Re: ATM gives $20s instead of $5s (cry me a fucking river)

In <1185763267.626448.100960@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Wordsmith said:
On Jul 29, 5:38 pm, zeez <Ultim...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I feel no sympathy whatsoever from the bank. *THEY* are the ones who
screwed up, and if they end up with a faulty ATM, or someone on the
inside screws it up, or does something stupid such as putting the
wrong money cassette in the wrong dispenser (it has happened), too
fucking bad.

Sorry if this sounds like flaming, but it's impossible to feel the
least bit sorry
for an institution that is rolling in money and controls the flow of
money while at the
same time hassling their 'customers' and making them jump through
hoops and punishing
them for every tiny mistake. Do I think it's right for customers to
take the money?
No, but the bank should not go after them for a mistake on their part.

The bank should just suck it up and chalk it up as a learning
experience.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070728/D8QLG4OO0.html

MANSFIELD, La. (AP) - An ATM at a northwest Louisiana truck stop gave
out $20 bills instead of $5s, but authorities say they know who used
it and plan to purse the extra $7,000 the machine spit out.

DeSoto Parish sheriff's Lt. Toni Morris said the automated teller
machine has records showing who the 26 people are who received the
extra cash during five days in late June and early July.

Annette Parker, a supervisor at Eagle's Truck Stop, said she unplugged
the machine after overhearing conversations about the excess payments.

"The next morning when we had come back in, someone had plugged it
back up," she said.

Morris said someone who did not work at the truck stop may have rigged
the machine, which keeps records of when the money was taken and by
who.

Morris said charges could be brought against the people who got more
money than they were debited for.

In the board game Monopoly one of the yellow cards says: "Bank error
in your favor. Collect $200.00."

I suspect possibly written by a Philadelphian, since at that time
Philadelphia was USA's 3rd or 4th largest city, and Atlantic City is close
enough to Philadelphia to be just somewhat too far to be a suburb thereof.

Philadelphia has this famous case where an armored car had a door
malfunction and a moneybag or two fell out and the driver of the vehicle
behind the armored car grabbed the money.

I considered that theft - the driver knew he was taking what belonged to
someone else, as well as *furthermore* who it belonged to.

Though I do advise "adequate security" due to justice system
imperfections such as recovery from thieves and punishment of thieves
being less than 100%,

in this case the jury bought a "temporary insanity" plea, rare anywhere
but only having a scant chance to stand on in some few areas where juries
are generous and where it is socially acceptable to steal if you can get
away with it. Sadly, Philadelphia is such an area, so "contentedly
corrupt" that:

Google exact phrase "contentedly corrupt" has 6 hits, 5 also having the
word Philadelphia.

Google for non-phrase-matched "contented" "corrupt" (separate words), of
the almost half-million hits over 20% also have the word Philadelphia!
Heck, it appears to me that in many social circles in Philadelphia it is
socially unacceptable to pass up a chance to get away with stealing
something, or at least to commit insurance fraud!

Consider car insurance rates and medical malpractice insurance rates in
Philadelphia,l PA counties bordering Philadelphia and other PA counties,
also percentage of reported car crashes resulting in injury claims in
Philadelphia, Philadelphia-bordering counties and the other counties of
PA, and see what I think of Philadelphian attitudes...

Which I would extend to "Philadelphia-like" attitudes that can be found
elsewhere.

Not that I like attitudes of banks and large corporations, but I don't
see adjustment of the attitudes that I like to complain about if someone
takes advantage of security holes to get away with stealing (taking what
is not rightfully owned by them, especially if rightful owner or
custodian thereof is known or easily knowable to the taker).

Heck, I am even in favor of "sting operations" that "put out a cookie
jar in view of a hidden camera" in my words, to catch those who need
"attitude adjustment"! Philadelphia once did that a little, as in having
a few police officers disguised as easy robbery victims - I think that is
one of the few things that the otherwise-stinky then-mayor Frank Rizzo did
right! (I am not quite 100% sure that was not done by the next mayor,
heavily hated by the police department, though I do think more likely by
a "tough cop that half the city hates" than by the next mayor that the
police largely hated.)

- Don Klipstein (don@xxxxxxxxx)
.