John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Talking ATMs

Is it me or do ATM’s seem more talkative than they used to be?

It used to be you’d slide in your card and enter the amount you wanted and out the money would come.

Nowadays, though, ATM’s seem emotionally needy and ask endless and unnecessary questions–about my balance, my different accounts, service charges, and my judgement (“are you sure you want this amount?”) and on and on.

It’s as if they are lonely and just want some sort of interaction with anybody or anything.

I am waiting for them to ask me if I saw the game Thursday or ask me where I am headed next– or maybe try to guess what the money is for. “Is it bigger than a bread basket? If so, press 1”

I feel sorry for them but I just don’t have time to nurture these machines.

Maybe someone can let them have one day off a.week to socialize with other ATM’s so they can get their emotional needs met–and then when they deal with me just give me my money instead of playing 20 Questions.