Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[Ohiopirate02]

18 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I'm in NC too.  You must be in Pitt, Orange, Durham or Wake County.  Just guessing based on the drunk college student part. lol 

I'm in Pitt, and the city of Greenville conceded pretty early on that Halloween was still going to happen this year.  They want a smaller event than what would usually happen on a Saturday Halloween, but they are not stopping it.  I think it would take Gov. Cooper ordering bars to close on that night to minimize, but even then the party would move on over to somewhere else.  Which would actually be like what happened back in my day.  It used to be that Halloween happened in one area filled with apartments (my little brother actually lives there right now).  You chose to live in those complexes because of Halloween and all of your friends would naturally show up at your place.  Many of the apartment dwellers would mix up a large batch of PJ to share, but BYOB was also permitted.  Underaged drinkers galore.  Halloween slowly morphed into getting all of the drunk college kids into the commercial area of downtown to better keep an eye out.  

[frenchtoast]

1 hour ago, doodlebug said:

When I was a teen, we lived in a condo development with about 200 units and a bunch of kids.  The surrounding area had a lot of homes set well back from the road with few sidewalks.  People used to drop their kids off in our subdivision so they could hit a hundred or more houses in short order since door-to-door trick or treating wasn't feasible in many areas.  I can remember my dad keeping count and we'd get up to 300 trick or treaters.  So many that my dad would have us go through our bags and 're-distribute' any candy we didn't like.  You could do stuff like that in the early 70's and not worry about it too much.

I live in a residential area with a lot of kids; I usually get 75-100 trick or treaters.  I'm not expecting many this year, though.  My neighbors on either side have young kids and I imagine they'll bring them over to my yard so I can see their costumes, but we'll keep socially distant.  I am thinking of building one of these, though, it looks like fun:

 

We have a balcony in our new house that we have some Halloween lights strung up on. I was joking with Mr. Toast that we should get some PVC pipe and have a chute for candy. I bet the kids would love it. Trick or treating seems ok to me--with masks and it's a quick toss of candy in a bag it seems like the holiday celebration most suited to this pandemic. The parties, haunted houses etc, that's not doable. But trick or treating seems ok. It's a new neighborhood for us but I've seen a few kids and it's a development well-suited for trick or treating, so I'm guessing we'll get quite a few. It's TX in one of the many new neighborhoods built north of Plano/Dallas so homes close together, well-lit and sidewalks.

[Jynnan tonnix]

When we first moved to the USA, we knew nothing about trick-or-treating - they didn't do it in England (though I understand that it has finally drifted over there in recent years). My mom learned something about it, and I guess I probably heard about it at school as well, but since we had only arrived in the country about a month previously, there was not much of a learning curve there. So Mom made up a couple of dozen nice little frilly packages with a few candies in them, and I joined a small group of kids whom I really didn't particularly know. We lived in an apartment complex, too, with a lot of young families, so Mom's little handouts were gone within minutes, and she had to ransack the house to find anything else to hand out. I got back after probably less than half an hour, and she ended up giving away most of my haul for the neverending stream of trick-or-treaters still coming to the door. 

Where we live now, and have been for going on 8 years, we have never had a single trick or treater come to the house, so we don't bother buying candy anymore. We are on a fairly steep hill with really bad visibility around the curves, no sidewalks, farmland on one side of the street, and houses pretty widely separated. No kid is going to choose to walk that.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Jynnan tonnix

[SunnyBeBe]

49 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I'm in Pitt, and the city of Greenville conceded pretty early on that Halloween was still going to happen this year.  They want a smaller event than what would usually happen on a Saturday Halloween, but they are not stopping it.  I think it would take Gov. Cooper ordering bars to close on that night to minimize, but even then the party would move on over to somewhere else.  Which would actually be like what happened back in my day.  It used to be that Halloween happened in one area filled with apartments (my little brother actually lives there right now).  You chose to live in those complexes because of Halloween and all of your friends would naturally show up at your place.  Many of the apartment dwellers would mix up a large batch of PJ to share, but BYOB was also permitted.  Underaged drinkers galore.  Halloween slowly morphed into getting all of the drunk college kids into the commercial area of downtown to better keep an eye out.  

