Can You Please Just Go Inside?

Hello folks.  Sorry I have been away so long, but better late than never, right?

Anyway, I am not sure when the ATM was invented, but it is a great tool for convenience.  Today, it is fairly common to have drive-up ATMs, so robbers can take your car, as well as your life-savings.  However, that is not the point of my rant.  I think that today’s ATMs have gone too far for banking transactions.  I think you should be able to do two things at an ATM.  First, and most common, is get cash.  I rarely carry cash, and quite frankly don’t need it that often.  I do most everything with my bank card, and I hope one day I find a soda machine or candy machine that takes my card.  I know my wife will go crazy trying to deal with all those transactions for $0.50 and $0.75 in our account!  When I do need cash, I just want to go up, hit a few buttons, grab my cash, and bounce. 

 The other transaction you should be able to do is check your balances.  This was very useful in my college years.  How many of you remember praying to the ATM Gods that there was at least $20.01 in your account so you could get that crisp twenty for a night of partying?  Of course, checking balances should be limited to once per day.  If it ain’t there now, it probably won’t be there in 20 seconds.

Everything else should require you to go inside.  One of those occasions arose when I needed cash to give to my son and neice so they could go to the baseball game.  I jumped in the car, and drove the 5 minutes to my bank, pulling into the drive-up (this will be important in a second) ATM.  There was one person in front of me, and I should have known it was going to be strange when they were out of their car, standing at the “drive-up” ATM.  I get it, maybe their window won’t roll down, so they have to step out of their car.  Twelve minutes later, they are still at it!  Depositing checks that they are endorsing on the spot, checking balances, transfering funds, hell I think this idiot paid their mortgage from the ATM!  Now you may ask why I waited all this time, and didn’t just go in.  Come on!  You know, as well as I do, that as soon as I got out of line to go inside, they would have finished and left.  Besides, I wasn’t appropriately dressed to go inside.  That is one of the perks of the drive-up anything.  I can go in my WIHO (Pronounced Wee Ho – Whatever I Have On)!

Are we getting to the point where we have to have an Express Lane ATM?  If you have anything more entailed than a quick withdrawal, or balance check, then go to the drive through and let the nice Teller inside handle that.  Maybe it is just me!