# I pit the people at drive-up ATMs who... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 7, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714 "2014-02-07T01:43:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/41 "2014-02-07T21:47:47Z")
I can smell the roses just fine. I’m waiting behind you in line at the grocery store so long eventually the flower odor drifts over from the produce section… ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/42 "2014-02-07T22:01:51Z")
I will vote for firing into the guys trunk, this should fix most of your problems. But then I am from Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Dumpster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Desert\_Dumpster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Dumpster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/43 "2014-02-07T22:02:06Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > They’re just seconds and minutes, but they add up and I resent them being stolen by oblivious idiots. This. People like Wodewick assume that taking a small amount of someone’s time away from them is no big deal. Even if it would only take a second to move out of the way. Then he says (multiple times) that if those seconds and minutes matter so much to us, we’re deficient in our time planning. (What a jerkface!) A good analogy would be that we shouldn’t mind being pickpocketed if all we lose are coins. If we care about losing a couple of dollars over the course of the day, well, we’re just cheap, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/44 "2014-02-07T22:11:14Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Yeah, I don’t know about you guys, but at the banks where I live, 10 feet past the ATM merges you immediately into the fast lane of the interstate. Yeah, no, the opposite. I’d be shocked if anyone pulled up behind me when I was at the ATM. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/45 "2014-02-07T22:37:38Z")
I was in the grocery store the afternoon of Super Bowl Sunday, picking up a few last minute snacks. The place was packed, long lines at every register. The guy in front of me in line forgot to grab a package of spaghetti, so made the entire line wait as he went back to the pasta aisle to get it. Everyone was surprisingly patient, in a good mood, chatting to each other. He left and I was able to make my purchases. Walking out to my car, I noticed him in his car…laying on his horn because he was trying to back out of his space and was being temporarily blocked in by the people waiting in line to pull out of the lot. He apparently lost the “stop and smell the roses” attitude when it was his turn to wait. ---
**Author:** ![withaK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e7dd6/32.png) [@withaK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/withaK)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/46 "2014-02-07T22:51:22Z")
> [@C3](#): > > I was in the grocery store the afternoon of Super Bowl Sunday, picking up a few last minute snacks. The place was packed, long lines at every register. The guy in front of me in line forgot to grab a package of spaghetti, so made the entire line wait as he went back to the pasta aisle to get it. Everyone was surprisingly patient, in a good mood, chatting to each other. He left and I was able to make my purchases. Walking out to my car, I noticed him in his car…laying on his horn because he was trying to back out of his space and was being temporarily blocked in by the people waiting in line to pull out of the lot. > > He apparently lost the “stop and smell the roses” attitude when it was his turn to wait. He never had a “stop and smell the roses” attitude, he was in a hurry the entire time he was at the store. That’s the reason he made the entire line wait while he went to get the pasta. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/47 "2014-02-07T23:28:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Every chance I get. > As an incidental, though, I find I rarely swipe my cards. Rather, my cards have chip technology (I understand this is relatively uncommon in the U.S.) so I insert them into the readers and enter a PIN. The magnetic strip (or the reader) has failed often enough that I don’t even bother trying to swipe any more. > > Of course, I have absentmindedly walked away without my card on at least one occasion, so it’s a trade-off. I must say that I am liking the new tap and go feature on the debit cards. No muss , no fuss, a quick tap and I am gone. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/48 "2014-02-08T01:09:12Z")
I’m with you, OP! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/49 "2014-02-08T02:09:30Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > You can swipe your card while the groceries are still being scanned? 😕 Not where I shop. I’ve tried it. I still have to re-swipe. And I have wasted so much of my life looking for the credit card I just shoved in some pocket, so I could get out of the way of some jerk who was in a hurry … ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/50 "2014-02-08T05:34:45Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > People need to put their money, card, and receipt away, which can take a few seconds, and can necessitate stuff like getting your wallet out, and it can be a bit tricky when you are in the driver’s seat of a car trying to handle multiple different valuable objects with no convenient flat surface to put things on. Trying to hurry too much can make you fumble and drop things, too. If you care about “common decency” you need to cool you jets and wait. I don’t believe I have ever owned a car without some place to lay those things down while I rolled my car forward. Or, you know, I can just hold onto them with one hand and steer with the other. Multi-tasking! > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Wow. Just, I can’t begin to say how sad these last posts make me. Do you have no feelings other than “Me, Me, Get Out Of My Way!”? Grab a breath and smell the roses, for shit’s sake. > > There is a certain mindset illustrated by these posts that I just hate. Everybody else is in the way. Everybody else is too stupid to live. Everybody else just doesn’t get it. Look at me, I’m so smart, but everyone else is stupid. > > Are you completely unable to put yourself in another person’s position, without deciding that they are stupid and slow? > > Maybe one day someone will tell you to get the hell out of their way, and you will gain some small glimmer of understanding of how completely self-absorbed you are. > Roddy Are you completely unable to put yourself in another person’s position, the person who is trying to get shit done during their lunch hour or before an appt or whatever? Maybe then you could gain some small glimmer of understanding of how completely self-absorbed people are when they write a novel in the checkout lane. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/51 "2014-02-08T06:28:54Z")
