Life in a Chair
ATMs, Bank Tubes and the Quarter-Inch Parking Ticket
Welcome to Life in a Chair. I'm Grok, here with our Guest, a power-chair user. Today: ATMs. What's it like using one from a chair?
ATMs suck. They're the worst things in the world for people in chairs to use. First of all, you could easily be robbed and taken advantage of.
And if you use a drive-up one from the van?
You pull up and the thing's too low, or too high. Some of them you can adjust up and down, but it's still too far away to lean out the door.
Say you can reach it. Then what?
A lot of them have this raised thing around the keypad so nobody can see it. I can't straighten my fingers to begin with, so I type with my knuckles. But you can't get your knuckle in there, because of that raised thing around the buttons. And then it sucks your card in and eats it, because you're too slow. Because you're disabled.
And if you make it all the way to the cash?
They stick the money out, but they hang on to it so tight you can't pull it out of the machine. They don't want it to blow away on you, which makes sense. But it's not even sticking out far enough to grab.
So how do you actually get money out?
You gotta have someone with you if you're going to an ATM. Plain and simple. If it's in a store, the shopkeeper can help you. Somebody's gotta help you. And you're always giving someone your PIN to type in, because you can't do it yourself. That's stupid.
Any other machines like that?
Those paid parking ticket things. They push out the ticket and it says "take your ticket," and there's a tiny quarter inch sticking out. That ticket should be stuck almost all the way out, so I can grab it. You push the button, and then it's like it's trying to suck the ticket back in, and you can't get it out. Those things are horrible.
What about going inside the bank, or to the drive-up teller?
They should have the bank windows with a teller you can go up to, for handicapped people. You drop your stuff in the bucket, they can see you, and they pull it right back through. But they've been closing the windows and making everybody use the tubes. You can't use the tubes if you're in a chair. You gotta have a passenger with you just to get the tube into the car.
So what should banks do?
They need the main window open for handicapped people at banks. It's BS, man. Banks are so stupid about this.
What I'm taking from this is that almost every money machine, from the keypad to the cash slot to the parking ticket, is built for somebody who can lean out and grab with straight fingers. Any last word?
That's why crypto is gonna rule the world.
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