Oh yes. I've partied at ECU on Halloween many years ago.  I do fear that without good judgment, it's a recipe for disaster.  I get how it's always been a tradition there and UNC, State, Duke, but, things are different now. After than kind of partying, it may very well get a cluster.  

[Nysha]

14 hours ago, Oldernowiser said:

Is there a “Bah, Humbug” category? As in, buys zero candy, turns lights facing street off, sedates Nervous Dog, sits in the dark and curses all holidays involving unexpected visitors and/or gratuitous loud noises?

This is me, without the nervous pets. I live on the second floor, with indoor stairs, there is no way I'm going to run up and down to give out candy. This year it doesn't matter b/c going door-to-door has  been banned in my town.

[andromeda331]

I love Halloween. Its just so much fun. Dressing up in costumes. The parties and fun. I loved the Halloween parties my elementary school use to have. Then as I got older watching scary and spooky movies. I loved being on the other side handing out candy and seeing what kids dress up as. Some are just so cute! I still remember the cutest little three year old Cookie Monster. She was just so adorable. We've had some years where there were tons of kids and other years there were no kids. All the kids had grown up. We had to wait a few years for families to move into the neighborhood with kids or have kids. I love every year seeing what my nephew dresses up as. We always give him tons of candy and a gift. Yes, we spoil him completely. This year will be different. No trick or treating, no seeing kids dressed up in their costumes. We still got my nephew candy and gift. Lucky for him he aged out of trick or treating last year. But I do feel bad for all the kids who won't be able to go trick or treating, or school parties or anything else. Its just such a fun holiday. They've already had such a hard year and now no Halloween. Our dogs also used go crazy on Halloween too. They were always convinced we were under attack by all the weird things walking around and coming to the door like Zombies, vampires, ballerinas, Vader, and princesses. They never did figure out that they were kids no matter how much we tried to tell and show them what was going on. But since our dog had to be put down in August we won't even have our dog relaxing and not freaking out on Halloween. I'm going to miss celebrating it. Before my medical problems I even dressed up in a costume or wear my Halloween t-shirt even thought it was just to hand out candy. It was so much fun.

Edited October 20, 2020 by andromeda331

[SunnyBeBe]

I have two photos of Halloween that I wish I could find.  I might would even post them, since, no one would likely recognize me. lol One was of me in my genie costume. A friend custom made it for me.  I wore that to a Halloween party at ECU.  Fun times.  The other was a hula girl, complete with a coconut bra and grass skirt!  I wore a swimsuit underneath.  Man, do you ever look back and think, what was I thinking?  lol   I was never afraid of having too much fun.  That's for sure. 

[ChiCricket]

26 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Man, do you ever look back and think, what was I thinking? 

Yes..lol

 I was 16 and almost nine months pregnant (newly married 8 months earlier😁) and I decided to go as a pregnant NUN. (I did win the best costume prize.)😂

Ps a year later I converted and became a Catholic. (I'm agnostic now though)🙃

[Jeeves]

Gosh. I was never much into Halloween, but one time, in the early 90's, I did manage a good costume. I rented some gear and went as an English Bobby (cop). My hair was shoved up under the hat and I glued on a fake mustache. I'd been invited to a Halloween party, and stood there in my costume talking with a small group. The guy standing next to me was a co-worker (from another section of the office, but still he was someone I'd often talked with). Finally, he very politely introduced himself to me - he honestly hadn't recognized me! That was great.

The not-so-great part, was that the stuff that I used to glue on the fake mustache, gave me a splitting headache all evening. Urgh.

[lookeyloo]

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

[GeeGolly]

5 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

Warm thoughts, warm hugs. May you all have moments of peace, light and love during these unimaginably difficult times.

[rue721]

9 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

I am so sorry, @lookeyloo

[On the Bias]

11 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

Holding you and sweet son very, very close, @lookeyloo.  

