A contractor became trapped inside an ATM in Texas, and resorted to slipping notes to customers through the receipt slot pleading for them to help him escape.

Police in Corpus Christi said the man, who had left his mobile phone in his truck, became stuck when he was changing a lock on a Bank of America room that leads to the ATM. He passed notes through the ATM receipt slot to people withdrawing cash, imploring them to call his boss. Unfortunately for the man, several ATM users who got a note thought they were being pranked and apparently did nothing.

One ATM user, who heard a faint voice coming from the ATM, finally called the police, and an officer kicked in the door to the room, freeing the man.

The officer, like previous bank patrons, initially thought the note was a joke, some sort of “Candid Camera”-type prank that no one wanted to fall for.

It took about 30 minutes for the police to release him “from captivity, basically,” Gena Pena, a spokeswoman for the Corpus Christi Police Department said. No criminal act had been committed, so the police did not file a report, she said, adding that the man was not technically “in distress.” He was, however, “mortified,” Ms Pena said.

“He just wants it to go away.” Perhaps as a result, neither the man nor his contracting company wanted to be interviewed. The contractor “didn’t think this was going to happen, obviously,” Ms Pena said. “I feel bad for him.”

PA and New York Times