OK, women out there....what is it with ladies and ATM machines?
Here in Mexico, ATMs are critical to the gringo's economic survival. This is a cash economy. No checks. I rarely use a credit card, although I did bring one. Most merchants want cash. For the consumer, easier to budget that way. We expats get very, very familiar with the locations of all our affiliated bank ATM machines.
And I understand how they operate. The secret little password/pin thing you key in. Money comes spitting out of the slot. It's almost as much fun as Las Vegas slots. I've found as a man, taking money out of the ATM is one of the two things I do.....all by myself.
Not so for the fairer sex. It seems like every time I go to get cash there are women in line in front of me. And when a machine becomes available, they migrate in groups of 3 or so over to it. What's with that? I'm perfectly capable of taking money out all by my little lonesome. So why is it a group activity for women? Today, there were FOUR....count 'em...4 at the next machine, chattering away. A convention.
I guess it's analogous to the experience in a restaurant when one lady gets up to "powder her nose"...ALL the women at the table go along. A support mechanism, perhaps. I don't understand.