[Scarlett45]

46 minutes ago, ChiCricket said:

Yes..lol

 I was 16 and almost nine months pregnant (newly married 8 months earlier😁) and I decided to go as a pregnant NUN. (I did win the best costume prize.)😂

Ps a year later I converted and became a Catholic. (I'm agnostic now though)🙃

My Mom was going to be a pregnant nun Halloween 1987 (pregnant with my sister) and my father thought it was in poor taste. So she and I were clowns together- let’s see if I can find the photo (the clown costume accommodated her bumb, my sister was born that January). 

24 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

@lookeyloo I am so very sorry for all you and your family has been going through. 

[emma675]

30 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

lookeyloo, all the love, comfort, and peace to your son, you, and your family.

[Jenniferbug]

@lookeyloo, wishing your family lots of love and peaceful moments during this time. I'm so sorry for all you are going through. 

[doodlebug]

42 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

Always happy to hear from you, even during such a sad time.  I wish you and sweet son and the rest of the family, peace and love and even a little joy as this time of transition is upon you.  God bless you all.

[Lisa418722]

3 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

Hugs and prayers for your son, you, and your family. 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Lisa418722

[Jeeves]

@lookeyloo, wishing you  love. 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Jeeves

[SunnyBeBe]

Lookeyloo, I just saw your post about your son. Sending you and your family comfort and peace. I hope hospice is able to help him and your family.  They have been a great help with my loved one since going with them 2 years ago.  

[Oldernowiser]

Oh, LookeyLou. Sending my heartfelt sympathy and whatever grace and comfort can be found. 

[kaleidoscope]

LOOKEYLOO please know our hearts are with you.

 

[ginger90]

@lookeyloo keeping all of you in my thoughts.

[Madtown]

@lookeyloo Sending you, your family and sweet son, hugs, peace, comfort, and love. My deepest heartfelt sympathy to all of you. ❤️

[marypat57]

@lookeyloo:  many hugs, prayers and good wishes for you and sweet son as you accompany him on this journey.  The hospice teams are such wonderful guides on this journey. 
All of us here in the Prayer Closet are ready to be here whenever you need us. Drinks of any kind and the snack shelves have been fully stocked for the use of you and your family, 24/7.

[marypat57]

Prayers are requested for my 30 yr old niece, a recent nursing school graduate, who was just diagnosed with COVID 19.  Six other nurses on her floor have also been diagnosed. The hospital is in the Southern Tier area of NY.

She seems to be OK so far, a 99.8 temp, congestion and some dizziness.  She has not lost taste or smell, and hopefully will be OK soon.  She is resting at home.

[andromeda331]

I'm so sorry @lookeyloo. Praying for you and your family.
Praying for your niece @marypat57. I hope she's okay.

 

 

[CherryMalotte]

lookeyloo - much love and peace to you and to all in your son's life.  We are all here for you. 

 

58 minutes ago, marypat57 said:

Prayers are requested for my 30 yr old niece, a recent nursing school graduate, who was just diagnosed with COVID 19.  Six other nurses on her floor have also been diagnosed. The hospital is in the Southern Tier area of NY.

Good thoughts to her for a quick recovery.   As much as we got hit in the Chicago area, New York state really took the prize.  Bless all the health care workers a thousand times over.

Speaking of which, Mini Malotte got a positive test today, so I'd like a few good thoughts too.  Probably picked it up from work, and she's beside herself as she hung out here all day Saturday and is worried she spread it to us.  Felt fine Saturday, then Sunday just kinda stuffy then this morning it was the horror show of sore throat/headache/chills/sinus crap.  I told the husband to shove his Covid Conspiracy speak up somewhere (you guess) and be supportive.  Which he will be but he needs to shut up around me, I don't have time for it.  She's heartbroken because the doc/nurse told her to not have contact with her kitty right now either.  I'd take the cat back here for her quarantine, as long as we don't have it.  She's going to call the vet tomorrow and ask about it.   

