Younger generations will never know the fear
Posted by Sudden-Employer7974@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 111 comments
People today will never know the fear of an ATM taking your debit card while the transaction was occurring. I always panicked a bit every time.
What are some other fears younger generations will never know?
Friendly-Manner-6725@reddit
I literally had a heart palpitation reading your post.
During the start of a long motorbike trip up the west coast of Africa, I was about to depart from Cape Town and stopped late on a Friday to grab some cash as a safety buffer as at that time, ATMs were rare and cash was an absolute necessity for accessing funds, usually only available in capital cities up the coast.
I put in my North American bank card and poof, the ATM swallowed it and gave some vague error message about coming in during branch hours if any issues.
I had a tight timeline to cross the border to meet visa timelines further up so waiting until the following Monday would have been brutal. And suffice to say, having no bank card for the rest of the trip meant having g no money.
Credit to the chaos that is Africa though, there was a phone number on the ATM for assistance and I called it, and got transferred around a few times with me expressing the urgency of needing my card back.
Eventually they relented, and a couple of hours later a technician rocked up to the ATM, looked around a couple of times, opened the ATM and gave me my card back.
I thanked him profusely, and rode off into the night, made the timelines for the trip.
nofishies@reddit
This is why I still have 2 cards.
However, now it’s all on my phone and the fear is losing my phone or having them have their Apple Pay break!
MeatStandard8200@reddit
Driving cross country by yourself with no way to communicate if you have car trouble.
Oatybar@reddit
Growing up and in my young adulthood, when we saw a car broken down on the highway far from a town, we would stop and see if we could help. Gave rides to families to the next exit with a gas station, helped change tires. Ever since cell phones became ubiquitous it hasn’t even occurred to me to stop, and I feel like there’s a decent chance it wouldn’t be welcome if I did.
Inner-Confidence99@reddit
There were cb radios. That’s what my dad used on trips.
semper-gourmanda@reddit
fear of getting beat up every day after school when no one is around and no one cares it keeps happening
Strong_Flamingo_6306@reddit
That's horrible.sorry
Sudden-Employer7974@reddit (OP)
No cameras anywhere.
Porgchopexpress76@reddit
Calling the house phone to talk to your gf/bf and having their parent pick up. In hs one of the girls that I dated, her father was the only one allowed to answer the phone when he was home. As you might surmise, he was an asshole. I dreaded calling after he was home from work. Granted we only dated for a few months, but it was always nerve wracking.
I also wasn’t allowed to visit when he wasn’t home and it was always in the living room where he sat. However being that she broke up with me because I wouldn’t have sex with her at 16 and she was 15, and she ended up being a total slut the rest of high school, I dodged a bullet. LOL. So maybe he had good reason to be so controlling.
SometimesUnkind@reddit
Aw man. Most of my girlfriend’s parents loved me for some reason.
Porgchopexpress76@reddit
Same. Not this one though. LOL
MRenaeH@reddit
Trying to shove your kindergarten sleep mat in the tiny, tiny drawer so that it will close and you won’t be late to sit on “your” letter on the carpet.
Hopeful_Bath_4337@reddit
Writing a check and hope you got paid before the check cleared by the bank. I remember doing the mental math.
Inner-Confidence99@reddit
Oh yeah. Knew I could go shopping Wednesday night because the grocery store check wouldn’t be deposited until Friday afternoon. Would clear Monday. Lol
FantoluxeNFTArt@reddit
Went to the ATM back in the late eighties/early nineties to deposit a check (remember those?). My mind wanders and I accidentally put the deposit envelope with the check into the trash slot instead of depositing it. Realizing my mistake, I'm panicking and looking for any sort of access to the trash slot mounted on the ATM. I realize the entire ATM was not properly closed the last time it was serviced, and I simply swing it open on its hinge like it's just a big door. The trash is entirely accessible from inside, while the cash is much more secure. I get my envelope from the bin, close the ATM, then hold my envelope up to the security camera so that hopefully somebody realizes I didn't try to take any cash. Deposit went through and I never heard anything from the bank. Whew! Close one.
Fast-Benders@reddit
Crack heads in the 80s.
Fulghn@reddit
Feral humans are more numerous, widespread, and unchecked now
Breklin76@reddit
Replaced by the meth heads of the 00s and counting.
New-You-2025@reddit
New fear, I was using Wells Fargo as my bank at the time, I've since switched. Stuck my card in, put in how much I wanted, it gave me a receipt back and my card but no money. It took the money out of my balance tho, I was broke the 2 weeks it took for them to investigate and put it back.
