I'll start at the beginning, which, in this case, is me taking the day off from work. In the morning, the HVAC guys came over to recharge the freon in the AC unit. It seems that all the freon they put in there last summer, leaked out over the winter. Don't be surprised if sometime soon you see pictures of an air conditioning replacement project.
But, I digress. After lunch, I decided to go to the movies. By the time I left the house, I had just enough time to stop at the ATM and still get to the movie on time. Off to the bank I went, only to find that someone was already using the ATM. The setup is such that when you walk into the bank, you step into the ATM area. You have to go through another set of doors to get to the tellers and other bank offices. So, I waited in the ATM area while the woman finished.
Of course, since I was in a hurry, she had a problem. She noticed me waiting, and apologized for the delay. Used the wrong card, she said. Whatever, just get finished, OK? (I did not actually say that, BTW).
As I'm waiting for her to use the correct card, an older woman comes walking out of the actual bank area, and she was walking kind of slowly. I thought I would do the nice thing, so I stepped over to the outer door and held it open for her. But, she didn't go out! Seems she came out of the bank because she wanted to use the ATM! When I told her that's what I was waiting for, she asked if she could go ahead of me because her friend was waiting in the parking lot yada yada yada. By this time, the other woman was finished, so I said OK. Fine. Whatever. (I did not actually say that, either.)
The old lady goes over to the ATM, puts in the card, and proceeds to give a running dialogue of the instructions on the screen and just about every button she's pushing in response. "What language? English. Which account? Credit." Etc. Etc. Good Lord! Consequently, when her transaction got rejected, I heard her say something like, "Oh, no! What did I do wrong?" You have got to be kidding me!
I figured I'd better step in, otherwise, I would be late for the movie. I offered to help and went over to the ATM with her, listening again as she read each instruction on the screen and making sure she hit the right buttons. Still, rejected again. Guess what she said? "Maybe I'm using the wrong card."
At that point, I basically said, "Let me use the ATM while you figure out what the hell you're doing." (not in those exact words, BTW) It took about one minute to complete my transaction, and that's only because there's a delay while the receipt prints out and your card is returned.
As I left the bank, another woman had gotten in line (WTF? It's 2:20 on a Wednesday! What's the rush for the ATM?) and I think maybe she had taken over trying to help the older woman. Good luck with that.
BTW, I did make it to the movie. The previews had started, but I had about five minutes to spare before the movie started. "1408" with John Cusack. I give it a thumbs up!