An honest man

Recently I wanted to withdraw $500 from an OCBC ATM. It was before the theft from DBS ATM scare. I inserted the card into the slot, went through the steps and waited. Soon, the card came out. I took it and waited .. waited ... How come no money come out? I didn't know how many seconds, but my feeling was that it was longer than the usual time I had waited in the past.

So I thought that the machine was malfunctioning. I decided to walk further up where there was a branch of the Bank to enquire.

After walking several steps I heard a voice calling from behind.

A middle-aged rotund man was pointing to the ATM and muttered something about money.

I hurried back to the ATM and found that money had come out from the ATM. I counted it - 10 50-dollar notes. They were my money.

The man said he just happened to be around and saw what I was doing.

I felt happy and indeed appreciated his honesty. Otherwise I would have lost $500. I thanked him and offered him $10 for lunch as it was around lunch time.

He declined my offer.