Handwritten

In my opinion, some people just deserve to be ripped off.

Picture the scene – two cashpoint machines (ATMs to the Americans) side by side, in the wall of a bank. On one, a handwritten notice saying “This machine is out of order. Please use the other one.“. And the other machine has a queue of about six people using it, complaining that this one’s a bit dodgy too.

Me? Maybe I’m paranoid. But there’s no fucking way on earth, even if it were the only cashpoint in town, that I would use that machine. And it’s for the following reasons.

1. It’s outside a bank, thus making people feel psychologically more secure. (“Oh, no-one would mess with this machine, it’s right outside the bank”)
2. The notice is hand-written, you pillocks. Surely the bank would have either
   1. some pre-prepared properly printed notices
      or
   2. just turned the damn thing off, and let it display the ‘out of order’ notice
3. The second machine is obviously slow, as there’s a queue
4. People are audibly complaining that the second machine isn’t giving out money either

To me that’s a whole list of reasons that would generally add up to “this machine has been tampered with, and is currently recording your card details, and repeated attempts to type in your PIN” and as a result I just wouldn’t use it.

And let’s bear in mind, I’m talking about Cambridge. It’s not like there aren’t (quick mental tally) at least six other cash points within three minutes walk.

Like I said, some people just deserve to lose their money.