> As long as we're on the subject of stupidity and snack machines, I have
> to mention that someone who will remain nameless (though I'm pretty sure
> he's on this list) wanted to buy some junk food, but only had a five. I
> didn't have change, so I tried to just give him a dollar, but he refused
> to take it. I told him he could pay me back if he wanted, but he still
> refused. SO, he tries to go buy something with the five -- it took the
> bill and gave him no credit! I told him it was karma. And he still
> wouldn't take the dollar.
Recently (this week), I was struck with the urge to snack -
specifically, I wanted one of those overpriced $1.00 apple pies they've
started selling in the vending machine in AP&M. I plunked my shiny
susan-b into the unit, but it wouldn't accept it, presumably a bit of
coin-currency bigotry on the part of the manufacturer. No problem, I
thought, and I tracked down somebody who would trade me for a dollar
bill.
I came back to the machine armed with the crispest $1.00 bill that
you've ever seen -- I mean, this must have come straight from the mint.
You could have shaved a Remington shave with that particular bit of
legal tender. So when the vending machine wouldn't accept it, I was a
bit confused. I tried inserting it every-which-way, I tried putting in
coins on the theory that the bill reader was simply broken, but nothing
worked, and as far as I could tell it was locked up solid.
Being a good CS major, and more importantly being well-acquainted with
the oftentimes recalcitrant workstations no more than 50 feet to my left,
I reached immediately for L1-A, but no such reset key was to be found.
Alas.
So I rebooted it the hard way. I tracked down the power cord, followed
it to the wall, and removed the plug from the outlet. After waiting the
requisite 30 seconds, I restored power, and watched in amazement as a
half-eaten five dollar bill was spasmodically ejected from the bill
slot. It took almost ten in-and-out cycles before the bill was finally
free and fell to the floor.
After the mechanism was cleared, the machine happily accepted my dollar
bill. With the torn-up bill in pocket, and hard-won Hostess Apple Pie
in hand, I feasted like I'd never feasted before. True bliss, to be sure.
Anyway, if the person who lost that $5 will publicly admit to this act of
utter stupidity in the presence of this estimable group, I'll cheerfully
return the bill. It's actually only about 25% missing, so with some
effort you should be able to exchange it for a new one. Or maybe you
should frame it :-)
-- Adam
[Include the time of the incident so I know you're not just some random
loser trying to trade his reputation for cash. Lemme tell you, for a
measly $5 it's not worth it...]