RattleyourBum@reddit
Nighttime, maybe 2 am. I have tried to withdraw with the ATM shutting down for updates, just swallowing my card. If it happened Friday night I had to wait till Monday after 10 to get the card back. And the banker always made sure I saw the stack of cards the ATM had seized, while asking for my name. It was always a huge stack of cards that had been held back for insufficient funds.
YouDoTheDetail@reddit
Quicksand. And the Bermuda Triangle.
DarthKittens@reddit
Spontaneous combustion
Sudden-Employer7974@reddit (OP)
Yes to all of these things!
Muddring@reddit
I thought I was going to have to deal with being on fire way more than I ever actually was.
FireBallXLV@reddit
Yes!!!! So many TV shows and Tarzan movies made Quicksand a plot line .
No_Needleworker_4704@reddit
I'm totally distrustful of ATMs. I'm 60 and I've never used one
gamecatuk@reddit
Yeah because your more of a boomer.
I mean cmon you've never used one? How do you handle virtual cards now, tapping etc..
No_Needleworker_4704@reddit
Gen x starts in 1965.
No_Needleworker_4704@reddit
I use cards just fine...??? What does that have to do with an ATM
moneyman74@reddit
I've probably still heard songs once in my life way back when with no way to ever look then up or know who the artist was without going to the library. This is probably why radio stations stuck to strict playlists so there phones wouldn't be ringing off the hook from people asking what song they just played.
Komaisnotsalty@reddit
The panic of getting to the bank to deposit a cheque (lordy, I love direct deposit) before it closes on Friday.
The terror of being on the last level of something in a game online or talking to someone on a BBS, and someone picks up the phone and disconnects you.
Puzzleheaded_Log_398@reddit
When I was younger me and my friends were getting money out for the weekend to go out and do stuff. One of my friends was getting money out of the ATM and suddenly the screen got removed and there was a repair person on the other side. My friend was like “hey! Give me back my card!” The guy said “sorry, u will have to talk to someone in the bank”
The bank didn’t open until Monday. He had no money for the weekend.
Sudden-Employer7974@reddit (OP)
Haha what? That’s like something from a sketch comedy scene. That’s a rough one.
LithiuMart@reddit
Waiting 7 minutes for a game to load, only to be hit by this then having to start it all over again.
slyroast@reddit
making it to the bank to cash a check before close on Friday (before you had an ATM)
Sudden-Employer7974@reddit (OP)
I just had a flashback to having to use deposit/withdrawal slips.
buffering@reddit
I still have some ATM receipts from the early 90s, when they were still printed on those little cards.
Just enough time to stretch out my last pack of smokes until Friday pay day.
Komaisnotsalty@reddit
Probably the most real post on the internet.
Vylnce@reddit
The click on the phone line that let you know someone else in the house answered the phone at the same time as you and was listening to your call.
FI_321@reddit
I can’t say I ever had this fear.
Tujunga54@reddit
Nuclear War. As a child I took the "duck & cover" drills very seriously and worried that our house didn't have a secure space to shelter.
AdAdmirable1583@reddit
Still think even though we don’t do duck and cover drills anymore, nuclear war is still a real threat today.
Breklin76@reddit
Still on the table.
ispongeyou@reddit
Drugs for sure!
PrimaryFriend7867@reddit
i learned it from watching you, okay??
TeacherIntelligent15@reddit
Iykyk
FireBallXLV@reddit
I almost went to work for the Doc behind that ad .That was what he was most known for
Excusemytootie@reddit
Cooked!!!
Tim-oBedlam@reddit
this is your brain on drugs with a side order of bacon
skoltroll@reddit
If I don't fear the Reaper, I'm certainly not afraid of an ATM machine. Then or now.
The only thing I've truly feared is my kids getting shot up in school.
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skoltroll@reddit
TMBActualSize@reddit
Send your kid to a school with a ballroom
GenX-ModTeam@reddit
No Politics - Political posts or comments of any sort are not permitted. If you wish to have political discussions, you may do so on our other sub r/GenXPolitics.
Breaking this rule may result in bans, either temporary or permanent.
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Twitch-Weasel-51@reddit
Missing a phone call from your boyfriend! Or your mom hanging up the phone on you while you were talking.
ApartAd3290@reddit
Your favorite cassette getting “eaten” by the tape player. It would never play that part the same again, and sometimes we’d have to cut out the crinkled up section and reconnect it.
