Unhelpful, Argumentative Guard at BDO SM Megamall

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We were at SM Megamall near closing time last Saturday night and decided to withdraw some funds from the ATMs near National Bookstore.

They were both vacant that time so I used the right one while bf used the left one. I encountered no problem and finished my transaction. The left ATM, however, was taking a long time to cough up bf's money and was beeping continuously. As bf continued to wait for the money, I snuck a quick peek inside the BDO branch a meter or two away from the machines since the door was closed but the blinders were up. I'd seen bank branches that still had employees inside even past banking hours; I was sort of hoping that perhaps someone from BDO could help us.

Apparently, the bank guard heard the machine's continuous beeping and opened the door. We told him that the machine did not eject money but according to the ATM's receipt, the money was deducted from bf's account. Instead of helping us in any way, the guard lectured us that the machine's beeping meant that the money was already in the slot. He said that if the money was not taken from the slot immediately, it would be swallowed up by the ATM again. He then went back inside the bank.

To the guard, bf and I probably looked like poor people who used an ATM for the first time in our lives, hence his condescending arguments. We are not rich, that's true, but my goodness! Bf and I have individually used ATMs of different banks at least a hundred times and own multiple ATM cards.

Shit happens and ATMs sometimes malfunction. Not wanting other people to use the problematic machine, we stuck a note on the left ATM, saying "Defective". Bf was becoming more upset with the guard rather than the machine, so as he stood in front of the ATM, quietly fuming, I volunteered to ask the guard if there was a report form that we could fill up.

I should not have been surprised when the guard came out again, ignored my request for a report form, and began insisting that we just probably did not notice the money coming out of the slot because bf was standing so close to it. He even went out of his way to stand in front of the ATM and demonstrate how close bf was standing to the machine. Uh, Manong Guard, standing close to an ATM while its internal gears are whirring and preparing to eject your money is called "being alert and preventing some random jerk from suddenly snatching away your hard-earned money".

When he saw the note that we stuck on the ATM, he removed it. Bf was able to get close and get the guard's full name and the name of his agency.

It was unbelievable that this guard was so defensive about the freaking machine. It was as if

• we were blaming him for the ATM's malfunction
• he invented ATMs and got butthurt that someone criticized his baby
• we were asking him to pay us then and there, from his own pocket

Bf was especially upset because he used to work for BDO. Oh, the irony!

Out of anger, bf threatened the guard that he would report him to the management. Later on, however, when bf has already calmed down, we decided that we would report the incident to BDO but would skip calling up the agency. We didn't want the guard to be dismissed or suspended (given how hard jobs are to come by these days) but someone really needs to inform him that ATMs really do malfunction every now and then.