Lost 8-year-old girl used a clever ATM trick to get help and it's something everyone should know
After getting separated from her grandfather, an eight-year-old girl in Quzhou, China, found her way home in a smart way. While returning from her dance class, she got lost and couldn't locate her grandfather. She ended up at an ATM kiosk, pressed the emergency button, and reached the bank’s call center for assistance.
The red button inside the machine connected her to the bank's monitoring center. After getting connected, the girl told a Quzhou Rural Commercial Bank employee on the call that she had separated from her grandfather and was now lost and did not know what to do. Zhou Dongying, an employee of the Quzhou Rural Commercial Bank, realized the girl's dire situation and alerted the cops while staying on the call to comfort the eight-year-old.
He asked her if he knew her grandpa's number and upon realizing that she didn't he decided to simply comfort her. "Stay here and don’t move, the police are on their way," Zhou assured her.
As the two stayed on call, officers from the Kaihua County Public Security Bureau arrived at the scene and helped her reunite with her grandfather, who had been frantically searching for her.
According to The Global Times report, she was taken back home, as she knew the address. It added that the girl's mother had taught her about the ATM call buttons and advised her to find one if she was ever in a situation where she needed help.
Once the story surfaced online, netizens praised the girl's quick thinking. Many took to Chinese social media to say "She is so clever". One user wrote, "I feel like I’m not as smart as a child. I’ve learned a new emergency skill today."
“This is the first time I’ve learned that an ATM can be used like this. Kudos to the smart little girl and the warm-hearted staff,” another said, via South China Morning Post.
According to Chinese banks, these panic buttons have helped people a lot of times. It enabled people to establish direct communication in their hour of need.
In China, the local ATM booths have two types of emergency buttons near the machine, one of which is an emergency call button and the other is an emergency alarm button. This was certainly not the first time that this alert system helped people in need.
In February of 2021, a five-year-old boy from Hubei province used similar means to get in touch with his family after getting lost.
While the ATMs in the United States of America also have emergency buttons, they are not standardized and they do not alert the authorities. The American Banking Association also said back in 2015, that they are not sure if the panic buttons will keep consumers safer.
