Since I have been using Automated Teller Machine (ATM) over the years, my habit has always been to grab the dispensed amount, put it in my pocket and walk away without bothering to count it. This habit is predicated on the belief that this computerized electronic machine which performs basic banking functions is so reliable that it can neither overpay nor underpay you.
As a matter of fact, I used to sneer and jeer at anyone counting his money after collecting it from ATM centre, describing them as doubting Thomases.
However, my horrible experience recently at the Agbowo First Bank ATM centre, adjacent to the University of Ibadan main Campus clearly proved that those who do count their money after collecting it from ATM centre may be right after all, while those of us who absolutely trust automated machine may be wrong in our assumptions. I was short paid! Or, someone who hid behind the machine stealthily took a thousand Naira note from my money. I am yet to understand the riddle even as I put this thoughts together.
It was on 15 September, 2022 which was on my birth anniversary. Some Good Samaritans who knew that President Buhari, together with his cabinet, has stopped my salary since March over the strike in the universities, gave me some money to enable me to celebrate my birthday. (I will still write a piece to thank them when the storm is over).
Elated, I decided to withdraw a paltry Five Thousand Naira to buy fruits in front of UI. I approached the ATM center , imputed my details and waited to catch the money. Alas! To my greatest surprise, the machine gave me Four Thousand Naira instead of five. I was shocked. I temporarily waited to see if the remaining one thousand Naira was delayed in coming. Immediately, I received an alert on my phone that my account has been debited five thousand Naira.
I quickly called the security man to come and share in my bewilderment. I almost asked him to check my pocket to ascertain that I wasn’t pranking! He led me into the banking hall so as to fill a form. Embarrassingly, I didn’t know the account number by heart because there were two account numbers on the card. He gave me a form to go and fill and return it later.
Upon returning to the same spot about an hour later, the security man called out a young lady staying secretly behind the ATM. This was the first time I knew someone was always hiding behind the ATM. Before I could explain myself, she quickly handed me the balance of one thousand Naira. I demanded to know what happened. She hurriedly locked herself inside the ATM cubicle and said she was busy. No explanation!
This has since left me not only perplexed and puzzled , but baffled and befuddled! And, it has as well raised a number of posers. Can ATM make mathematical mistakes? Why should I have pressed Five Thousand Naira button and the machine would give me four? What if I had pressed 20 or 40 Thousand Naira button, collected the money, put it in my pocket without counting it? Why did this young lady refuse to explain what happened to me? Was she the one who clandestinely took one note out of five? Did the machine make a mistake? I have yet to get satisfactory answers to all these posers and I am not happy!
Does it mean we cannot trust ATM again? What is going on in this country? Why is everywhere so corruptly pervasive? Buhari stopped my salary in the last five months, and out of the little given to me by my friends and well wishers, one callous machine, in collaboration with the operator, wanted to take more that tithe from it! This is not only unsettling but distressing and disconcerting.
Please, if you see anyone double checking his dispensed money at an ATM centre, don’t insult the fellow. He may have had a similar experience. I have heard of stories of collecting fake currencies from ATM, but I haven’t heard of an experience of being short paid. Let us be careful please. First Bank should investigate this case and write me an apology otherwise we shall meet in court.
