Automatic Teller Machines. Any Time Money. These are what these horribly useful machines are called otherwise. People go there and put in small plastic cards in exchange for cold hard cash. Amazing, wasn’t it ten years ago? Well, these form a part of everyone’s daily life nowadays. Well, almost everyone’s. Not me(sigh).
ATMs seem to have an innate hatred towards this poor soul whenever i try to cross the path of an otherwise harmless square box in a hole. Whenever i come near them though, they tend to have a life of their own.
Every time i go to the one near where i live, it starts not recognizing the standard touch commands. I would stand in line watching person after person taking out money until finally, its my turn too(yippee!). And then, after an entire hour, the ATM simply stops working. Or accepting the fact that touching it is supposed to make it do stuff. Or it runs out money(so MANY times!).
And then there was this time in college when there was a power outtage right when i pressed “withdraw”. It ended up gobbling up my money and not even giving me a receipt for it. And the manager at the bank told me that there was ntohing he could do to help me, other than wait until the money comes back on its own(!). Thankfully though, i got my money back after a day or so(phew!).
But the real reason i am writing this right now is because one of the funniest things happened to me in an ATM today. The one thing i have noticed about people everywhere is their lack of knowledge about how queues work. They seem to think that the real reason queues are kept is for the person in a passing aeroplane to be happy seeing all of them standing in one neat line(!).
I went to this ATM where i see people spilling in and out of the ATM cubicle. The door was kept open and people were just milling around. There was this lady with a kid around three years old in front of me. The kid had some chocolate in hand and was making the noises that only kids can make, apparently. After a while though, it seemed like he was struggling with something.
And then, right in front of everyone, in the overflowing queue, right in the ATM cubicle, he takes a liking to pee(sorry, no other word!). He looks around walks a few steps, does a bit more of the same, and then walks off like nothing has happened. By this time though, his mom has seen this, and she scolds him off and stands in queue as if nothing has happened(!).
The ones behind me in the queue start looking at each other and we are at a loss on what to do. Never did anyone teach us etiquette for this kind of a situation and we all agree silently to avoid awkwardness by ignoring the situation. And now, it is the turn of the lady. She spends around five minutes trying to figure out which way the card goes in, while gallant on-lookers help her and i stand non-chalantly.
She then proceeds to take five minutes figuring out how the touch screen works (more gallant on-lookers inside the cubicle). More time is spent in withdrawing money and making sure that the transactions are processed without any of the helpful on-lookers stealing any money(!). Then, a brisk walk with the kid following her, and she leaves me wondering when my turn would come to do more on-looker-provoking activity.