An adventure in Russia

  In Saint Petersburg, Russia I'd run out of money and needed a few rubles to pick up gifts for people back home.  No problem, I just headed to the bank across from the hostel.  I was actually eager to try out the brand new bank card I'd finally received after getting set up with a bank account in Switzerland where I was working for the year.  So I put in the card and, hey, they have an option of English service!  Excellent!  So I hit that and put in my pin... and it switches back to Russian.  OK, so I try to figure out how to withdraw money based on pictures... all of which looked like a map of the earth for some reason that still escapes me.  After aimlessly pressing a bunch of buttons that didn't lead me anywhere that resembled amounts of cash to withdraw, I try another option.  The machine starts flashing red and a small alarm is going off.  Uh-oh.  Fortunately no one is around, except my almost equally non-Russian speaking friend.  He helpfully points out that this exact same thing happened to him.  And then the machine never gave him his card back.  And so indeed the machine had eaten my brand new card that I'd waited months to receive.   We were leaving before we'd have a chance to ask at the branch for the card back, I called my bank internationally the next day on our way out of town to cancel the card before some clever individual used it along with the PIN I'd given the machine to siphon off all my travel savings.  Fortunately there were no problems there, and beyond a few borrowed rubles here and there I made it back to Switzerland no problem.  I laughed it off, making a few jokes here and there about crime and banking practices in Russia, and didn't think more more about it.  About a month later, sharing travel stories with friends, I discovered that to make sure people don't forget their cards and leave them hanging out of the machine for the next person to steal, Russian bank machines require you to press a button to eject your card at the end of the transaction. They usually make a beeping to remind you to do so.  Otherwise they hold your card in safe keeping to make sure that you don't lose it or risk having any money stolen.  Oops.

Peter from Canada is working on national level for AIESEC.