     

[Olliesmom]

@lookeyloo my thoughts and prayers are with you, sweet son, and all your  family through this very difficult time. 

[SunnyBeBe]

2 hours ago, marypat57 said:

Prayers are requested for my 30 yr old niece, a recent nursing school graduate, who was just diagnosed with COVID 19.  Six other nurses on her floor have also been diagnosed. The hospital is in the Southern Tier area of NY.

She seems to be OK so far, a 99.8 temp, congestion and some dizziness.  She has not lost taste or smell, and hopefully will be OK soon.  She is resting at home.

I’m sending up prayers for your niece and the other 6 nurses on her floor. They are super special people and so very vital to our continued survival. I hope she’ll be one of those who has few symptoms. Please post how she’s doing, when you can. 

[Love2dance]

@lookeyloo my heart is breaking for your family and sweet son’s partner. I hope hospice will help bring you comfort as they have for so many of us. 

@marypat57 and @CherryMalotte, may you and your family members and all the people who have been near them be ok. Such scary times. 

[Nysha]

@lookeyloo, I'm so sorry. 

@marypat57 & @CherryMalotte, I hope your loved ones have a very mild case.

[GeeGolly]

Fuck cancer and fuck covid.

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Fuck cancer and fuck covid.

truer words were never spoken.

@CherryMalotte and @marypat57- healing to your loved ones.

[Madtown]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Fuck cancer and fuck covid.

2020 can fuck right off as well

Hugs, healing, postive thoughts, prayers to all who may need them.

[jcbrown]

On 10/20/2020 at 2:41 PM, lookeyloo said:

Just checking in.  I am sorry to hear about the troubles of my friends here. Life is heck for some of us. 

sweet son is now in hospice. I cannot imagine a life without my precious child. 

 

On 10/20/2020 at 2:50 PM, GeeGolly said:

Warm thoughts, warm hugs. May you all have moments of peace, light and love during these unimaginably difficult times.

I'm so sorry, @lookeyloo. 

[Scarlett45]

I’m very close to my college roommate who lives in Guatemala City- she’s been struggling a lot with COVID and the lock downs. Well our other roommate (who’s she’s close with but I am just social media friends with) had been on my mind so hard the last week.....turns out her mother passed away Monday and she just made it back to Chile from visiting her mom in Connecticut to say her goodbyes. The pandemic had pushed back the trip three times. She won’t be back again for a funeral but I’m so glad she got to say goodbye to her mom. 
 

So weird I had been thinking of her so much. 
 

So much pain and sadness right now. I’m escaping into Halloween Festivities and my One Tree Hill rewatch. 

[Jeeves]

Oh gosh, @Scarlett45, there is indeed too damn much pain and sadness and winter and fear and isolation and general ugliness. I'm imagining a big un-virtual actual warm group hug of all us nice people, and that's a nice thing to think about. Followed by belly laughs. Because.

So here I was, snoozing on the sofa with the football game on, and my mobile phone (across the room of course) blasted out the emergency notification noise. I grabbed it and read an amber alert. Then saw I'd gotten a text. From the issuer of the credit card that I use for - everything. Absolutely everything. 

Fraudulent charges - plural - in the hundreds of dollars were attempted to be placed on the card this evening. Online. 

I got onto the credit card issuer by phone, and in a matter of minutes the card number was closed out and they will FedEx me the new card which should be here Monday. My head is kind of spinning thinking of all the recurring monthly accounts I have on that card. But I'll deal with that when the new card arrives. 

I'm sure I'll never know how my number was stolen. I'm glad the company notified me so quickly. But it sure is unsettling and now I'm going to be checking all my other accounts for signs of fraudulent activity even though that's not logical. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Jeeves
Strange double post - and the site is behaving badly

[crazycatlady58]

@Jeeves do you use Barnes and Noble nook app? They had a random ware attack about weeks ago. They said no cc information was taken just email, addresses and phone numbers but I an suspicious about that.

