Med schools
and teaching hospitals always seem to be located in dangerous neighborhoods. My school was no exception.
One night many years ago, I was in the area near the med school with some fellow medical students. We were in a sports bar around 10 p.m. on a Friday night. I was out of cash. A couple of businesses down from the bar was a convenience store with an ATM. As I approached the ATM, a tall man with an intimidating appearance walked up directly behind me, obviously invading my personal space. It didn’t take much logical thinking or intuition to know that he was not simply waiting politely behind me for his turn to use the ATM. I was going to be his ATM. But, I didn’t want that to happen.
In a moment of fear, I became flustered and inadvertently entered the wrong PIN number. I immediately realized what I had done and was relieved that it happened. I played along with my own mistake and swore out loud, “This d**n card isn’t working again! I’m out of money!” I quickly made sure he could see that my wallet was empty as I slid the “defective” ATM card back into it. I was shaking in my boots, but I tried to appear angry that my card wouldn’t work.
Interestingly, the man behind me backed up a couple of steps and did not use the ATM. Unharmed, I quickly walked out of the store and went home.
I wish that I could say that it was my own quick thinking that made me consciously decide to enter the wrong PIN number, but it wasn’t. It was simply fear. The important point of this story is that I believe that entering the wrong PIN number at an ATM is always the right thing to do if you think that some would-be robber is watching you. It just may save your life!
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