People usually get attached to other people. In many cases, people get attached to pets. The question arises whether you can become attached to machines and if you can, whether you should.
If you are like me, you probably do not give much thought to your daily interactions with machines. But recently I have lost two machines in my life that apparently had become very important to me.
The first was the bank machine at the Raccoon Valley Bank in Perry. This machine stood to the east of the bank in the parking lot. I noticed two or three months ago they had changed out the banking machine. Some people refer to them as ATMs.
I questioned Alene Betts, who is the head teller at the bank, about the change in machines. She told me the previous machine had been in place for eight or nine years. The reason for the change was, of course, it had become obsolete.
In this day and age, anything electronic that is more than two years old is ancient. This machine was a centenarian in electronic machine years.
If you are not familiar with the previous machine, you should know that it would speak to you with a British or Australian accent. I have heard some people claim it is English, and I also heard someone on the radio talking about accents on talking bank machines in Des Moines that were Australian. Late-night prowler at Pegasus TV12 Nick Eakins also claims it is Australian, and he is usually correct about such things.
The new machine does not speak. This is a cause of sorrow in me.
The first few times that I used the old machine, I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. I asked myself, first of all, why does a bank machine need to speak? Then I asked why it had a woman’s voice and, finally, if a voice had to be used, why one with an accent?
The talking machine annoyed me for quite some time. Then, over time, I began to like it. It would speak to you when you put in your bank card and then again at the end of your transaction. The other day I used the new machine. No longer do you hear that familiar accent, “Thank you for banking with us.” It broke my heart not to hear this.
The second machine that I recently lost was my digital watch, which I carried for many years in my shirt pocket. I think I got this watch in 1986 when I was in college. I broke the band on it in 1992, when I was at Fort Benning, Ga.
For a long time, I carried it in my coat pocket, and the plastic wrist band kept breaking more and more. Finally, no band was left, and I started carrying this watch in my shirt pocket because the wrist watches that I wore on my wrist kept snagging the inner lining of my coat sleeves.
This watch had been everywhere with me: to the University of Northern Iowa, Fort Benning, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Cuba, Romania, the Netherlands, Bouton, Minburn, Rippey and everywhere in between.
I used it on nearly every episode of my Pegasus TV show, “That’s My Opinion,” to start the countdown. I even ran it through the washing machine once, and it did not affect it.
I was once on a date with a woman who saw me use this watch, and she insisted she would get me a better one, but I would not let her. The watch would gain time, so every two months I reset it.
Every two or three years it would start acting funny, so I would run over to the local Ben Franklin store to get a new battery. The watch always came back to life.
Not so this last time.
This fall the watch started acting up, and I figured that it was time for a new battery. I ran over to the Ben Franklin store, and a helpful attendant helped me choose the right-sized battery. I ran home and put it in, but the watch would not work. I pulled out the battery and tried again. This time it worked, and I re-set it.
I looked at it the next day, and there was no time. Later it came back but with the incorrect time.
The old Timex commercial said, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” My watch took a licking for 29 years and still kept ticking. Now it has met its demise. I guess nothing lasts forever.
When I reach into my pocket, I have to remember that my faithful watch is no longer with me.
I guess I became attached to machines. Maybe someday when I pass through the Golden Gates of Heaven, I will hear that bank machine say, “Welcome to Heaven,” in that old familiar accent, with my watch sitting next to it, marking eternal time.
I am also pretty upset by the new ATM at Raccoon Valley Bank. They changed the one in Adel around the same time…loved the new convenience of not having to use an envelope to deposit. Then one Friday night around 11:30, I went to put cash in, which just so happens to count the cash and give you a total before you submit it. I had done it a couple times with a few twenties, and it worked fine. This evening I deposited $46, two twenties, a five and a one dollar bill. It only counted $25! I asked for the money back because it was wrong, and low and behold it only gave me back $25! I was confused, thinking maybe it got caught in the machine, so I tried to redeposit the $25 it had given back. It still only counted that amount. I became rather upset by this and finally just deposited the $25, figuring I would call them and get it worked out tomorrow. When I finished my transaction, the machine ended up breaking down. I called on Saturday and the teller was very blunt, saying that there was nothing she could do and to call Monday. I called Monday and talked to a teller that I am familiar with. She checked the machine, and all the money was correct and stated there was no money lost inside of it and that the machine must not have been down for long because it didn’t register that it had gone down. I was so beyond frustrated! Where was my $21? Sure, it’s only $21, but things are rough enough for my family, and losing that money could mean having no gas for work. I never got my money back and never found out what happened to it. I’m thinking maybe after the machine came back on that the next person might have gotten an extra $21 on a withdrawal. Who knows? Just wanted to express my issues with these new machines. We never had a problem with the envelopes when you put in the actual amount you deposited in a sealed envelope. Very frustrating. Never again will I deposit cash into these new, “better” machines!