The ATM

A few days ago I went to the ATM at the Khaan bank in Tsetserleg. The ATM is a new addition, it appeared last summer. No longer do I have to push grandmothers out of my way to get my pittance of a living allowance every month. But I do have to wait while a swarm of high school students tries to figure out how to work the ATM. I don’t know exactly when ATMs made it to Mongolia, but I am fairly certain it was only in the past couple years. In UB, most people have figured it out and are used to the process. In the countryside (as much as an Aimag center can be considered the ‘countryside,’ trust me there are several more levels…) people have not yet figured it out. Even young people, who are the most adaptable to technology, take several minutes to withdraw their 2,000 tugriks (less than $2) from the ATM. That’s another thing that seems odd to me, and makes me seem very strange to them. I wait in line behind 10 kids who each withdraw somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 tugriks, and then they all look over my shoulder while I take out 100,000. It probably just reinforces the perception that I am a rich American, but really I just don’t like to stand in that ridiculous line more than about once a month.
As I was walking to the bank, I saw a horde of high school or college age girls walking to the bank from the opposite direction, so I quickened my step in hopes of beating them to the ATM. I did, but there were already 6 or 7 people standing in line. So I stepped up (extremely close) to the last person, aware as I am to the Mongol line-standing requirements, and prepared to wait my turn. ATM etiquette has not reached this country yet, and everyone in front of me was looking over the shoulder of the person actually withdrawing money. Partially because most of them needed help from their friends to figure out how to do it. Also, PIN numbers in Mongolia are the last four digits of the ATM card, so it really doesn’t matter if anyone sees your PIN anyway, they could easily figure it out. Finally my turn arrived, and with three Mongolians looking intently over my shoulder, I withdrew the money I will need for UB as well as the money I want to exchange into Korean Won. This was a pretty significant amount (especially compared to the 2,000 or 3,000 MNT that most others were withdrawing), and I left the bank to a whispered chorus of “wow, that was a lot of money.”