They used to ask, "Paper or plastic," so why do they just ask "Credit?" now???

Now, y'all have heard me complain about retail clerks who always seem to think that I'm paying by credit rather than debit. (I know this because they say, "Credit?" instead of "Credit or debit?") This weekend I was in the post office (Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin) and distinctly heard the clerk ask the gentleman in front of me, "Is this a debit card?" to which he replied, "Yes." I was next in line, selected my postage and handed the clerk my card. The next thing I knew she was handing me a credit card slip to sign. I asked her why I had to sign for a debit purchase. She sputtered a bit and rather sheepishly said, "I ran it as a credit card." I reminded her that she'd asked the previous customer if he was paying by debit, but yet she merely assumed that I was paying by credit. She then gave me the lame excuse that my card didn't look like a credit card.

A couple of things to point out: 1) My card has the word "debit" printed on the lower right corner, just like any other debit card. 2) My purchase was $4.22. And the real shocker, 3) Both the clerk and the customer before me were white.

I faxed a letter of complaint to the manager on Monday. I don't give a hoot if this clerk believes that black people are so poor they have to charge $4.22 worth of postage, but I expect to be treated with the same respect as anybody else. This was the most blatant display I've seen yet, where a clerk actually presumed I was paying with credit and ran the card that way without even asking.

The manager called me that same afternoon to apologize, give me that spiel about how she was certain race didn't enter into it (yeah, right), and assured me that she would reiterate to her clerks that they are not to make any assumptions or presumptions, but are to clarify with the customer about the method of payment.

Does anyone else besides me run into this?