trust

I was at the bank yesterday and something interesting happened that I thought I would share. The bank has 3 ATM machines and I walked up to the one on the far right and started to make my transaction. After I entered my pin code the machine said “this ATM cannot dispense cash at the moment” so I cancelled my transaction and went to the middle ATM.

As I was deposting my cash a man started walking up to the ATM on the right and I told him that it wasn’t able to dispense cash. He said “thanks” and went to the ATM on the far left. Another man walked up as I was finishing and went to the ATM on the right and I told him it wasn’t working but that I was almost finished. He said “thanks” and got in line behind me. I walked back in my car and decided to watch to see what he would do if someone walked up to the ATM on the right.

A lady did walk up while he was processing his stuff and I saw him point to the ATM and talk to her so she went and got in line behind him. She then did the same thing to the person that went to that ATM while she was at the middle one. I wondered if this would go on all day as long as someone was at the middle ATM. This got me thinking about trust.

That ATM machine could have been working perfectly fine, yet these people believed what I said and acted accordingly. They trusted me and the people after them trusted them. I wonder how often I simply trust people based on what they say as opposed to checking it out for myself. I think it’s a good thing because it shows that there is good in people in that they still simply trust each other not to lie.

You never know when life will teach you a little lesson, even at the bank.