The term "irony' is overused, so tell me if this counts:
This morning I went to the bank to get some cash for the weekend. The drive-up ATM had a bunch of cars in line, and the walk-up ATM had two people in line. So I parked, went into the bank and got cash at the counter. As I was leaving, I saw that the line at the walk-up ATM had not moved, and cars were still stacked up for the drive-up ATM.

Is the irony that our protagonist didn't just use a different bank?

The irony was that the folks in line were all on the way to 25 hour fitness, where they have time to cram more workout into every day...

Is it ironic? I mean no one turned 98, won the lottery, then died the next dat...perhaps I did not read close enough but I didn't see a reference to a black fly in any Chardonnay...nor, any death row pardon being received two minutes too late...

It's ironic that systems designed to save you time don't save any time. But it doesn't seem like a great example as stated...<grin>

The irony I see (if it is indeed irony) is that the people trying to save time by using the "convenient" outlets instead of doing the "work" of getting out of their car are the ones who ended up spending more time.

I always go into the bank. Usually saves time and gas.

I usually go to Pilgrim's Cleaners because I'm not good at irony.

Once, I cashed in my piggy bank at a CoinStar machine. When I took my receipt to the cashier, she was out of bills so she paid me in quarters.

George, I think your story pretty well captures what I was taught to think of as irony back when I was in school. Judging from what gets called irony on here lots of times, the definition seems to have shifted quite a bit in the intervening years. I think that was your intended point, and I agree.

I would argue that ATMs are not intended to save the account holder time, but are actually intended to save the bank money. The bank employs less tellers b/c the ATM services the customer and in some cases charges the customer for the service. From that perspective I would not consider the situation ironic. Still a fun read though.


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(10-25-2013 11:27 AM)v-eight Wrote:  I would argue that ATMs are not intended to save the account holder time, but are actually intended to save the bank money. The bank employs less tellers b/c the ATM services the customer and in some cases charges the customer for the service. From that perspective I would not consider the situation ironic. Still a fun read though.


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yeah, but the users are there to save the trouble of getting out of their car and walking in, not to help the bank save money.

To me the irony would be somebody in a SmartCar waiting in line for 20 minutes to use the drive-thru ATM.

This conversation would only ever happen on a Rice sports message board...

(10-25-2013 11:50 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  This conversation would only ever happen on a Rice sports message board...

...like so many of our conversations here.

(10-25-2013 10:30 AM)grol Wrote:  It's ironic that systems designed to save you time don't save any time. But it doesn't seem like a great example as stated...<grin>

Are ATMs primarily intended to save time, as opposed to going to a teller? Given banks traditionally keep limited hours, I always thought ATMs were about conducting a basic transaction at any time, not necessarily the speed of the transaction.

My impression is the historical appeal of ATMs was their offer of greater time flexibility and increased locations for basic banking. I rarely ever encounter long lines for bank tellers, just lousy opening hours. Post office lines are another matter....

(10-25-2013 11:50 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  This conversation would only ever happen on a Rice sports message board...

Ironic, but the best record of a Rice "football" team this year is not the women's soccer team, our Owl varsity team, but instead our club soccer team who plays Lamar U on Saturday at 4 p.m. RiceLad15, not wanting to call you out but how about an update on our most successful "football" team this year?

(10-25-2013 09:21 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  The term "irony' is overused, so tell me if this counts:
This morning I went to the bank to get some cash for the weekend. The drive-up ATM had a bunch of cars in line, and the walk-up ATM had two people in line. So I parked, went into the bank and got cash at the counter. As I was leaving, I saw that the line at the walk-up ATM had not moved, and cars were still stacked up for the drive-up ATM.

trying to be more positive! nice write-up!

(10-25-2013 11:06 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  George, I think your story pretty well captures what I was taught to think of as irony back when I was in school. Judging from what gets called irony on here lots of times, the definition seems to have shifted quite a bit in the intervening years. I think that was your intended point, and I agree.

I'm partial to Houston Owl's definition.

But, isn't the purpose of ATMs (1) to reduce manpower (salary) requirements at banks, and (2) to provide value-added service in terms of off-site/off-hours access to cash? My guess would be in that order.

(10-25-2013 12:48 PM)Hou_Hater Wrote:   trying to be more positive! nice write-up!

Well, if you go back and fix the other piles of **** you've posted on here, then I promise to go back and delete my rating...

(10-25-2013 12:53 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(10-25-2013 12:48 PM)Hou_Hater Wrote:   trying to be more positive! nice write-up!

Well, if you go back and fix the other piles of **** you've posted on here, then I promise to go back and delete my rating...

They've already been "fixed".

You don't have to always be "positive" Hater, you just have to (speaking in broad generalities):

a) not constantly irritate virtually everyone on the site and
b) not attack other posters

Try bringing some value to a conversation.

It should be pretty clear that differing opinions are welcomed... as you have noted about me... and numerous posters have what is sometimes even contentions disagreements... but they are not especially personal in nature nor are they virtually the ONLY thing those posters bring to the forum.

Your penchant for constantly bringing private admonishments from the mods on here into your posts (like this one) is exactly the sort of immature snarkiness that causes you trouble. No, this post itself isn't going to get you banned, but it certainly causes me, and I suspect others, to not want to give your borderline comments the benefit of the doubt that we might otherwise.

I had teenagers, and I see this as the "e"-quivalent of them sarcastically rolling their eyes when told to play by the rules.

(10-25-2013 01:10 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  You don't have to always be "positive" Hater, you just have to (speaking in broad generalities):

a) not constantly irritate virtually everyone on the site and
b) not attack other posters

Try bringing some value to a conversation.

Exactly. I think HH has made some decent observations, contributions, but the gratuitous and predictable personal attacks get annoying.