And not even a GOOD novel, just some trashy Ludlummish airport fare. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/52 "2014-02-08T11:08:52Z")
I really think there are two separate things here: one, taking 15 seconds to count your cash, fold it, and slip card, slip, and cash into your wallet, and two, the people who actually do other shit, like finish their phone call, put on make-up, fiddle with the radio. It’s totally normal and reasonable to be irritated if someone is visibly on the phone and still sitting there a minute after their transaction is complete. But if all it takes is a mere 15 seconds to shoot your blood pressure through the roof, you need a sense of perspective. Fifteen seconds isn’t stealing away anyone’s lunch break or making anyone late for a doctor’s appointment or anything. Whether you leave the ATM at 6:30:15 or 6:30:30 isn’t going to make any difference at all because it’ll all even out at the first red light in any case. If 15 seconds is getting you het up, the problem is on your own sense of perspective and inability to amuse yourself. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/53 "2014-02-08T12:17:54Z")
My bank doesn’t allow me to use the ATM’s anymore … too many cars waiting just blocks traffic out on the busy highway. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/54 "2014-02-08T14:14:44Z")
The sad thing (or maybe it’s funny) is, that even if you’re one of the people who wholeheartedly agrees with the OP, at least half of the people on your side will probably be cursing your sorry, slow, stupid carcass if you’re ever in front of them in a line. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/55 "2014-02-08T14:48:53Z")
> [@C3](#): > > I was in the grocery store the afternoon of Super Bowl Sunday, picking up a few last minute snacks. The place was packed, long lines at every register. The guy in front of me in line forgot to grab a package of spaghetti, so made the entire line wait as he went back to the pasta aisle to get it. Everyone was surprisingly patient, in a good mood, chatting to each other. He left and I was able to make my purchases. Walking out to my car, I noticed him in his car…laying on his horn because he was trying to back out of his space and was being temporarily blocked in by the people waiting in line to pull out of the lot. > > He apparently lost the “stop and smell the roses” attitude when it was his turn to wait. There’s a certain demographic in my area who do half their shopping while they’re checking out. I won’t get in line behind them. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Dumpster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Desert\_Dumpster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Dumpster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/56 "2014-02-08T16:41:49Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I really think there are two separate things here: one, taking 15 seconds to count your cash, fold it, and slip card, slip, and cash into your wallet, and two, the people who actually do other shit, like finish their phone call, put on make-up, fiddle with the radio. It’s totally normal and reasonable to be irritated if someone is visibly on the phone and still sitting there a minute after their transaction is complete. But if all it takes is a mere 15 seconds to shoot your blood pressure through the roof, you need a sense of perspective. Fifteen seconds isn’t stealing away anyone’s lunch break or making anyone late for a doctor’s appointment or anything. Whether you leave the ATM at 6:30:15 or 6:30:30 isn’t going to make any difference at all because it’ll all even out at the first red light in any case. If 15 seconds is getting you het up, the problem is on your own sense of perspective and inability to amuse yourself. Imposing some kind of arbitrary threshold below which it’s OK to waste someone else’s time is like saying it’s all right to shortchange me as long as it’s a dollar or less. We’ve been talking about instances where the thoughtless one could take a couple of seconds to delay his/her business in order to move out of the %^&\*\*&^$% way. They wouldn’t even be wasting those two seconds from their point of view–they’d have to move eventually anyway. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/57 "2014-02-08T21:09:54Z")
> [@Desert\_Dumpster](#): > > Having completed their stupid fucking transactions, fiddle with their wallets, stuff everything back in, rearrange their makeup, check their phones, etc. and THEN AND ONLY THEN MOVE FORWARD SO THAT I CAN USE THE MOTHERFUCKING ATM when they could have grabbed their money and card and rolled forward ten feet, THEN performed their rituals. > > Thoughtless assholes!!! Worthless scum!!! Die! Die! Die! :mad::mad::mad: > > You know, this is supposed to be a conduit for catharsis, but I don’t feel all that much better. Maybe next time, I’ll just grab my .38 and empty six shots into the guy’s trunk. Yeah! And the grocery bagger, too! I have carefully selected apples that weren’t bruised. Is there a reason why the bagger holds my apples in the air, with his arm extended to the fullest, and then drops the apples into the grocery bag, which is sitting on the floor?? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/58 "2014-02-10T03:00:48Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Not where I shop. I’ve tried it. I still have to re-swipe. > > And I have wasted so much of my life looking for the credit card I just shoved in some pocket, so I could get out of the way of some jerk who was in a hurry … Wear a shirt with a breast pocket ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/59 "2014-02-10T14:37:00Z")
I’m pretty much a go with the flow guy- if someone takes a couple minutes longer than they should in line it isn’t that big a deal. Some day I may start to slow down and I’ll appreciate a little understanding from others. If you took a stopwatch to these people, you’ll find your inconvenience is minimal. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714/60 "2014-02-11T01:04:05Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Wear a shirt with a breast pocket No. My bank has threatened to start charging me for replacement cards. I will not risk washing another one. You have to wait for me to find it, or wait for me to put it away. The cashier is happier if I can find it quickly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-at-drive-up-atms-who/680714.md?page=4)