scottyallen.com

ATMs are awesome.  Not only do they make money out of thin air, but they can make thin air out of a plastic card, at the most opportune moment.

Let’s say, hypothetically, that when I arrived in Bangkok Airport last night, that I decided to get some cash from an ATM.  And, in this hypothetical story, I was so exhausted from 20 hours on planes that I wasn’t really paying attention, and got distracted by the fact that it gave me really large bills.  And so, hypothetically, I forgot to grab my card.

Which, in this hypothetical story, I realized in a panic 5 minutes later, an escalator and a security barrier away.

So, when I left my bag with Katelyn, and hopped a security fence, I wasn’t overly optimistic that my card would still be there.  And sure enough, it wasn’t, and that hypothetically really sucked.  And I was hypothetically really bummed, having my card stolen after being in the country less than an hour.

Figuring I had nothing to lose, I told the guy at the adjoining money changing booth what had happened, and he told me to wait 5 minutes, that someone would come.  When he got there, he had a key and a book.

I hypothetically tried to explain that the machine didn’t eat my card, but that hypothetically someone had stolen it because I had forgotten it.  He smiled, ignored me, and opened up the machine with his key.

This is the part in which I tell you about why ATM’s are awesome.  Apparently, if you don’t remove your card from the slot after getting your cash, they eat your card.  And they stick it in a little bin of eaten cards.  Which, hypothetically, if you have a key that opens a machine, you can get cards out of.

Whoever designed this feature is awesome.  And the guy with the key must have the best job ever - he just walks around all day with a key and performs magic tricks that save people’s trips. How awesome is that?

A couple initial photos are up on Picasa.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website