I just saw the ATM thing today. Thank Og there were 2 machines, so 4 of us could use the second one while the lady who had 2 people with her used the other one. She was there when I got there, while 3 people used the second machine ahead of me, and she with her entourage was still there when I left.
Sidewalk manners is another peeve. Why is it so difficult for people to walk in a straight line, or at least in a manner predictable enough for me to get past them without bumping into them? First today was a woman with an overloaded grocery cart - I think it was full of laundry. She was talking on the phone and trying to push/steer it with one hand. All over the place. I walked behind her for a minute, trying to be polite and wait for her to get to one side or the other, but it never happened. She just wandered around the middle. Finally I just got close and said “excuse me” and scared the crap out of her because she had no idea someone was right behind her. I thought to myself it’s too bad I’m not a pickpocket because I’m sure I could have gotten her wallet out of her purse without her noticing!
Meh. My not-quite-eight-year-old likes to scan. I’ll generally let him do it as long as there is another self-scan terminal that isn’t being used. Besides, how else is he supposed to learn the futility of a soul-crushing service-economy job?
I am on the other side of this - stopping what I am doing is an attempt (that always fails miserably) to make the other person aware that they are keeping me from doing stuff that they often asked me to do by unneccessary talk.
Slow down folks, you aren’t half as important at you think you are. If you were you would be be able to hire people to do all these mundane tasks that make you wait with the rest of us plebs. Your huffing and puffing with your impatience only makes it more difficult for those pf is that understand that sometimes one must wait.
I’ll always check my balance before visiting an ATM if I am not certain.
What I find amusing is those folk who swear at an ATM when it knocks them back. You know they get a sign or receipt and then it starts “WHAT!? BULLSHIT!!!”. I am certain they think there is a small person in the ATM that can hear them and dispense notes.
Yes! And I think the user interface designers are frustrated ex-1980’s video game programmers. Using some ATM’s is like playing Dragon’s Lair. Press the wrong button? No cash for you, go back to the start! Why do they all need different designs? Why are the newer ones just as confusing as the old ones? Can we not have a sensible, easy to use ATM design? I blame Diebold.
What I am saying is that I am the guy holding you all up.
The time to stop and smell the roses or even try to remember your full name is when you are at home enjoying dinner with family. Using an automated device in public is not. There are good ways and bad ways to do it. An ATM isn’t much harder than using a regular phone let alone a cell phone.
The main complaint that most people have is that some people, especially older ones, don’t seem to be able to think 5 seconds into the future even for things that they have probably done many times before. It is truly a strange a thing and it could apply to ATM’s, airport check-in lines, or supermarket checkout lines. There is no excuse for it other than being stubborn and contrary.
Your protest seems to indicate open authority to hold as many people as you choose hostage for as long as you want just because you have free time and don’t care. 2010 doesn’t work that way baby and it hasn’t worked that way for a couple of decades now. Some people have kids to pick up on a tight deadline or work to get to that is timed down to the minute. Let us know how you feel about such a thing when a nurse won’t bring your meds on time in the nursing home.
Simple and courteous efficiency is always a virtue over the alternative.
Well, I disagree entirely in blaming “especially older people”. How many times do you wait on a bus because young women on their way to work do not get their purse out before they get on the bus? I have never noticed elder people holding up the works at ATM’s- a lot (from my observations only ) don’t even use them.
Well, you do have a point there. Most of these complaints center around older people and young women. Some of these young young are going to make it to old age and then society will probably just come to a gridlock one day. I have personally tried to escort groups of them down city streets and it can barely be done. The pace slows as the conversation grows and you finally just find yourself standing on a random street-corner waiting for someone to make a move but no one does. Maybe it is their inner prostitute or something but I swear a whole group of them would have frozen to death overnight instead of ever making it to the final destination if I didn’t say something on at least two occasions.
I’m probably being a bit hasty with Shagnasty there as his idea of elderly people may be a different age group to mine. I certainly have no difficulty with an ATM (apart from never having enough money in one) and I am sure that I would be elderly to a lot of the members.
From personal experience those who hold up the works can come from any demographic and are usually those who don’t plan ahead- or just don’t think.
Then there was the time when the 2 tourists with wheeled luggage got off the escalator and stopped! There was no room for anyone else to get off. :eek:
Me: GetTheHellOuttaTheWay!!!
Him: WhoDoYouThinkYouAre?!?
Me: No one else can get off with you standing there!! Someone’s gonna get hurt!!!
They moved. Thank Og it doesn’t happen too much (around me).
To Shagnasty (and any others to whom this applies) I will repeat myself, you are not half as important as you think you are. Slow down, you will enjoy life more.
It’s worth bearing in mind that banks- at least in this country- really don’t want you going into the branches for any reason besides depositing money or taking out loans. So they’ve put most of their services in ATMs and online, and lots of people are skeptical or mistrustful of online banking.
Which means that there are valid reasons for people of any demographic to spend ages at the ATM doing routine banking stuff because… well, that’s the most convenient way for most people to transfer money between accounts etc without using the internet.
The last time that happened to me in an airport, I followed the advice of somebody on the SDMB and just ran smack into them at full speed. It was AWESOME. “Sorry!”
ETA - look, honey. The part of my life I want to enjoy is not the part where I wait in line for the ATM. I want to enjoy the good stuff that’s waiting on me whenever you get done with your fucking merger and acquisition.
I’m not claiming “I’M THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE AND YOU MUST ALL GET OUT OF MY WAY!”, I’m just saying that “Slowing down” doesn’t automatically mean you’ll “enjoy life more”.
Lots of people (including my aunt) like to live busy, fast-paced lives. And even if individuals might want to slow down and take it easy, they’re liable to find that all the people that didn’t have beaten them to whatever they were going to do, and as such they’ve missed out and are subsequently less happy than if they’d been faster on the draw, so to speak.
