PGMT reminds me
of an incident from a few years back.

I was on my way out of town and needed to get some cash, so I stopped by an ATM that was on the way. The ATM is built into the front wall of a bank, so you have to park your car and walk up to it.

As it was very early on a Saturday morning, I was a bit surprised to see two girls ahead of me. They were probably in their late teens, cute, fashionably dressed and chattering away as they walked together to the machine. I did the polite thing and waited at a respectful distance of ten or fifteen feet for them to finish their transactions so that I could get my cash.

Only thing is, they weren't really paying much attention to what they were doing, and were utterly absorbed in their conversation about the show they were going to see that night, what they were going to wear, who was going to be there, how Tony owed her some money so she was going to make him buy her a shirt, how the last time she'd seen Paige she was soooo drunk and hanging all over Kevin... and all the while I waited, my patience growing thinner by the second.

I had not had breakfast yet, but I had had a couple of cups of coffee. I felt pressure building in my intestines, partly due to the Belgian beer I'd had the night before, and knew what was coming. So I casually maneuvered myself upwind of the chattering girls and let out a long silent exhalation from the deepest demon-infested sulfurous regions of hell, the sort that burns slightly as it goes and makes you feel like a deflating balloon.

A moment later they stopped in mid sentence and frantically stabbed at the buttons on the machine and wordlessly left as fast as they could, their pert behinds jiggling in their haste, and at last I was free to use the machine.

Why waste words when a good crop dusting will suffice?
( Wanderer, Thu 10 Feb 2011, 18:58, 7 replies)

Slightly curious...
"The ATM is built into the front wall of a bank, so you have to park your car and walk up to it."

Is that not normal?

Did give me the great idea of a drive through cash machine, unless the lazy merkins have already done that...
(cronus89, Thu 10 Feb 2011, 19:03, closed)

Some banks have drive thru machines.
In fact, most of them do these days. This particular one happens to be at a small branch, so they left the old style one in the building, but most have them as an extra lane at the drive thru area.

It makes sense, as it eliminates the need for additional parking for people wanting to use the ATM. You're going to wait in line anyway, so why have to accommodate more cars in the parking lot?
( Wanderer, Thu 10 Feb 2011, 19:09, closed)

woah...
...we need to get them in the UK!
(cronus89, Thu 10 Feb 2011, 21:29, closed)

we do
and in australia they have drive through off licences - that is genius
(little lord muthafuckin fauntleroy, Fri 11 Feb 2011, 12:06, closed)

In
yankland, I could find little else but drive through ones.

Makes you wonder why they still had braille on the buttons though.
(dchurch bah, Thu 10 Feb 2011, 19:34, closed)

I've often wondered that as well.
Then I realized that the answer is that they use standardized parts for the ATMs, so they can put the same machine in the wall of a building or in a drive thru.

It's like the people I see who have dreamcatchers hanging from their rearview mirrors in their cars- you hope that they're not sleeping as they drive.
( Wanderer, Thu 10 Feb 2011, 20:56, closed)

Haaaa!
i'd never thought of that before.
Hippy-LOLs
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Thu 10 Feb 2011, 21:09, closed)