Mike O’Brian’s ‘Vending’ Machine Dilemma Solved

It happens to all of us when trying to get that one item out of the vending machine at work! I just had this craving for some Red Vines and there just happened to be one package left in the machine at the time. I got my money, put it in, pushed D1 and, with great anticipation, I waited for the package to fall and enjoy!

Well, to my dismay, they got stuck! Like everyone else does, I tried to rock the machine back and forth hoping they would drop. However, this was a new and bigger vending machine that I wasn't used to and even with all my strength, I couldn't get it to budge! And don't think I didn't try at least two or three times from every angle to get this machine to move...it wasn't happening!

So the next best thing to do was to send out an all employee email making those aware that if indeed the Red Vines were to fall, they could open the package, take one out for themselves, then return the rest of the package to ME!

I waited for days and would even go into the kitchen area where the vending machine called home to see if the package was still there or, by some chance, I could muster up more strength than I did when they originally got stuck to get the Red Vines to fall...and again, wasn't going to happen!

Finally after days of waiting a co-worker had approached me with the unopened bag of Red Vines! Uh, best day ever! I asked how this was possible when I couldn't even get the machine to budge? She had told me that the vending machine guy came in to re-stock. Yet I noticed that the bag had not been breached, so without hesitation, I offered a string of licorice up, but the co-worker said just getting the bag to it's rightful owner was good enough!

I know we've all had those moments at the vending machine when this has happened, but my question would be: How long did you have to wait? And it' always happens when that's the last few coins you have in your pocket! Needless to say, it's a story we can all share and we all have our own "vending machine" stories...but thankfully, mine had a happy ending!