Damsel in distress

The day before as I was standing in front of the cash machine at a local bank, thinking about what I should be buying when I do my shopping afterwards, the machine suddenly stopped cooperating. I pressed all the keys far more times than it was necessart to realise that absolutely nothing was going to happen. At this point, I had already keyed in my pin number and was supposed to choose the amount I wanted to withdraw. This, of course was after closing time, so there was no way to go ask the bank staff to help me out.

So, there I was, standing in front of a machine that was almost mocking me with it's happy "Welcome to our bank" constantly rolling from one side of the screen to the other, but not willing to to do anything else. Not to mention that the card inside was my VISA card, a total lifeline for me as it's my only way to access my money back home. Without it I am literally penniless. There was no way I was going to walk away from the situation without my card, especially with the possibility that the ATM might suddenly start working and with my PIN code already in, anyone would have a free access.

After banging my head on the wall for a few minutes (believe me, it works sometimes), I saw a police officer walking by and stopped him. After explaining my problem to him, he got on the case and called around. He finally managed to contact the bank, from where they simply advised me to wait without touching the machine, until it resets back to the original screen, and should spit my card out. This, they said, would not take long at all.

So the policeman left, with me still waiting in front of the ATM. After something that felt like a very long time, but in reality was something like 20 minutes, I gave up all hope of the cash machine ever resetting itself. Luckily at this point I had Fabio with me, so I left him at the spot and went in search for a nearby police station, which, also luckily, was only a 100 m away with a big sign pointing to it.

And here is where the fun begun. My going to the police station initiated the second biggest police operation in Beibei since 1957. The chief took the matter in his hands, with all available staff buzzing around and talking on their mobiles. Some other officials were called in probably from their homes, and arrived at the scene looking important and busy. So, as we were on the steps, having a little picnic to kill the time and pacify the stomachs, this whole scene was taking place around us in the street -- to the enetertainment of the town people, of course.

To cut the story short, they managed to send some police officers to meet the local back personnel, who finally sent over a woman with the keys to the branch and the ATM. They kept me updated during the whole process, giving me information on who was were and what was going on.

In the end: success!! I left with my card, without withdrawing any money, though, however much they told me to go for it. ---And with their reassurances that if I ever get in any more trouble, just find the nearest policeman!

All in all, a wonderful show and a little incident that really made me believe in people more (and less in machines). The policemen were so lovely, they took this thing as something really important and didn't think twice before getting all the staff involved in this mission of saving the laowai.

...And the next day, as I went to school, as a woman working in our office first saw me, she asked: "Did you get your card back?" "How do you know about it?", I asked her. "Teacher Dai told me." "How does he know?" "Teacher Zhang told him." "How does HE know?!?!"

She just smiled and walked away.