For the past two weeks, people across Greece have asked two questions on the phone with their friends waiting at ATMs: Is there a line? And does it have money?

The long lines at money machines have emerged as a key symbol of a nation in crisis. Since June 29, capital controls, designed to keep money within Greek borders, have restricted daily withdrawals to 60 euros per day. It has wreaked havoc on daily life in a country where most people pay for nearly everything in cash.

It's also led people to devise creative ways to game the system.

"My parents go to the ATM just before midnight, then get back in line and withdraw again at 10 past," said 18-year-old Anna Chatziparisi, a student. Other tips being spread among people include avoiding ATMs with no lines in busy areas — they likely don't have money — and keeping an eye out for machines in uncommon spots, such as inside hospitals, schools and supermarkets.

As Greek and other European leaders enter their second day of heated discussions over Greece’s latest bailout proposal, ordinary Greeks are worried that they won’t be able to withdraw money within the next few days – and that their deposits won’t be safe when the banks reopen.

Financial analysts have warned that banks may run out of cash by Monday if a deal is not reached this weekend. For days, ATMs have been running low on ten and 20-euro banknotes, meaning many people have only been able to withdraw 50 euros per day.

Several major companies – including supermarket chains Sklavenitis and AB Vassilopoulos along with electronics retailer Kotsovolos – paid their employees in cash this week. Had they paid by direct deposits to employees' bank accounts, they would not have had access to their funds.

People stand in a queue to use ATM of a bank as others sit on chairs put out from the branch in Athens.

But other Greek companies did not pay their employees at all.

The Greek government has stepped in to help where it can. In the Athens metropolitan area, home to 4 million of Greece’s 11 million citizens, all forms of public transportation have been free for the past two weeks.

The government also reached agreement with telecommunications firms so they would not cut off Internet and phone access for people who can’t pay their bills. Public utility companies have also promised not to interrupt access.

People wait for public transportation at a bus stop in central Athens. Public transportation is currently free as Greece tries to keep its economy running without much money. Image: Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Many have been unable to pay their rent. Chatziparisi, for example, is goes to school in England and hasn't been able to pay her landlord electronically, as she usually does. Greeks are restricted from sending money across borders with their Greek bank cards.

Her saving grace? "He's been on vacation, " says Chatziparisi, who is home in Greece for the summer. "I haven't been able to reach him so I don't think he's noticed."

Fotis Georgopoulos, a 40-year-old cab driver in Athens, says he’s never seen so many customers short on cash.

“They get in and they tell me, ‘I have this much. How far can you take me?’” he says. If he can, he’ll take them the full route, he says. But his business has fallen greatly over the past few weeks.

Sometimes people are not paying at all. On the islands of Santorini and Agistiri, ATM machines ran out of money within the first few days of capital controls, according to news reports. With few public transportation options on Greek islands, some tourists felt they had no choice but to stiff local cab drivers.

Santorini, one of Greece's most beautiful islands, used to attract tourism and competitions like this Red Bull Art of Motion. Now it is struggling for money. Image: Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull/SIPA/Associated Press

Such tales have spurred tens of thousands of hotel and booking cancellations across the Greece just as the country hits the peak of its tourist season. Tourism accounts for about 17% of the Greek economy.

The retail sector is feeling the crunch, too. Stores in Athens are plastered with advertisements for sales and special prices weeks before the usual summer sale period. Restrictions on ATM withdrawals mean people are spending their cash on staples like food and gasoline instead. So retailers are practically begging people to keep spending with credit and debit cards.

In a statement Thursday, the National Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship said it “urges customers to forget closed banks and restrictions on access to their accounts and take advantage – with their credit cards – the opportunities that will undoubtedly make for cheap shopping.”

A boy plays with a small Greek flag in a shop for tourists in the old town of Kos on Kos island, Greece. Tourism spending is down but Greece is encouraging people to buy, buy, buy, and sales are getting more prevalent. Image: Santi Palacios/Associated Press

Bigger-ticket items, however, have seen sales increases over the past two weeks as people flock to stores for “panic buying”: people are afraid prices will shoot up if Greece leaves the euro. Electronics, home appliances and jewelry have sold especially well.

Greeks are also loading up credit and debit cards because they fear a bail-in, a situation where Greece would skim money from people’s deposits to avoid a banking system collapse as happened in Cyprus in 2013. Newspapers have floated the idea of a possible “kourema” – the Greek word for “haircut” – of 30% on accounts over 8,000 euros when banks reopen.

In public statements, however, Greece’s Bank Association dismissed these reports as baseless. But many Greeks have lost faith in their government throughout the six-year financial crisis and particularly in recent months.

One 33-year-old mother of two in Athens says she has been spending heavily over the last two to bring her 14,000-euro bank account below 8,000. She has paid off all her bills with her debit card. And she also spent at least 1,000 euros on winter clothing for her children.

“I do not have a problem if they were to ask me for the money so that I can help my country,” she said. “But I will not allow them to take it from me without asking.”

“We are Greek,” she added. “We have learned to think like this over the past few years.”

A Bitcoin ATM in Texas. In the past month, the machines have started popping up in Greece as bitcoin advocates hope to gain fans who despair of getting cash. Image: Eric Gay/Associated Press

The capital controls are also sparking entrepreneurs to come up with innovative workarounds.

On Saturday, Spanish startup Bitchain installed Greece's first two-way bitcoin ATM. The virtual currency is not tied to geography or government-run financial systems, which means users aren't restricted to capital control limits. And because the machine is two-way, people who use the virtual currency can both buy and sell bitcoins and euros.

The machine, located at an Athens-based startup and coworking space called The Cube, has a withdrawal limit of 1,000 euros. For now, the machine does not charge a commission for each transaction.

"The freedom bitcoin gives you is greater than the freedom euros give you right now," said 23-year old Bitchain representative Adrian Verde at a gathering Saturday of a dozen bitcoin entrepreneurs who had flocked to Greece to discuss increasing bitcoin use here. "Everyone presumes that a bank won't fail them, but right now has demonstrated that banks can't be trusted because people can't get their own money."

Verde dubbed bitcoin "Greece's Plan B." If there was a similar crisis with a bitcoin-based currency, he added, people would not be restricted from accessing their funds. Demand for bitcoin in Europe has picked up in recent weeks, shooting up 500% in Greece alone. About 20 people made 2,000 euros worth of bitcoin transactions on Bitchain's machine on Saturday, Verde said. Bitchain's ATM brings the number of bitcoin kiosks in Greece to four, with three installed just this weekend. The first came to Greece less than a month ago.