WinterMedical@reddit
Right because we didn’t have the cash to just buy a new one.
Krapmeister@reddit
You called a girl for the first time on the home phone hoping her father wouldn't pick up.
WinterMedical@reddit
“Hello Mister Johnson, is Alice available?”
bongart@reddit
Getting six numbers into dialing (actually dialing with a rotary phone) a friend, and screwing up.. and having to start all over.
Breklin76@reddit
Using a rotary phone. Recording songs off the radio. Using paper maps.
timothypjr@reddit
Haha. This happened to my parents the first time they use the first one they ever had. This was in the mid 80's when the bank were trying to get people to use them. The system just glitched, kept their card, and it took days to get it back. Key Bank gave them some country music tickets as an apology.
ispongeyou@reddit
Before they started the "no child left behind" and having to deal with the man-child student in the high school lunch room asking you for any change.
BWWFC@reddit
weird, like drowning swimming after recently eating, an eaten atm card never happened to me or anyone i know.
Korvanacor@reddit
Early in the morning in a small village in France, an ATM machine went into its daily maintenance cycle with my card inside it. I had to wait 15 long minutes until it rebooted.
Fortunately, it ejected my card once it had finished. It was with great hesitation that I reinserted my card so I could finish my transaction.
Positive-System-8810@reddit
Warum sollte der GeldAutomat die Karte einziehen? Ist mir nie passiert.
sovereignsekte@reddit
Vielleicht war es einfach eine amerikanische Sache.
Haunt_Fox@reddit
Sometimes just because the machine fucked up.
And sometimes because you were trying to overdraft yourself, or there was some other issue with the card or your account, it was the bank's way of saying "no". I know I've had it happen, but I can't remember quite why, now. Probably something stupid and embarrassing that my brain blotted out.
I'm surprised this is being presented as not a thing any more.
Seerosengiesser@reddit
My guess would be that the cards are simply blocked in the system. It's just too expensive to replace every blocked card nowadays. Everyone has at least 2
Ok_Cicada_3420@reddit
That was actually a fear? lol dude
tungstencoil@reddit
Everything was cash - you couldn't pay for nanny daily expenses by card. If the ATM ate your card, you could only get cash from a bank teller.
Replacement cards to a week or two. Many people budgeted spending with daily or every couple days withdrawals. You could easily be stuck without the ability to buy food, gas, or entertainment until you could get into a bank. If it was the weekend or you were working, you were screwed.
BCVinny@reddit
Expo ‘86 in Vancouver. Someone switched the 5s and 20s in the bank machine. If you withdrew $20, it would give you 4-$5 bills. This time, it would hit your account for $20, but give you $80. The line of people taking out “$20” was huge. I always wondered what happened after
Head_Trick_9932@reddit
When the payphone would eat my last quarter and I’d need a ride home. Then I’d call back with a collect call and when it would ask my name, I’d say pick me up please.
More-Soil7455@reddit
I always went straight to the collect call. When asked my name, I’d say practice is over, please pick me up.
Head_Trick_9932@reddit
When our kids were younger (@ a decade ago), we took them to Disney. They had the old telephone booth and I asked my son who was 10 at the time what it was. He said “it’s a jail phone”. We laughed because no clue where he got that from lol!
MidnightKitty_2013@reddit
Oh my, memory unlocked!
I was a bank teller in the late 90s and we had to check our ATM every morning for retained cards.
Also had to field calls from customers who lost their cards in non-bank owned ATMs and needed new cards issued. Had to go through a process called "hot carding" and then re-issue a new card. 7-10 business days of they were lucky. Huge pain in the butt!
grateful_john@reddit
I remember the first time a friend used an ATM, I was in college in upstate New York in the mid 80s. My friend had an ATM card which was rare at the time. We needed some cash (for beer or weed, or maybe for beer and weed) and we stopped at a bank that had an ATM and took his card. He put the card in, punched in his PIN and the machine gave an error message and that was that. No money, no card.
CrumblinEmpire@reddit
That happened to me in San Francisco in the early 90s. I put my card in and it vanished. It took me a week to get it back.
grateful_john@reddit
My friend was definitely flexing using the card and nothing. I do know we would up with weed and beer somehow, though.
strange-bedfellows@reddit
Where there is a will there is a way.
