Man vs Machine

(This is a real-life incident involving a workplace colleague.)

One winter evening, our protagonist went to his friendly neighborhood ATM to withdraw some cash.

As he was studying the transaction slip, the machine suddenly started beeping.

Before he could figure out what was happening, there was a sudden sucking noise & even as he watched in horror, the ATM gobbled up the INR 3000 he had come to withdraw.

Desolate, he complained to his bank and after fifteen long days managed to get the money back in his account.

A lesser man would have kept away from ATMs, at least for a while, but our protagonist was not one to take defeat at the hands of a machine lightly. He decided to go to the same ATM to make another withdrawal.

This time around, without bothering about the transaction slip, he attacked the cash as it came out. Just as he was savoring his victory, the dreaded beeping sound started again.

There had been no time to count the notes - could the deceptive mechanical fiend have gobbled up some part of his cash again?

No, he wasn’t one to allow that to happen. Acting with alacrity he put his hand in the cash dispensing slot, but alas - the mechanical devil was too quick for him, clamping the slot shut in an instant - almost as if trying to chew off his fingers.

Our injured protagonist retreated from the battle ground, bleeding slightly from his index finger. Even in his pain he managed to count the money- and was glad to realize that though the ATM had drawn first blood, it couldn’t steal his money.