We’ve seen it before – ATM kiosks idle from operation, rebooting into a blank screen showing off the RAM, BIOS, Windows and finally, the batch file that launches the ATM app.
Thursday was unintentionally revealing to me as I had, in my pocket, an ATM card that consistently crashed all the ATM’s I inserted it into.
First strike was the ATM located in Greenbelt 5. I thought it was just a random bug, until it happened twice, barely one second after sliding the card in.
Second strike was an ATM located in Greenbelt 1 (which can now be accessed via the new GB5 extension annex. Yes, Virgina! The Dulcinea restaurant is now indoors!). So this was when I meticulously inspected the card to reveal a small crack in the magnetic strip.
Silly, really. But frustrating as well. It was really embarrassing to reboot the ATM with people lined up behind me. “Oops!” I said, thrice, and made an unscheduled trip to my branch to apply for a replacement card.
Such is the ticket to ATM perdition.