[Jeeves]

23 minutes ago, crazycatlady58 said:

@Jeeves do you use Barnes and Noble nook app? They had a random ware attack about weeks ago. They said no cc information was taken just email, addresses and phone numbers but I an suspicious about that.

No, I don't use that app. Never got into Nook at all.

I use the card so much these days - including for many small transactions where pre-COVID I would likely have paid cash - and it just takes one bad actor somewhere with a skimmer type device to get the card number. 

I'm going to use my phone's Google Pay feature more often, wherever I can. That's more secure against card skimming. ETA: as @CalicoKitty said below, that's because the credit card number isn't used in the transaction at all (it's like Apple Pay in that respect).

Edited October 23, 2020 by Jeeves

[CalicoKitty]

This has happened to me a couple of times.  Once the card was used in Florida, when I live in California.  No idea how they got the number.  I have one credit card that I use just for online payments.  I keep it in a drawer and never carry it.  So far (knock on wood) that one has never been breeched.  I also subscribe to Life Lock.  They send you alerts when a new account is opened, or a large charge is made.  Then you tell them if it is your transaction or not.  It does give some peace of mind.  It is an unnerving feeling.  I'm glad your credit card company took care of it for you. I also use PayPal as often as I can for online purchases.  That way the actual credit card number is never used.  Good luck.  

Added info:  I also use ApplePay as much as I can.  No cards involved.

 

Edited October 23, 2020 by CalicoKitty
more info added

[Zella]

Glad it was caught quickly, @Jeeves! 

Several years ago I got a text from Discover about suspicious charges. Someone had just used my card info at a vending machine in Virginia to buy about $3 worth of stuff. I immediately called the company and told them I had the card in my hand, was standing in my living room in Arkansas at that very moment, and had never been to Virginia before in my life. They were really good about taking care of it quickly, which I appreciated.

I do quite a bit of the same precautions as @CalicoKitty, including using Paypal as much as possible and having a Lifelock subscription. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Zella

[SunnyBeBe]

I have PayPal and I’m going to get life lock tomorrow. No fraud attempts lately, but lots of odd stuff online, phishing. It’s like something went wild a couple of weeks ago. I received a copy of a receipt from a Best Buy purchase in a nearby town, only it wasn’t me. It wasn’t on my credit card either. I found the person’s name  on line, was employed with a pharm Corp. She purchased some headphones, office stuff, for around $60.00. I figured it was just a mistake.  Contacted Best Buy and they immediately researched it. Made me feel better. It was not on my card. She somehow gave them my phone number that connects to my email address. So that means she never got her receipt. 

[Quof]

5 hours ago, Zella said:

Someone had just used my card info at a vending machine in Virginia to buy about $3 worth of stuff.

That's how the bad actors work. They try a small transaction to see how attentive you are to your account.  Some people wouldn't notice it until they got their monthly statement, so the bad guys know they are off to the races running up charges. Some one like me would notice it immediately and get the account shut down.   It's one of the things that major credit card companies look for to trigger a fraud alert.  

[Lisa418722]

Glad they caught the charges quickly.   A few years ago I was on vacation and I got an email from my credit card that they were questioning some charges.  I called them (while praying for the phone to work since I was in Zion National Park at the time).  No, I had not charged anything on Wal-Mart online at the time because I was on vacation.  Thankfully they did close the account with no problems. My only problem was I was on vacation and could only use my debit card after that point.  I did have to call a couple of places and say "don't use the credit card. Use this card instead."   That was also the year Target was hacked, so I ended up with three different CC numbers in three months.  

Much better than when I still had a Bank of America account and my debit card was hacked.  I noticed there were charges for an online college textbook site and I called the Bank to say it was not my charge.  They were arguing with me that I had charged that.  After I got my money back, I closed the account that I had had for over 20 years.  When asked why was I closing my account after all that time, I just told them poor customer service.  

[GeeGolly]

Is anyone else having trouble with this site? Like getting errors or just spinning after clicking to open a thread? 

[Jeeves]

43 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

Is anyone else having trouble with this site? Like getting errors or just spinning after clicking to open a thread? 

