The ATM hogger

You never know where you ‘ll find inspiration for the next post, it can be anywhere. I was short on cash today so I had to stop by the ATM, there was someone already in so I had to wait outside till that person was done. The waiting never seemed to end, that’s when it struck me. I had just discovered  this new breed of people whom I like to call  – The ATM hoggers. They are relatively easy to spot.  They are your typical middle aged to elderly people. You know you’re standing behind one when they take more than 5 minutes to complete their transaction. You can spot them even before they enter. They will be the ones digging through their purses/wallets/pockets to find the right ATM card. If you’re lucky, you can run and get to the machine before them. I must warn you, it’s a race against time and not everyone makes it. Once in, they have to ponder for at least a minute to remember the PIN code. You’d think it would be faster once they got the pin code, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Thanks to their cautiousness or inexperience in using ATM machines, they have to read EVERY word that’s printed on screen and get the “what does this button do?” expression before pushing any button. Now the next step you or me will take is enter the amount and withdraw the cash, but not these people. They need to check their available balance first. Put on their glasses, check the receipt. Then they finally get to the part where they withdraw the money and you are struck with the ray of hope that they are done. But you’re wrong again. How can they leave the machine without counting the cash first? Lets not forget the fact that it’s a machine and it almost always gives the correct amount , But what would you do if it gave you the wrong sum of money? Assuming the wrong sum is lesser than what you entered, what can you do? Yell at it? Unplug it? Kick it in the groin? There’s no point in counting your cash inside. Anyway, by now you must have been waiting outside for around 4-5 minutes, so what difference does a few more minutes make? They still need some more time to dig into their handbags/wallets/pockets to find the perfect place to keep their carefully counted sum of money and then finally they are out after struggling for a few seconds to find the door release switch. Most of them are conscious about the amount of time they took and try and avoid eye contact while leaving, however some of them are courteous enough to apologize. There are even those that plan the time they need in advance and ask you to go in before them, but they are a minority.