Vending Problems

Two consistent frustrations of mine are the old vending machine at my office and the incompetence of its filler (best word I could think of). I've wasted countless coins on this ancient device and while all it takes to recoup the losses is to fill out a mini-manila envelope and wait til the guy replaces the cash during his next visit, the retribution I see a week later does nothing to appease the Butterfinger craving I might be feeling at any given late afternoon day.

My angst at the problems with the machine go deeper than just its deficiencies at the point of dispensing, but with the variety of goodies placed in the machine. If you'll kindly take a look at the picture above, which was taken recently, the lack of creativity is mildly disappointing at best.

Let's start by totally dissing the 'Wise' company. Wise chips are obviously the poor man's Lay's, and by no means should those little mini-bags be considered anything more than a dime bag of crappy, burnt-up chips.

Secondly, who would ever buy microwave popcorn out of a vending machine? Microwave popcorn is gross enough after sitting in a box in your pantry for years on end, I'd hate to get involved with a bag that's been rotting in a dusty vending machine. Act II? Yea right.

The most blatant problems come with the laziness of the loader. Granted, the guy who fills the vending machine is likely fairly unhappy with his life's work, but I always consider the vending proprietor to be somewhat of an artist. Just think of it, there's nothing better than walking up to a vending machine and seeing the perfect blend of salt and sweet, the cornucopia of unhealthy snacks that help us navigate the dark hours of 2:30-5 on a Friday afternoon.

In this case, we have three bags of pretzels and two selections of Reese's Cups. Where's the creativity in that? Why not substitute the second Reese's for a Twix? Or the second bag of pretzels for a Salt and Vinegar? And don't even get me started on the third bag of pretzels. I'd rather see wet-naps in that thing than a third bag of pretzels.

I'd bring this up to someone in my building, but I'm figuring the only person considering these options is yours truly. I figure the best course of action is to cope and move on...one, two and three bags of pretzels at a time.