Use its power wisely...

[panda]

I was at the post office a couple of days ago, waiting in line behind some builders. In the same area there is an ATM machine and I saw one of the employees was standing there with a woman. I assumed there had been a fault with the machine when I walked by, but as I was standing in line I heard this:

Woman: You mean that I can put my card in here and get money?! That's amazing! Ooh! Wow! Technology now is amazing!

She went on in this vain for at least a few minutes, all the while the builders and I were struggling not to laugh and avoiding all eye contact. The second she left we all burst out laughing, but only for a few seconds because the woman brought in her friend, who was equally impressed by the ATM.

This wasn't even an elderly woman who might have had genuine problems grasping new technology. She was nicely dressed and looked about in her 40s, as was her friend. I seriously hope they were playing a joke on us that we didn't get.

[jjc927]

Seriously, how has this woman never seen an ATM before and believes it's new technology?

[KiaKat]

Did...

Did she sound sarcastic? Please tell me she was being sarcastic. Please. Or at least had an accent that made you think she was from a country where they don't have ATM's...

[Magpie]

Ok, my mother-in-law is very techno-phobic (she tries very hard, she just can't use anything computerised very well). Her big accomplishment lately was going and using the ATM by herself. However, she is maybe 5-10 years older than the ladies in the OP, and already knew all about ATMs, just never used them.

[Food Lady]

Sounds like it may have been an Improv Everywhere event.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That sounds an awful lot like Moon Unit, in that she can find ceaseless wonder in even the most mundane of things.

But Moon Unit is older than the woman in the OP.

[neetsmcgee]

I was a teller a long time ago and this very sweet elderly woman came in to tell us that our ATM wasn't working. I asked her the usual questions and she explained what she had done. She had written "5 twenties please " on a post it note and held it up to the camera on the ATM.

Her husband had recently passed and had handled all of their finances. She was very sweet and we set her up with everything she needed and taught her how to use it.

[Julesy]

I'm going to fess up, there actually was a time when I thought that if you needed money, you could just go to the bank. I thought that was what the bank was for, I didn't know you had to actually put money in an account first.

I was five years old. :P