Nouveux Rich

What do you do when a Coke machine steals your money?

Yesterday I had been walking around outside going to various buildings and such. It was a hot day, in the low 90's. It's not hard to imagine that I became thirsty and when I was walking through one of the buildings, a hospital, I would be incline to stop at a vending machine and purchase that "pause that refreshes".

I picked out my only single dollar, rubbed it out flat and fed it into the dollar slot. The machine was very happy to assist me and pulled the dollar in. We passed that half second when the anxiety rises in anticipation of the qualification of my dollar. Was it good enough, or would it get spit back out? It passed and the amount of $1.00 appeared on the screen.

I made my selection of B-2, an ice cold Diet Coke. This machine was one of those machines that all the bottles are on display. Once a selection is made the little ramp moves up to the row that you selected, the bottle is pushed off the end of the row and slides down the ramp, along the glass window and into the shoot, landing in the spot where it becomes your property. In this case, my cold , refreshing, breathe of life.

After receiving the request of B-2, the machine did nothing. I entered the numbers again- this time controlling my anticipation and making slow deliberate moves: "B", "2". The screen then indicated to me that if I wanted that selection, the cost was "1.00". I tried to enter the number a couple of times trying to convince the machine that I had paid, but it was to no avail. It had forgot about our previous moment of anticipation when it qualified my dollar.

What do you do at this point? I'm in a hospital. Me being thirsty is not an emergency. Me losing a dollar is not anybodies code red. There is no one really to which to complain. I didn't even have any way to leave a warning to other would be victims. It was the perfect crime.

Now, do you find another vending machine and accept that the next coke you buy will be a $2 Coke? Do you pretend that you are no longer thirsty? Can you ever really trust another Coke machine again?

Friends it was hot that day. The sun beat down and warmed the last day of August like it was July. Did I care? No, I was drinking $2/bottle liquid refreshment. It was worth it!