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I Pity The Fool (Me)

On the list of stupid things I’ve done, this is one. But sadly it is probably doesn’t even rank in the top ten. I was walking to lunch with the guys from work and stopped to use an ATM (because Australia and EFTPOS…) anywho, I whacked in my card, PIN and got to the point of selecting the amount of money to withdraw when my phone rang. I knew it would be my boss as he’d been out of the office and was planning on meeting us for lunch, so I grabbed at my phone and started walking / talking (but not chewing gum), and trying to give directions to a restaurant that I’d only been given vague directions to myself. Some few minutes later I was wondering where my $60 was. Card yes! Cash NO!

ATM (user) Failure.

Wandered back retracing my steps (illogically) and withdrew my money. At this point I wasn’t convinced I’d actually completed the transaction, I just couldn’t figure out if I was that stupid. I knew I still had my card, but had I really withdrawn the cash? Was I mental? If so, exactly how mental?

The answer appears to be “mental enough” and the “time before ATM swallows cash of idiot who didn’t take cash” appears to be too long for this sucker.

PS. Fuck you Commonwealth Bank of Australia! When I went back to the machine and got my new set of shiny $60 I, for the hell of it, asked for a transaction listing. What I was given wasn’t remotely up to date (the most recent transaction was a couple of days old) and just now, while I’m checking to make sure that yes, I did lose my $60, I see that you charged me 50c for the privilege of having a shitty inaccurate statement? Boo to you.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Oversized Weapons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “I Pity The Fool (Me)”

  1. JamesT Says:
    October 28th, 2009 at 12:42 am

    You should discover the wonders of the French banking system. It is truly remarkable. If you transfer money by internet from one of your own accounts to another of your own accounts (at the same bank, same branch, mind you), it can take days to be updated on your internet account. To do an online transfer to someone else’s account, you have to request the bank to add the account number, then wait for a code which is sent to your home by post! This can take upward of a week.

  2. Luther Says:
    October 28th, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    Well this may all be true. But just because the French (and I’m sure many others) suck at banking doesn’t mean the locals are excused. I wonder what the Swiss are up to these days (aside from being sued by the Yankees).