Cranky man at Bank

[Whyme]

The closest branch of my bank is inside a grocery store. The way it's setup is the bank is inside a little nook, but the ATM is outside the nook inside the grocery store. Due to the nook and the tellers facing away from the ATM protected by bulletproof glass, there is no way the tellers can see the ATM.

It was about ten minutes before the bank opened and I was first in line just waiting. They rope off the nook so you have to stand in the grocery store part and I could see the store and the ATM. I was playing games on my cell phone but got bored and started looking around. I see a man in his fifties (or so) staring at the ATM. I wondered if he knew how to use it so I kept an eye on him. After a minute or two he gave an agitated sigh and started shifting from one foot to the other. After another minute he sighed louder and started looking around but not moving from ATM. He looked at me but didn't say anything. He continues to give angrier, louder sighs and shifts to and fro on his feet even more.

The tellers are at their stations fiddling with their drawers and computers preparing to open. I contemplate telling them about ATM guy but at this point I don't know if he's having a problem or just generally hates ATMs and likes to stare angrily at them.

Suddenly he stomps over to the rope and starts yelling at the tellers "The ATM won't give me my card back!". There's a silent pause as the tellers, startled out of their opening procedures, are trying to switch gears from what they were doing to what the man was saying. Well, apparently the fact that the tellers didn't jump up and throw themselves threw the bulletproof glass to help this man infuriated him even more. "What are you going to do about? It won't give my card back! Are you going to do something?". He ranted a little bit more about what exactly they are going to do until one of them said "We need to call someone..." he cuts her off and starts yelling about call whoever you need to call, this is ridiculous, why can't they do their jobs, etc. Teller tries to talk with "Sir...sir...sir..." and explain what they need to do. He just gets louder and I was expecting security any second. As he's yelling "I want my card right now, I don't care what you have to do. Maybe you can do more than just sit there and tickle your keyboard!" I hear the ATM beep. I guess he heard it as well because after "keyboard!" he went back to the ATM. His card had come out. He yanked it and immediately left. I let the tellers know he got his card back. They looked amused. He couldn't be bothered to even let them know he got the card back.

They were very nice to me and actually the teller I went to offered to look up some information for me that I didn't even ask her to but was grateful she did.

[GolfCart34]

We don't just jump to go retrieve cards that get sucked into the ATM for security reasons (since our ATM is completely outside of the branch and we have no clue if people are going to try and rob the ATM). We balance the ATM once a day, usually by 8:45 in the morning, and there are two people who go out to do this. This is the only time when we get the sucked in cards. It's also very hard to find two people who are not busy at my branch to go open the ATM which is why we tell people that they can come back at 9:00 in the morning the next day to retrieve their card. Oh, did I mention the paperwork we have to fill out with sucked in cards? Yeah, it's not just a five minute process.

That guy just needs a little patience. The ATM won't just take your card unless there is a reason for it (i.e. typing in your PIN too many times, leaving your card sitting there for too long, etc.).

[BookstoreEscapee]

This is why I like the ATMs that don't actually hold onto your card. Usually I go to Wawa when I need cash (their ATMs are free), and they are "push in, pull out" readers, so there is no chance of losing or forgetting your card in the machine.

[Jack7957]

I went to use an ATM one time and when I went to insert my card, there was one already in there, and it popped out. I did not notice if the screen was still in transaction mode or not. What I ended up doing, since it was in a mall, was to take it to the security office and let them know which one I found it in. What I wished I had done, was call the customer service number on the back of the card, let them know I found it so they could contact the owner and let them know I was leaving it at security.

[angelicafire]

When I worked at BoA, if you didn't take your card out of the ATM in time, it would suck it back in and "eat" it. At least that's what they told us to tell customers.

[Bank Lady]

Back when we used to have dead periods at my branch, we would occasionally hear the ATM beeping through the door (it's in our entryway). I've sprinted to the machine before purely out of boredom. Of course it also keeps non-customers from getting upset because we won't give them their card back if it was sucked up by the machine.