New Rule: if you use an ATM, especially if there is only one terminal and a line of people waiting, you don’t get to do more than ten transactions.

I see this a lot in Japan: people who come to ATM machines with a fat envelope, and it turns out they have about 20 passbooks. They then monopolize the machine for a good 15 minutes, sometimes even longer, doing transaction after transaction after transaction. I don’t know if these people simply have a ton of accounts, or if they are deputized to carry out the banking business for a large group of people. (Does this happen in the U.S. as well? I never saw it.)

I got caught behind one of these people today. Just a few hours before I have to leave for a flight, and I have to waste a quarter of an hour for this guy to do his business. Meanwhile, a long line of people are forming behind me. After we reached the 15-minute mark, I asked him–extremely politely, though my irritation might not make that sound likely–when he might be finished. He completely ignored me.

Whatever the case, these people should not be allowed in ATM lines. If they have that much business to do, they should either go to a proper bank or at least find an ATM kiosk which has multiple machines.