The "blind" tree

(Baonghean) - The iron block that you just insert a card into and press a few times to spit out money is no longer a strange thing to the villagers. Young people in the village today are all familiar with using it. They call it "a te mo" or "hay to mo" or something like that. It is really convenient to have, but during Tet, many people were both crying and laughing because the "a to mo" tree became the "a tu mu" tree.

People line up to withdraw money at ATMs.

Having the “atê ô” card as advertised on TV is really beneficial to the country and the people. People do not have to carry money on their person, do not have to worry about losing or having it stolen. If the card is lost, no one can withdraw their money without knowing the password. They just have to go to the bank to get a new one. Now in the village, there are dozens of workers and officials who are paid by card.

And yet the “blind” incident happened right on Tet holiday. Workers who work far away from home keep their money cards more carefully than having a jar of silver ingots at home. It is natural because all the money is already stuffed in that tiny card. When it is time to go to the Tet market, they take it out and put it in the money machine to buy things to welcome the spring.

However, the whole district only had one ATM of the Agricultural Bank, and hundreds of people came to withdraw money. Some people from other districts, whose homes were far from the ATM, stopped to withdraw money on their way home. So people had to line up and wait their turn. No one wanted to line up anymore, so they crowded together like crickets fleeing a flood. The ATM entrance was as crowded as the district market gate. Some people had to travel dozens of kilometers to withdraw money, waiting all morning for their turn, holding their faces and crying.

Some people were able to squeeze in, happily took out their cards, inserted them, pressed them, and waited for a while until the machine suddenly turned off the screen. It took a long time for the machine to release the card. For some people, the machine said "unable to pay". It turned out that sometimes the machine only pays for people using Agricultural Bank cards. So they had to take the card home. They were angry because they couldn't break the card open to get money to spend during Tet.

So Tet is not fun. There is money but cannot spend it. It is because the cash machine is working "blindly". Many people have to wait until the whole village has a pig slaughtered before they can withdraw money for Tet. Those who live near the district center are lucky, but those who live far away may lose Tet because of the "blind" machine.

HV