DragaTheImpala@reddit
I was solo travelling in Italy in 1997 and an ATM ate my card leaving me alone in a foreign country with no money and no way to get money. The sheer terror!
sfdsquid@reddit
I assume nobody buys Travelers Cheques anymore. I did... In the 90s.
ispongeyou@reddit
The fear of having to call your girlfriend/boyfriend and the parent answers first.
zephyrthewonderdog@reddit
Or even worse. Older brother answers.
intheether323@reddit
Had that happen! Totally freaked me out 🤣
Electronic-Ear2329@reddit
Heart in my throat...every time
OkIron6206@reddit
Going to the American Express Office in a foreign country to get cash and being told you are overdrawn! It took 8 days then for a deposited check to clear!!!
Familiar-Court-4217@reddit
ATM 🏧🏧🏧🏧🏧
Extra-Breakfast-7574@reddit
The only thing worse than your card getting stuck in the machine, was it happening during the weekend, and having to wait until Monday to contact the bank
GogglesPisano@reddit
Years back I made a cash withdrawal at an ATM and the machine shorted me (I tried to withdraw $100 and it only gave me $60). I complained at my bank and they made me sign an affidavit before they would refund my money.
WhereItsAt75@reddit
I would say getting lost. It can happen but its definitely harder than it was back in the day.
ispongeyou@reddit
yes, on a long highway trip, forget to look at the milage and to the math to the next exit, then dread sets in, did I already pass said exit. Welp, lets pull off at the next exit and ask a local.
13mys13@reddit
the urgency of balancing your checkbook so you know your rent won't bounce at the end of the month. also, the stress of timing paying your bills by check so that your deposit will clear before your check is cashed
MutedTechnology8644@reddit
All the machines in my area are now “tap “ activated.
AyBeeVee@reddit
I was in Mexico (Tijuana) and we got thugged on by some cops who demanded money, took me to an ATM that didn't even ask for my PIN and just gave me 50 bucks. I canceled the fuck out of that card, closed the account and opened a new one just to be safe as soon as I got home.
paintedwoodpile@reddit
To this day, my bank's machines make you put the card in horizontally and it takes it while you do all your transactions. Then when you don't hit the "return card" thing, it keeps your card and it gets shredded. No way to get it back. They just give you a whole new card at the counter then send you ANOTHER one that you have to...get this...take to a machine to activate!
boner79@reddit
Credit card companies want you to know this one trick
VinceP312@reddit
Most early ATMs were swipe. The ATM never locked your card in its mechanism like it does now.
gumby_twain@reddit
I had my first MAC card in the late 80s / early 90s. The machines would take your card completely internally during your transaction. Not locked. Gone.
The fear was real. Put your PIN in wrong like 3-5x and your card was kept.
Keep in mind, electronics used to be even less reliable than today. So one glitchy number on that pad and your card was getting eaten while you screamed “my PIN is 1234! What the fuck!”
For an example of an early ATM, see the documentary, American Psycho where the ATM is tired of eating cards and asks to be fed a cat.
30sumthingSanta@reddit
Mine got torn in half and the mag strip stayed inside the ATM. 🙁
VegasLife84@reddit
This def wasn't true in the states I lived in
VegasLife84@reddit
your finger slipping at the end of a 1-800 number on a rotary phone, and having to start all over again
BMisterGenX@reddit
right once it put in the wrong pin too many times and it kept my card and it was the weekend and the banks were closed.
LAJ_72@reddit
It happened to me mast month 😣
elphaba00@reddit
My husband put $400 into an ATM, but the transaction wasn't recorded. The ATM went into error mode. That was panic. He ended up calling the bank since it was one of their machines not attached to their office. They said they would review the video footage and count the money. If it were $400 ahead, they would know who it belonged to.
platypus_farmer42@reddit
I used to work at a bank, this was standard procedure for incidents like this.
Foamfollower_65@reddit
Lol. Nope. I was raised to not be afraid of things that aren't life threatening and that I have no control over.
OBB76@reddit
I was in the military, driving across the country and had stopped in Flagstaff arizona for the night in 1997. Back then I would just pull cash out for the next days trip. Well I get there, go to an atm and not only did it eat my card, it didn't give me any money.
I was on a timeline to report to VA in 3 days. I went to the bank and they were like sorry, can't help ya. My mom, being a previous bank person called them and made them go over and open up the ATM. There were probably 60 cards that the machine had eaten.
slowtreme@reddit
some machines still do this and it pisses me off.
greywar777@reddit
I never had this fear until the first time i went overseas and a atm ate one of my cards. Got it back out by shoving it in further with another card.
Before that I had thought it was too low of odds to occur.
SomewhatLawless@reddit
Running out of money and waiting for a check from your parents to come in the mail.