He was at the local Stop and Shop, getting ready to pay for the order while mom got some coffee. Cashier scans his card and informs him that the name which came up is (my brother's), so it's not his card. Dad is puzzled, explains that's not right, and that my mom uses it all the time. (And so has he). He gives her an old card - nope, no good.
Here's where it gets weird. The cashier tells Dad she's confiscating his card because he's clearly not the owner of it. Yep, that's right. It's obviously not his, so she's going to take it back from him and keep it. (I know that as far as my Dad's thinking goes, he felt she was accusing him of theft/fraud).
Dad leaves everything, gets my mom, and says they're leaving NOW. Mom calms him down and goes to the customer service. Clerk there is baffled, scans card. Not only does my brother's name not come up, but the card's invalid for a weird reason having to do with check cashing and never being activated - it was a new style use or something that made it finally get picked up on that there was an error. Click click beep card's all set now.
Annnnd no, there was no way or reason or rule that clerk should ever have done that, especially in as rude a tone as she apparently managed. Poor customer service person was horrified.
Power trip, much?
EDIT: From the comments, people seem to think it's the credit card. It was the store rewards card - you know, the little keytag stop and shop card? The one that shouldn't even matter unless it's for a check?