Summary: A Texas man got trapped inside a bank ATM for over two hours because customers didn’t believe his handwritten note.
Can you imagine being trapped inside an ATM? Even more alarming may be receiving a note from that person trapped in the ATM. People in Corpus Christi, Texas experienced a weird situation recently when they went to visit an ATM outside a Bank of America building.
After customers completed their transactions, a handwritten note would pop through the receipt slot. Each note contained a similar message: “Please help. I’m stuck in here and I don’t have my phone. Please call my boss at …”
All of the customers thought the note was a joke and tossed it aside. For nearly three hours the man kept providing the handwritten note to customers hoping that someone would take his plea seriously. This is not all that surprising considering that “candid camera” shows do things just like this to see how people will react. Most people wouldn’t think it was possible for someone to be locked in an ATM, not knowing that some have vault rooms behind them.
Finally, around 2 p.m. a person received the note and stood wondering what to do. Luckily a police officer happened to be driving by so the customer flagged the officer down. The officer thought it was a prank as well, a kind of “candid camera” prank that no one wanted to be duped by.
When officers arrived on the scene, they could hear a faint voice coming from the ATM. Corpus Christi Police Officer Richard Olden said, “We come out here, and sure enough we can hear a little voice coming from the machine. So we are thinking this is a joke. It’s got to be a joke.”
But this was no joke. The man explained that he accidentally locked himself inside the small room behind the ATM when he was changing the lock. He did not have his key card or his phone so the contractor was not able to get out or contact the other Bank of America employees to get help.
The bank was under construction so there were no workers inside that could have helped him or even known he was there. He had been apparently screaming for help but the design of the room makes it basically sound proof so customers would barely be able to hear him. Police ended up having to kick the door down in order to get him out. He was not hurt.
Olden said, “Everyone is OK, but you will never see this in your life, that somebody was stuck in the ATM, it was just crazy.” The police department’s spokeswoman, Gena Pena added, “Honestly, we can’t say it’s never happened. But 95 percent of people will have their phone on them.”
Generally, ATM problems happen when a customer accidentally put the wrong things inside the deposit slips.
What would you have done if you received a note like this from the ATM? Would you think it was a prank? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about other ATM news, read these articles:
- Florida ATM Customer Makes a Big Mistake
- Unusual Deposit at a Murfreesboro ATM
- ATM Fee Case Revived Against Visa, MasterCard
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