Two's A Crowd

It was a most unpleasant encounter and I make no apology for what I did. You be the judge, whether or not what I did was right.

Be that as it may, I would not have done any differently, trust me. As always, I am not averse to speaking my mind and making my feelings known.

There I was at 11.35 this morning, in a miniscule ATM cubicle (located beside a bank in Taman Tun Dr Ismail) in the midst of tapping in my pin number, when an Indian youth in his 20s stepped in.

At first I thought he was dropping a cheque into the cheque deposit machine, so I continued with my transaction.

Instead, he rested his back against the shelf where the bank slips and pens were, and waited and watched.

Now, there is an established etiquette in using an ATM cubicle. If it has both the ATM machine and the cheque deposit machine, more than one person may be inside at the same time, each utilising a machine.

But if there is only the ATM machine, the norm is that only one person should be in the cubicle at any given time.

Only when the person steps out, another enters. It is the conventional, and I must add, safer, way.

Him standing barely five feet away from me, waiting for me to take my cash, was completely unnerving.

There have been so many stories and reports of the boldness of snatch thieves that I was compelled to do something.

[It was only a month ago when a middle-aged Chinese woman was mercilessly dragged from a shop pavement to the roadside by a snatch thief in a bold snatch attempt in front of the ever-busy Pasaraya Taman Tun.

The poor woman was all scratched and bloodied. Supermarket customers, however, gave chase, caught the Malay/Indon guy and whacked him senseless before tying him up and calling the cops.

My sister Idah, who was at the supermarket when it happened, said the fellow was already half-dead by the time the cops arrived]

So I looked at him and said: "Could you please wait outside? Only one person should be in at any one time."

Guess what? The ill-mannered lout flew off the handle and raged at me, shouting: "Where got sign saying only one person? It's hot outside!"

Frankly, I was completely taken aback at this sudden explosion of anger. It was instantaneous! it was as though he had not an iota of patience to speak of.

I glanced outside and saw a beat-up white Proton with its engine running, and a young guy sitting inside, presumably waiting for him.

So I looked at him again and said: "It has nothing to do with being hot. It's about my safety."

That really got to him. The bozo looked at me threateningly, shouting "Who's disturbing you?"

By this time, two people appeared outside the door. I quickly took my cash, walked out, and told the duo outside what had transpired.

By then he was standing in front of the ATM machine but I didn't see him doing any transaction. I fully believed my hunch was right, that he was up to no good.

Suddenly he turned towards the door and shouted at me again: "Get out! Get out!", presumably telling me to get off his case.

By now terrified, I quickly got into my car and drove off. In my haste, I forgot to take note of the car registration number.

My question is: Was I wrong in asking him to wait outside? True, there was no sign or notice saying only one person should be in at any one time.

But I was worried about my own safety. What if the jerk really was a criminal preying on the unsuspecting? I wasn't about to take chances on my life.

Whatever the case, even if he didn't have any criminal intent, he was one very badly brought up scrap of humanity.

A true-blue kurang ajar scumbag if ever there was one, and I stand by every harsh word I said.