In$anity

The first Monday I after I arrived I set up a bank account. That Friday I got my debit card in the mail and that night I set up my PIN. Saturday, I went on a tourist adventure involving the free bus around downtown. (FYI, this is a terrible choice on Saturday afternoon if you like air. Being tall, and having only room to stand, I could at least see out. But there were lots of people who could only see various parts of other people's anatomy. I rode the bus 3 stops and by the way south side of town I'd had enough, got off, and proceeded to walk back through the bustling downtown to home.)

On my walk, I saw an ATM for my new bank, and thought I'd give the new card a test run. Mind you, this is not the first time I've used an ATM in a foreign country (unlike my dad, who has yet to use an ATM in any country). I understand how they work. Or so I thought. I put in my card, entered my PIN, took a moment to congratulate myself for remembering my PIN, pushed "cheque," chose the amount, waited for the cash and instead got: "This account is not configured for ATM access." What? I tried again, same result.

Monday I am cruising on campus to hit the bike shop and whatnot, and I remembered that one of the times I was lost on campus I saw a branch for my bank. After a bit of hunting, I found it again, used the ATM inside and same result. Two lovely young gents who work for the bank were loitering around waiting for customers. So I said to them, "I've just opened an account, got my card, set up my PIN, and I keep trying to get cash, but it's not working. Clearly I am doing something wrong."

"What button are you pushing? Savings or cheque?"

"Cheque" of course. I'm thinking, it says 'DEBIT' right on it. What else would it be?

"Well, if you only have one account with us..."

 "I do"

"Then it's a savings. That's the day to day account all banks use."

I marched right back over to the ATM, pushed savings, and viola. It hadn't even occurred to me that it could be opposite. The 22 year old banking gents were mildly embarrassed. It may have been on my behalf. Insanity, I've heard, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Learning apparently involves more experimentation, and the possibility of minor humiliation...