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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

TO Get Really Annoyed at Women Who DIther At Cashpoint Machines

121 replies

DeeCeeDee · 19/01/2011 01:19

Why do they do it? Is there some technology overload thing going on that has stopped them from thinking straight? I cant bear having to stand behind them when they faff about..just today a woman put her whole handbag on cashpoint front, had a good old rummage thru handbag to get to her card, asked for balance, stared for couple mins at the balance slip when it came out, put her card in again, and only then took money out. It makes me want to scream, honestly. Its not just having to wait, its the thought that are they so stupid that they dont know its not very safe, is it? a mugger would have plenty of time to lurk behind and scout you out..I mean ffs these women already know they want to get money out, why cant they have card to hand/in pocket of bag before they get to cashpoint? then its just a case of get card out, take money out, and thats it.

OP posts:
Memoo · 19/01/2011 10:37

Hmm I must mention this to my Gran who is starting to suffer with dementia (sp?) but is trying to remain as independant as possible for the time being.

Thebrownstuff, you bumped another car because the driver was dithering and you think thats funny, what is wrong with you?

bupcakesandcunting · 19/01/2011 10:38

I just hate the general public.

TrillianAstra · 19/01/2011 10:39

This is why you need to shop online, and use cards for everything - no need to visit cash machines or supermarkets.

mayorquimby · 19/01/2011 10:42

yup brownstuff, she really sounds like the bad driver in that exchange

meantosay · 19/01/2011 10:43

brownstuff, are you mad?????

CalamityKate · 19/01/2011 10:49

YANBU.

I hate ditherers too. I'm more tolerant of OLD ditherers but if you haven't got Alzheimers and you're in front of me at the cashpoint, and you insist on going glacially slowly, expect me to tut and shift from foot to foot.

ESPECIALLY if you've had to wait for someone else, and therefore had plenty of time to get your card out ready, and remember your PIN, and decide how much cash you want.

piprabbit · 19/01/2011 10:50

Definitely not a ditherer, brownstuff, I pull on to roundabouts in a quick decisive manner Grin. Only to find someone speeding towards me from the left even though I'm on the roundabout. Only question is whether to slam on the brakes so they can carry on without pause, or to accelerate hard and hope they don't drive into my side.

I'm slightly worried that anyone thinks it's OK to cause a minor RTA in the effort to speed up the ditherers. Didn't having to stop and exchange details actually make everything take a lot longer?

Memoo · 19/01/2011 10:52

Younger people could also have any number of problems which mean they need to take a little longer. There could have Mental health issues, problems with their eye sight, have learning difficulties etc

Whats the blooming rush anyway? is that extra 30 seconds really going to make such a difference

piprabbit · 19/01/2011 10:52

Calamity, out of interest, how do you diagnose Alzheimer's in the ATM queue? I'd heard that it's really hard to get a definite diagnosis - especially in the early days.

funtimewincies · 19/01/2011 10:52

I'm going to dither on purpose next time in case it's one of you and I get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see someone actually explode Grin!

bupcakesandcunting · 19/01/2011 10:52

I once read in Heat a high-brow publication that Carol McGiffin, the one out of Loose Women who looks like a turtle venturing out if it's shell after a long winter hiberanation, is a cashpoint ditherer. AND she gets annoyed when people tut and moan about her taking for fucking ever to perform a simple task. So she deliberately takes longer.

That didn't make me want to take her out with a bazooka even more than normal, I can tell you...

bupcakesandcunting · 19/01/2011 10:53

"is that extra 30 seconds really going to make such a difference"

Yes.

Memoo · 19/01/2011 10:55

Really bupcakes? In what way?

Bogeyface · 19/01/2011 10:59

This has happened twice in the last week. DH nipped to the cashpoint whilst I was waiting over the road and I wondered what was going on. Turns out that the couple using it infront of him had requested a statement, then another balance and then stood infront of the machine discussing it before finally deciding to go into the bank. Surely they could have moved out of the way so someone else could use it?!

And Monday at the hospital the woman in front put her card in and faffed around, and faffed some more. took the card out, put it back in, faffed some more. Then took another card out, looked at it in confusiong, faffed with that one and took out a tenner. She then turned to me and said "sorry, I put the wrong card in (easy mistake) I do it EVERY TIME" OK, so perhaps you should check you are using the right one EVERY TIME first to stop that? And then proceeded to try and tell me about what had happened the last time she did it, all whilst stanind right infront of the cash machine so I couldnt use it, thereby delaying me and everyone else even more!

But it isnt just women, so for that YABU, but not for the dithering!

igetmorelovefromthecat · 19/01/2011 10:59

YANBU - though I agree that men are just as guilty as women of this.

I always seem to get stuck in a queue behind a load of people who seemingly have never used a cash point before in their lives.

bupcakesandcunting · 19/01/2011 10:59

Well, it's thirty seconds that could be spent doing something useful or even something that I'd like to be doing rather than gawking at the back of someone's hair whilst they take three times as long to perform a task as anyone else.

If you add up all of the 30 seconds you spend in life waiting for morons to get theit shit together, they probably run into hours. And we ain't here for a long time. Get your shit together, people.

meantosay · 19/01/2011 10:59

It's all the 30 seconds Memoo. The ones where someone hasn't bothered to pack their groceries until they've all been checked through, the ones where people get on buses and then start rooting for their ticket or fare, the ones where people are talking on their phones while ordering food in the takeaway. All those minutes add up and up and up and up..........

Memoo · 19/01/2011 11:00

But if we all relaxed and chilled a little the world would be a much happier place Grin

bupcakesandcunting · 19/01/2011 11:05

If everyone got their shit together, we could all be relaxed and chilled Wink

piprabbit · 19/01/2011 11:06

My favourite rushers are the ones who drive too close behind me, go screeching past at way over the speed limit and disappear into the distance... only for me to pull up beside them at the next set of traffic lights. That was 30 seconds well used Hmm.

Katiepoes · 19/01/2011 11:07

No if people stopped dithering the world would be a happier place. :)

For the record - being a bit slow and dithering are not necesarily the same. Take the Starbucks example - waiting until the top of a long line to decide what you want and then wibbling over it - that is dithering and is antisocial and should be a slapping offence. Love the NY idea btw, at least for the morning rush.

piprabbit · 19/01/2011 11:08

(I sometimes wave at them in a friendly manner at the traffic lights - but they don't seem to notice, perhaps because they are glaring so intently straight ahead while the veins on their foreheads throb).

SkyBluePearl · 19/01/2011 11:08

i know lots of men that do this- never mind ladies!

thebrownstuff · 19/01/2011 11:25

No, not mad. I tapped her by accident as I thought she was going. Miles of space in a difficult to get into main road after a long wait in a queue of cars trying to go in. Her reaction was ott and I hope she's learned a lesson about dithering Grin

365, 30 seconds is half an hour a year. Add to that the knock on effects of for example 30 extra secondds in atm queue and just missing a place in the check out queue and having to wait an extra 5 minutes for the family who've just done the weekly shop to check out...

I'm a stickler for speed limits, but come on people!!

DarrellRivers · 19/01/2011 11:32

Some crazy people here Hmm

Look at how you are living your lives

Everyone sounds so so so stressed

Try some empathy
What about if that lady in the queue had recently been bereaved? Do you think her priority at that point was to save 30 seconds??

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