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Man Trapped Inside ATM: Machine Spits Out Pleas For Help On Receipts [Video]

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 09:10 PST, Jul 13, 2017

A Bank of America ATM machine in Corpus Christi, Texas, was spitting out some unusual receipts yesterday for a few hours. The ATM dispensed cash to anyone who used the machine, but there was one thing different. Customers received handwritten notes pleading for help that appeared on the back of the otherwise typical ATM receipts.

An unidentified worker was stuck inside the ATM and he had written “Please Help” on the cash receipts that spit out off of the machine and into the hands of everyone who used it. He also jotted down some directions, asking anyone who read the note to please call his boss and tell him he is stuck in the ATM machine. The note gave the name and phone number for the unidentified man’s boss.

Many people ignored the notes and went on their way, but one ATM customer flagged over a police officer when the customer received his handwritten plea for help from someone who said they were stuck in the ATM machine, according to the Washington Post. The worker, who was actually stuck in the tiny service room behind the machine, was stuck for two hours while hoping someone would just call his boss.

How did this happen? This worker was sent out to the bank to fix a lock on the door that led into a tiny space where the ATM machine is serviced and filled. While there working, the man got locked inside and to make matters much worse, he had left his phone in his truck. This was another piece of information that the worker added to the notes he penned for beckoning help. He jotted down that he didn’t have his phone with him, which he thought would help explain just how stuck he really was.

The notes said, “Please Help. I’m stuck in here and I don’t have my phone. Please call my boss,” and then he wrote his boss’s phone number on the note.

Unfortunately for the man, who was actually crammed into that tiny space behind the machine, his written pleas for help were overlooked by many ATM customers. According to My Fox 8, most of the ATM customers thought the pleas for help scribbled on the back of the ATM receipts were a joke.

But finally, someone came to the aid of the man in the ATM machine. That would be Officer Richard Olden, who was waved down by an ATM customer. He explained his first thoughts when he was confronted by the ATM customer with the note. The man told the officer that the ATM was spitting out some unusual notes on the back of the receipts, along with the cash withdrawals.

Sure enough, the receipt handed to the officer said, “Please Help,” along with the rest of the worker’s written instructions on who to call. Officer Olden thought for sure this was a joke. It sounded like someone would be waiting around the corner with a television crew ready to film that “gotcha” moment, suggests the Post.

Olden said he walked up to the ATM machine to investigate and “sure enough, we can hear a little voice coming from the machine,” he told the Fox News affiliate. The dilemma didn’t end here. When they did what the man stuck behind the machine asked, “call his boss,” his supervisor didn’t know how to get him out of there, so Officer Olden kicked the door in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_iZAWL4sE4

According to the New York Daily News, the door was kicked in, and there was the man “PIN-ed inside” (their attempt at humor). The man spent more than two hours inside that little space as the people who used this drive-thru got their cash, their receipt, and went on their merry way. The worker was unharmed, but Officer Olden did have to check out his story by calling the business he worked for. They confirmed that the man was a worker for the unnamed company who was sent there to fix that door. The story ends with the officer telling reporters that if someone does receive a note such as the ones that spit out of the ATM machine today, they should call the police.

[Featured Image by Paul Sakuma/AP Images]

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