Human Relations

To the Editors of the Crimson:

I am addressing this letter to you, since to some degree it concerns your area of jurisdiction, painting as it does a small portrait of Cambridge only one of the portraits, I hope.

Last night my husband, a professor in the city, was driving out to use the automatic teller at his bank, the Cambridge Trust Company. Harvard Square branch, when he noticed a slow leak in his tire had rendered it nearly flat. Pulling into a Central Square service station, he was informed that use of the air pump cost 50 cents. Upon checking his pockets, he discovered that he had no money, not indeed any change, though he did have a money order for $20 which he was on his way to deposit. The attendant would not allow him to till his tire without paying. My husband offered him the money order, having explained his situation and purpose, shown his identification. etc, No go He then offered to leave the money order to leave his identification, to leave his watch with the attendant, if only he'd fill up the live, enabling him to go to the bank and return with the 50cents the attendant refused. So he had to catch a cab to his bank in Harvard Square to get money from the automatic teller to redeem his car. But the automatic teller was inoperative, instructing him to proceed to the branch in Central Square However his cab driver, despite his knowledge of the whole situation, refused to take him to Central Square, finally accepting a cheque for the distance already covered after much argument My husband then caught another cab (again explaining the situation) only to discover that the Central Square automatic teller, too, was inoperative. This cab driver would not accept the money order or a cheque, forcing my husband to go on to yet another branch of the same bank to no avail. The cab driver then took him to two places where the driver knew the proprietor, but neither would cash the money order, despite being apprised of the situation. Finally, by happenstance, they tried a Dunkin Donuts, where the money order was cashed, and my husband was able to pay the accumulated cabfare, plus that accrued in getting him back to his car. Luckily, since the tire only suffered a slow leak, it wasn't ruined, and he was able to pay the attendant his 50cents drive away. After all that, when most service stations in the country still offer air for free.

We are not from Massachusetts. We find this shocking because of what it reveals about the whole social fabric not just the mechanical failures of the automatic tellers, but the breakdown in human relations as well. Who would have thought that a drive to the bank could entail such a risk? Who would have thought one could go through all that due to a temporary lack of 50 cents? God help the people who are short of money all the time. I hope you will print this, so that people will know that there's more than one kind of crime on the street to worry about. D. Collier