This ATM is (still) Out of Service

"Sorry this ATM is temporarily out of service. Please try again later."

Have you ever seen this message on an ATM (ATM machine for those of you that enjoy redundancy)? I have. In fact, the amusing thing is that I see this message on a particular machine that rests on the first floor of the building I work in. More amusing is that I see this message on it almost all the time. To be fair, I have seen it work, but it's almost as often that I see it out of order.

My only guess is that the "service professional" who works on this one feels much like I do lately. Like it would be better to spend all day doing something else than actually doing your job. Don't misunderstand me, though. I firmly believe in the importance of working. You don't work, you don't eat. however, I want to be doing something else. I could either repair the ATM that is broken, or just turn the handle that makes it work for another three minutes before having to come back. Or maybe they fix it, and the same idiot comes through and breaks it again. Who knows?

I only know I have similar problems. I fix something only to have someone come behind me and break it. Or someone else should know how to fix it if they had listened to me when I told them, but of course, they didn't listen, so it's still broken and now (because the own is angry), I have to actually fix it.

My personal preference is to sit in my corner here, have no one notice whether I'm coming or going, and just work on what I want to work on. I have movies to write and produce. I have books to draft and complete. I have dreams to dream of. I don't have time for this "real job" thin I'm saddled with. Why can't the ATM fix itself?

Fact of the matter is that the ATM won't fix itself, people won't remember what I tell them, and stuff will always break with or without intervention. Hence, here I am and here I am stuck until one of my hobbies becomes a paying vocation.

I do think the out of order message is redundant on the machine, though. It would be far more useful to advertise when it works. We already assume it's broken at this point.