so i did some mental time travelling today

i went to the ATM and let a guy go before me. he was pretty old and he couldn't get the machine working. he turned to me and his eye's looked like they had a serious case of cataracts and asked me questions about how to use the ATM. ..and just then a bank employee popped out and started helping him.

in his defense, they had just got a new machine where you put your card in horizontally. when they got to the part you where you put your PIN, i thought uh oh, he won't remember it. but he did and everything went ok.

afterwards, while i was talking to the employee another woman jumped in front of me to use it. i was asking the bank person that if he had forgot his PIN, if she would've turned him away or would she have taken him inside the bank and figured it out. and then if she had discovered that he was someone with alzheimer's and was a-wall, take the appropriate steps to get him back home?

obviously by the way she responded this hasn't happened to her yet. but in this universe i was instructing her about something that given enough time will eventually happen to her. and i surmised in an alternate universe the old guy was me, and i was a time traveler instructing her how to help myself in the future.

there's always an opportunity to teach people things when you pretend to time travel.

[nullnor]

while i was asking her questions about how many checks i can put in the machine at a time without an envelope, and she told me about 30, apparently the machine sorts it like cash and uses increments of 30. she looked nervous after divulging the information for whatever random reason. such is the experience of interacting with me. even when you are trying to help, society casts a weary eye assuming i secretly have an ulterior motive. but i am really not that smart. yet someday perhaps i'll be a time traveling genius mastermind. and all that has happened before will happen again.

[Gregg]

while i was asking her questions about how many checks i can put in the machine at a time without an envelope, and she told me about 30, apparently the machine sorts it like cash and uses increments of 30. she looked nervous after divulging the information for whatever random reason. such is the experience of interacting with me. even when you are trying to help, society casts a weary eye assuming i secretly have an ulterior motive. but i am really not that smart. yet someday perhaps i'll be a time traveling genius mastermind. and all that has happened before will happen again.

Be careful not go back in time too far or you will eliminate yourself. In fact do not go back past your age of adult reasoning or you won't know to get back.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Be careful not go back in time too far or you will eliminate yourself. In fact do not go back past your age of adult reasoning or you won't know to get back.

I hate it when that happens to me.

[heyelander]

I hate it when that happens to me.

especially when you can't figure out how it happened.

[Ken]

... when they got to the part you where you put your PIN, i thought uh oh, he won't remember it. but he did and everything went ok... i surmised in an alternate universe the old guy was me ... there's always an opportunity to teach people things when you pretend to time travel.

So really you reminded yourself what the PIN was, right?

[Bernie Brewer]

i went to the ATM and let a guy go before me. he was pretty old and he couldn't get the machine working. he turned to me and his eye's looked like they had a serious case of cataracts and asked me questions about how to use the ATM. ..and just then a bank employee popped out and started helping him.

in his defense, they had just got a new machine where you put your card in horizontally. when they got to the part you where you put your PIN, i thought uh oh, he won't remember it. but he did and everything went ok.

afterwards, while i was talking to the employee another woman jumped in front of me to use it. i was asking the bank person that if he had forgot his PIN, if she would've turned him away or would she have taken him inside the bank and figured it out. and then if she had discovered that he was someone with alzheimer's and was a-wall, take the appropriate steps to get him back home?

obviously by the way she responded this hasn't happened to her yet. but in this universe i was instructing her about something that given enough time will eventually happen to her. and i surmised in an alternate universe the old guy was me, and i was a time traveler instructing her how to help myself in the future.

there's always an opportunity to teach people things when you pretend to time travel.

So, I know this will be a way too serious answer to this fun and fanciful thought, but Bank's are required to take potential Elder Abuse pretty seriously. Had this happened at my Bank, the Teller/employee would have taken the gentleman inside and just chatted with him to see if he had his wits about him. If he did and simply couldn't remember his PIN number, there are a series of challenge or check questions that we can ask to verify if he is whom he says he is; I. e. two forms of ID, Mother's maiden name, date of birth, last four of social security number, email on the account, etc. If he can answer these questions, we can set a new PIN and/or issue him a counter check/withdrawal slip to make a withdrawal. If he isn't completely coherent, and/or can't answer the questions, we are required to call the Local PD to "assist" him in finding his way home.

Sadly, it is not uncommon for a adult child of a senior to come in with their elderly parent and ask them to withdrawals of money for them. Its not uncommon for non-relative caregivers to do the same. It is our responsibility to ask lots of questions, not because we're nosy, which it may feel like to someone that is healthy and clear headed, but because we have to guard against Elder Abuse. If we fail to report blatant abuse, the Bank can be fined with civil money penalties and regulatory actions. While not exactly the same thing look at Well Fargo and all of the fake accounts they created. Wells got fined heavily, not only because it was illegal activity, but because their were patterns of seniors being victimized. Unfortunately, Bankers are not trained social workers so on occasion, a senior can take the questions the wrong way. I guess that's the price of poker.

Sorry, Banking lecture over!

[nullnor]

that's good. the next time something like this happens i'll know that they are on top of it. i've seen the employee watching the atm from inside the bank last week and actually did the same thing but i didn't see the customers age and this time i had asked her if she was the atm person. she laughed and said not really. actually she tried to say her desk was near the atm, which it is. they've had the new atm machine where you put your card in horizontally for at least a month. a lot of people must be having problems figuring it out. lol. i always put my card in wrong at least twice. i always thought it felt wrong putting your atm card in sideways, which i think we've all been doing since they were invented.. it felt less futuristic.