Self-checkout machines handle ordinary purchases, but one customer discovered another service hiding inside the cash-back option.

This man’s half-full cart became a series of tiny transactions, each followed by a withdrawal.

Register after register joined his improvised banking operation while the supervising employee watched the pattern unfold.

Check out the full story.

Played self checkout for an ATM

Back in the bad old days when I worked retail, cashier at an everything store, I was in charge of self-checkout one day.

It was early, nothing going on, few customers.

But that’s when something peculiar unfolded right before the employee’s eyes.

A guy with a half-full cart came into self-checkout and scanned… one item. He paid for it and got cash back.

He scanned another item, paid, and, you guessed it, got cash back again. After a few times, he moved registers. Same thing.

This employee didn’t even know what to do.

The guy visited at least three before finishing. I didn’t say anything about it to him because, as far as I know, there hadn’t been a rule against it.

But I was told not to allow that in the future. Three machines had to close all morning until the cash could be refilled.

This isn’t an ATM, sir!

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

This feels like a “phone a friend” type situation.

One particular detail sticks out for this user.

This commenter can’t decide whether to fault the customer for simply using his resources.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tech support worker who told a manager a computer needed replaced, only to be told no thanks.

This user has attempted something similar in the past.

The customer repeatedly purchased single items for cash back, eventually draining three separate self-checkout machines.

All three registers remained closed that morning until they could be refilled, and employees were told to prevent future repeats.

He avoided an ATM fee by personally triggering a three-branch banking crisis before breakfast.