Idiots at the ATM

I hate going to the ATM. I hate seeing people's IQs drop below room temperature as soon as they come into contact with an ATM. But I have no choice.

I went to an ATM at 1U today. There were 3 people in front of me and I saw 3 irritating habits.

The senile withdrawer
The frontmost person was a lady, around her 40's. I think she could not remember her PIN. She slowly and hesitantly pecks in her digits, machine rejects PIN, she hits cancel, takes out card, mutters something in Cantonese, rummages through her handbag for something, then reinserts her card again. She did this 3 times before hitting on an idea to call someone, presumably to ask whoever it was for the PIN. All this while nicely holding up the line. But as luck would have it, signal was bad in that corner and her call didn't connect. Whew, 'cause she looked like my aunt who could yak. But before she gave up her spot, she glared at the machine like it was an alien. 3 minutes gone.

The blur sotong withdrawer
The next one was a lovey-dovey couple, early 20's. The young lady was obviously unprepared for the transaction because when her turn came, she frantically searched her handbag and pockets for her ATM card. I guess she was too busy cosying it up with her bf to remember anything else. So she finally finds her card and after typing her PIN, she kept looking to her bf for step-by-step guidance. Both of them were hunched over the ATM screen giggling in muffled tones like they were in some kind of photo booth. After a few "What should I do"'s from the girl and a few "No, not that one" from the guy, the girl got her money. It must be her first time ever at the ATM. I really wanted to slap her. Damn, 2 minutes gone. My gf was waiting at the cinema entrance. Popcorn getting cold. Shit.

The petty withdrawer
Next was an Ah Beng. A loan shark I thought, complete with badly-dyed hair. This guy had super duper confidence. He did it like clockwork. Stick card in quickly, machine-gun in the PIN, choose the amount, take cash, count it, stick the card back into the ATM - all while talking loudly on the phone. He took RM300 out in two separate withdrawals of RM150 each. And that's not all. He then whipped out another card from his wallet and repeats the same thing. Altogether he made 4 mini-withdrawals. Why the f*** didn't he just withdraw RM600 in one shot is a mystery but that bastard chewed up 3-4 minutes.

Then its my turn. I had card in hand, knew exactly how much I wanted, am a fast typer and knew the ATM screens like back of my hand. I was out of there in like 20 seconds. My waiting time: about 12 minutes.

I just don't understand people. Why can't they remember their blardy PINs? Why do they behave like they never touched an ATM in their lives? Why do they withdraw many times in small amounts when they could have withdrawn in one easy sum? Why do they hold up the line agonizing over how much to withdraw when they should have decided while waiting in line? Why do they take so damn long just to withdraw a hundred friggin' dollars?

Did I say I hate going to the ATM?