ATM Pop-Up Ads

I tell you, this whole "living in a first world nation" thing is really tough!

Yesterday I went to my local ATM to get some cash. It was a Diebold one, incidentally. Everything went smoothly: I entered my PIN ("Bosco"), chose "Fast Cash", "$20", and then I got the money.

But then, something poppy happened: an ad on the screen. Now, don't worry: there have been ads on ATMs for a long time and that's not what bugged me, no. This ad actually required me to do something in order to get my card and receipt. It was a credit card offer, and I needed to explicitly press "No, thank you" (like I'd say "thank you" to a machine) in order to continue. Ladies and gents this, essentially, was the equivalent of a pop-up ad.

It really bothered me. The ads that appear while the ATM is idle, or while it's dispensing money, no longer bug me. But this was a bit more only because I had to do something in order to make it go away - worse, I wouldn't get my card if I didn't. That's pretty lousy. And it just felt like it was only a matter of time before it was a loud, annoying video ad too (these ATMs are running on Windows... which also creeps me out.)

Anyway, I guess Chase is hurting for money or something because they needed to do this.