I had trouble with it several times yesterday - from day into evening. Several "timeout" error screens, and then when I hit "submit reply" for the post at the top of this page, it seemed to get hung up. I finally closed it out, and when I reopened the thread, I found my post was there - but it was a double post - everything in order but posted twice. I just opened this page so far today and haven't had trouble. Yet.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Jeeves

[GeeGolly]

5 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

I had trouble with it several times yesterday - from day into evening. Several "timeout" error screens, and then when I hit "submit reply" for the post at the top of this page, it seemed to get hung up. I finally closed it out, and when I reopened the thread, I found my post was there - but it was a double post - everything in order but posted twice. I just opened this page so far today and haven't had trouble. Yet.

Sounds just what I've been running into, on & off, for a few days, today included.

[Mindthinkr]

10 hours ago, Jeeves said:

and it just takes one bad actor somewhere with a skimmer type device to get the card number. 

I have a lead lined card holder. That way they can’t get my numbers from using one of those devices next to my purse. I’m amazed these days at all the scams, and frauds. I especially hate all those phone calls trying to get information or bait me. Now I only answer it if I know the person calling and have no voicemail. If you know me you can text me a message if I can’t come to the phone. 

[Jeeves]

22 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

I have a lead lined card holder. That way they can’t get my numbers from using one of those devices next to my purse. I’m amazed these days at all the scams, and frauds. I especially hate all those phone calls trying to get information or bait me. Now I only answer it if I know the person calling and have no voicemail. If you know me you can text me a message if I can’t come to the phone. 

I was referring more to a skimmer device that someone like a waiter or order taker could use if they handle your card out of your sight. In recent weeks I've done drive-through food orders where I hand my card in through the window and often can't see what the person inside is doing with it. If the person has a little skimmer device hidden on their person they can do a quick swipe of the card to grab my account info. That was a problem some years ago at restaurants - where you give your card to the waiter and they disappear with it to the back, then come back with your bill. I'm sure restaurant managers got wise to that, and the good ones figured out how to set things up so their staff weren't given much leeway to do sneaky sh*t with customers' credit cards. 

As to those RFID blockers, I'm not convinced they do all that much but I suppose they don't hurt either. As I understand it, it's the magnetic stripe on your card that has the important information stored on it; those can't be read remotely. The chips are encrypted and while some information is on them that might be read by a scanning device nearby, it doesn't include your card number (the stripe has that and more). From what I've read, the highest risk of theft of the card information is at the point of sale - where you are actually using the card at a place of business or for an online transaction. 

Speaking of skimmer devices, I saw for myself how effective they can be for thieves. Years ago I took a trip of a lifetime - a tour of Australia and New Zealand. I flew from LAX to Melbourne, and although I hadn't met them until we landed, most of the rest of the tour group was also on that flight. We were met by our tour director at the airport and directed to assemble near a door where we'd eventually board our bus to the hotel. There was of course some waiting around for everyone to clear immigration, baggage claim, etc. It was a rather quiet and out of the way little lobby area, and there was an ATM machine there. This was just when it was becoming practical to use ATMs in a foreign country to get currency, but I'd had time before the trip so had obtained Australian currency at home, and didn't think about using the ATM. A few others in our group decided to use it since it was there in the airport, and we had time while we waited. 

A day or two later, sadly, those who had used the ATM were notified by their credit or debit card issuers that fraudulent charges had been made on their cards from I think France. Their cards were of course blocked, and there they were, Americans in Australia, who had planned to use those cards during the month-long trip - suddenly without those cards. It was determined that there must have been a skimmer device on that ATM, and one guy remembered a young man standing nearby who may have even offered to help him use the ATM. I've since wondered if that ATM was located out of range of the airport surveillance cameras; certainly its out of the way location would make tampering with it easier. I swear, I remember that incident nearly every time I think about using an ATM especially when traveling. I never go near ATMs in little stores or out of the way places. If at all possible I use ATMs located at - and preferably inside - banks.