I'm not looking at your pin number

When you buy something in a shop and put your pin number in using chip and pin have you ever noticed how unneccesarily theatrically the assistants look away to demonstrate that they're not looking at your pin.

The inference being, presumably that they're not thieves.

And then there's this kind of 'do you think that I think that you're thinking about stealing my pin number, cloning my card, stealing my identity then burgling my Gran?'

"Is that what you think I think you're thinking about?"

Which is odd because when I'm buying petrol or something, the idea that someone's not a thief is kind of my first instinct really, that's my starting point.

Not a thief.

That's why they've got a job, right. I think if you were a thief and you took a job you'd be a pretty low-grade thief.

I'm sure they do exist though, people that have bar jobs and take money from tills but maybe that's different, the kind of thief we're talking about here is someone who defrauds you, takes your card and gets money out in your name.

I've always thought it's kind of strange though the theatrical thing.

Sometimes I just take an uncomfortably long amount of time to put my digits in just to see if, like a child watching something scary on tv and covering/uncovering their hand, whether they're going to sneak a peek to see if I've finished.

Of course, this game always ends up with me shooting them a raised eyebrow glance as if to say

"Are you looking at me putting my pin number in?"
"Are you thinking of cloning my credit card and stealing my life's savings"
"Are you?"

Which always then elicits an even more theatrical look away as if there's no possible way, on heaven's earth that they could possibly, in any way, ever, be looking for for your pin number.

Which I never thought they were anyways.

But when someone's so overtly not looking at your pin.

You've got to wonder don't you/

Are they trying to steal my pin number, clone m,y card, steal my identity and burgle my Gran?

Makes you wonder doesn't it.

Makes you wonder.