Sunday, February 21, 2010

Lunch Room Slot Machine

You know one of the main reasons why I hate cold weather?  No, it's not that I have to bundle up like an Inuit going to prom.  Or that my skin becomes so dry that I am afraid the friction of my skin on the sheets at night may start some sort of fire.  It's that my fancy Jeep Liberty constantly tells me that one of the tires is a few PSI lower than it should be.  So I have become an expert on which gas stations have free air and which ones I have to pay mad bank for.

On Friday morning, as I was running out the door in my usual "crap I have to be at work in 15 minutes" kinda way, my car alerted me to the fact that I could use some air.  Since I wasn't about to be late to work, I thought I would do it on the way home.  Unfortunately, the gas station between my office and the highway (I was headed out of town right after work) cost 75 cents to use the air machine.  Knowing that I was all out of quarters I had to figure out how to break a $1 bill.

Ah ha!  I thought.  The vending machine!

The crafty wench that I am came up with the idea to put my $1 bill into the vending machine but, instead of selecting a package of Oreos (my fav) I hit refund and it would spit out 4 quarters.

I headed off the the break room and was about to put my dollar in when I noticed a bag of Lay's chips stuck about halfway.  Here is a little known fact about modern vending machines: If the item doesn't fall past the "eye" then the machine will refund you the money.  It is a better system than having to purchse a second item to push the first item down.  I say this is a little known fact because no one in my office seems to know about it.  Which is why when I saw the Lay's stuck, I decided to push the refund button and low and behold, I was granted with an extra 80 cents.  I then proceeded to get my quarters (because the 80 cents came out with too many dimes for the air machine) and happily walked back to my desk.

You may not think 80 cents is a lot but since this is not the first time this has happened, nor do I think it will be the last, that stuff really adds up.  Which is good, because soon I will need a new laptop*.

~ The Office Scribe

* Should you have extra change sitting around and want to donate it to the "Office Scribe Mac Book Pro Fund" let me know.  I'll set up a PayPal account and praise you for spending your money on a worthy cause instead of the likes of Haitian orphans or Lindsay Lohan.

P.S. - If you are looking for a new blog to read, head over to I Like To Fish and watch the video where Travis sticks an entire Q-tip in his navel.  It's both disturbing and fascinating.  Like German porn.

5 comments:

Erika said...

OMG my Mini does the same thing. It freaked me out the first time it happened so I called the dealership and they said if there is a dramatic change in temperature to just ignore it, so I do. Hope I don't blow up on the highway.

The Princess of Sarcasm said...

I say you have to buy the next round of drinks since you are rich now!

Ducky said...

Oh man! I wish I didn't work in the ghetto and we had a new machine. Ours is circa 1972 and rarely works!

The Office Scribe said...

Oh, ours doesn't work that well and I don't live in the ghetto. Everything always gets stuck, which is why I am increasing my retirement account 80 cents at a time.

Lis said...

Actually in winter it is good to be a little low in your tire pressure. It prevents getting a blown out tire from the combo of the cold and overinflation.