Getting the bank's attention

KT Lai & Others

29 July 2013

KT Lai: The story relayed by Cable TV tells of a man in the city of Anqing, in Anhui province, who attempts to withdraw cash from an ATM.

He hears the whirring of the money being counted and his card is returned but it doesn't give him any money. Concerned, he has another go at the ATM right next to the one he tried. He notices that his account has been debited for the 2000 yuan he unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw.

When he attempts to withdraw cash again the machine swallows his card. He rings customer service but as it is 7pm in the evening a voice tells him that since it is after office hours there is nothing the bank can do and he should approach them the next day.

Dissatisfied with this, he calls the police. They turn up but conclude there is nothing they can do. By now a crowd of onlookers have gathered and one of them suggests he ring the bank and tell them the ATM has given him too much money.

So he rings customer service again and explains that when he was trying to withdraw 2000 yuan, the machine gave him 10,000 yuan and that he was now unclear about what to do.

"Just stay there and we'll be there in 10 minutes came," was the swift reply.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, no less than the branch manager turns up to deal with the situation.

MM Chiu: The moral seems: In certain situations, in present day China, you need to be a bit tricky (sans principles, if any) to get out of harms way.

We say that "we need to be cautious, while ever mindful never to harm others."