Save Fees. We offer lower processing rates and better savings. Our all-in-one payments platform powers your business across the USA. With our secure payment gateway, you can accept payments from customers anywhere, anytime. We also provide fraud protection and chargeback"

We can help you to save fees on merchant services.

If you are a small business and need help saving money on merchant services, we can help. We can look at your needs and recommend services that may be able to save you money.We will provide you with a report on how you can reduce these fees, merchant discounts, and charges.

Save Fees Merchant Processing!

We are a merchant processing company that offers businesses of all sizes the ability to accept payments without any fees. Our mission is to make it easier and more affordable for businesses to process payments and grow their customer base.We understand that businesses need to accept payments in order to stay competitive and grow. That’s why we offer a range of payment processing solutions that are designed to meet the needs of any business. Our solutions are tailored to fit your business’s needs, whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise.

Web Payment Integration

We have web payment integration that allows to accept payments through a website. Which allows customers to pay for products or services using a variety of payment methods, such as credit cards, debit cards, or e-Wallets.

Lower Processing Rates

1We provide a variety of processing services, including card-swiping, online processing, and mobile processing., We have a wide range of processing partners, so we can find the best processing solution for your business.

Global Payments

Global payment's acceptance is the ability of a business to accept payments in multiple currencies from customers around the world. We allow our merchant partners to accept payments from customers around the world.

POS solutions

Portable point-of-sale (POS) systems are becoming increasingly popular with restaurants as they provide a number of advantages over traditional fixed systems. Portable POS systems are typically more affordable, easier to set up and take down, and more flexible in terms of where they can be used. They also offer the added benefit of being able to be used outside the restaurant, such as at catering events or pop-up shops.

The table order POS for restaurants is a  system designed for restaurants. It is a touch screen system.. The r POS  has a built-in scanner and can be connected to a receipt printer. The table order POS for restaurants is a great choice for restaurants that want to streamline their ordering process.

Our cutting edge POS solutions are designed to help you manage your business more effectively and efficiently. From point of sale systems to inventory management, our solutions are tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. We offer a variety of features and options that can be customized to fit your unique business requirements. Contact us today to learn more about our POS solutions.

We want to make it easy for you to take payments.

We have a payment platform that is simple to use, secure, and easy to accept credit or debit card.