My little Pony; Friendship is Magic 2.0

@desparil

It's from my bank. We call it "EC Card", the EC stands for electronic cash.

@El_Gato
Mine is also from my bank. It has my bank's name, colors, and logo on it. It just also has a MasterCard logo on it, because my bank has a deal with MasterCard to allow its debit cards to be used anywhere that accepts MasterCards.

@desparil

My card looks pretty much like this one, sans the Maestro-logo.

Original anzeigen (0,7 MB)

@El_Gato
This is what mine looks like

@desparil

Does it have a magnetic stripe on the rear?

@El_Gato
Yeah

@desparil

Pretty useless nowadays... Oh, and I can verify my age with that card at cigarette vending machines.

@El_Gato
Cigarette vending machines? That's different. Both the fact that they have them at all, and that they accept cards. Most vending machines here are cash-only, though I've started to see a few that accept cards. Really, though, vending machines are mostly limited to soda and snacks in the US, plus the occasional Red Box (DVD rentals) or lottery ticket machine.

@desparil

I said verifying my age. You still pay it in cash. It won't sell you cigarettes without age verification.

@El_Gato
Ah, okay. Well here you can't verify age with a bank or credit card either. The lottery machines I mentioned are cash-only, but the only ID they'll take is a driver's license or a state-issued non-driver ID. In any case, I've never seen cigarettes sold at a vending machine, they're always behind the counter and/or inside a locked case.

@desparil

Well, these vending machines make it pretty easy for minors to buy cigarettes anyway. All they need to do is to sneak the bank card, drivers licence or ID outta their mom's or dad's purse and screw the vending machine with it.

@El_Gato
Yeah, that's probably exactly why they're not allowed here.

@desparil

A couple of years ago you didn't even need age verification and people were allowed to drink and smoke at the age of 16. They raised the drinking and smoking age up to 18 though.

@desparil

Yes, I know. Drinking at the age of 18 in the US? Unthinkable.

@El_Gato
Psshhh, everyone does it anyway

@desparil

Of course. It's not different here, but in the US adults make such a big deal over underage drinking. Ridiculous, if you ask me. As if they've never been young.

@El_Gato
Well, remember that car ownership here is the highest in the world, and there is a correlation between being young and being stupid enough to drive drunk.

@desparil

That accounts for smoking as well. I once saw some documentation on TV where cops were looking out for smoking minors, then picking them up and return them home. But that's not all. They were forced to attend to some program where they are told about the dangers of smoking. Unthinkable in Germany.

@El_Gato
Yeah they love mandatory programs like that in the US. For drunk driving, pretty much every first-time offender gets sentenced to Alcoholics Anonymous or something similar. Plus a suspended driver's license, of course.

@desparil

Americans make too big of a deal out of alcohol, smoking and drugs. Just look at the state of Washington and Colorado, where cannabis is legal. I don't see those two states go downhill, and the Netherlands are still a very nice place.