Man trapped in cash machine sends 'help me' note

It's that classic parents' lunchbox joke note: "Help I'm trapped in a sandwich factory."

However, when customers using a cash machine in Corpus Cristi, Texas, received such a message claiming to be from a man stuck inside, it was no laughing matter. Well, at least it wasn't for the engineer who was genuinely trapped for two hours.

"He became stuck when changing a lock to a room that leads to the back of the ATM," police told Sky News.

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"When he realised he was trapped with no way to communicate, he resorted to sliding notes through the slot". The notes contained the phone number of his employer and were initially treated as a joke - until eventually the police were called and heard "a faint voice from inside the machine".

The messages contained the phone number of his employer and were initially treated as a joke. Eventually, however, the police were called and heard "a faint voice from inside the machine".

Lieutenant Chris Hooper said: "Apparently he left his cell phone and the swipe card he needed to get out of the room outside in his truck.

"You'll never see this again in your life that somebody's stuck in the ATM machine. It was just great."

However, not all "help me..." notes have such happy endings.

In July 2015, people who bought bottles of Sobe water, owned by soft drinks giant PepsiCo, began uncovering printed notes on the inside of the bottle cap that appeared to be from a distressed worker trapped in the company's factory.

The Independent says many of them took to the SoBe Facebook page to express concern, only to be told it was a joke that had gone wrong.