That one Tuesday when my payment terminal failed during a lunch rush

Honestly, last month I had the worst day at my coffee cart in Portland. It was a Tuesday around 11:30 AM, line of like 12 people, and my Square terminal just froze mid-transaction. I could still take cash but hardly anyone carries it anymore. I ended up having to write down orders on a napkin and run back to my apartment to use my laptop to process payments after everyone left. Took me over an hour to catch up and I lost at least $80 in sales from people who just walked off. Has anyone else dealt with a terminal crash during peak hours and found a solid backup plan?

2 comments

2 Comments

sethanderson13d ago

Oh man, my friend runs a food truck and his tablet died right in the middle of a lunch rush last summer. He had to dig out an old paper receipt book and scribble everything by hand while people just stared at him. Took him forever to sort out the mess and he still had to refund a couple people who never got their orders right.

reese_bell13d agoMost Upvoted

I mean, "had to refund a couple people" doesn't sound like the end of the world to me. Yeah, it's annoying when tech fails, but your friend still got through it, didn't he? People act like a 30-minute hiccup ruins their whole business, but most customers are pretty chill if you just explain what's happening. Did anyone actually walk away mad or just a little impatient?