Police were called to a bank in Corpus Christi, Texas, after a customer getting money out of an ATM was passed a note pleading for help from inside the machine.
The contractor working on the cash machine had accidentally locked himself inside the ATM room and realized he had left his phone in his truck. He scribbled notes asking for help and pushed them through the receipt slot when the machine was in use.
"Please help. I'm stuck in here and I don't have my phone. Please call my boss at 210-***-****," telly station KZTV reported earlier this week.
Initially, bystanders thought that the notes were part of a practical joke, but then one of them thought to call the police. Law enforcement entered the building and ascertained that the technician was caught inside.
"We come out here, and sure enough we can hear a little voice coming from the machine," said senior officer Richard Olden. "So we are thinking this is a joke. It's got to be a joke."
They couldn't get the door open, so they had to kick it down. The man was released without incident.
"Everyone is OK, but you will never see this in your life, that somebody was stuck in the ATM," Olden said. "It was just crazy." ®