Friday, February 8, 2008

PNC made me OCD (TGIF, wanna be my BFF?)

On the scale of people with compulsive behaviors, I'm doing pretty well. I can throw things away, I can shake hands with strangers, and I can put mail in the mailbox without checking to see if it fell (or at least sometimes I can.)

But I am not the most relaxed person ever.

(the audience gasps... sarcastically)

I do one particularly strange compulsive behavior, but I'm here to clear my name and give explanation! When at an ATM, before I walk away, I press cancel several times. To the casual observer, it appears that I am a madwoman - obsessed with ensuring her transaction is complete.

Well, maybe I am mad, but there is an explanation: The average PNC Bank ATM has a design flaw. If you don't ask for a receipt, there is a significant pause after the transaction completes before it prompts you about whether or not you would like another transaction. Once, in a fit of distraction, I forgot my card.

In the wilds of Philadelphia, this type of overlook would nearly guarantee that some ne'r-do-well would be able to withdraw all my hard-earned pennies. Luckily, the one time I forgot was at a grocery store on the mainline - where apparantly everyone has significantly more money than I do - I'm actually quite surprised the person who found the machine in this precarious state didn't deposit some money out of pure pity.

But I won't be so cavalier as to think that my luck will hold out, so now I ensure that I complete each transaction with a few safety pumps of the cancel button.

Oh, and I'll still open door handles in the college with my sleeve.

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