Billosaur's Journal: Persistence Doesn't Always Pay Off

Imagine if you will, a vending machine. The vending machine contains snacks and beverages that your typical office worker would enjoy. It also has slots for coins and the usual bill reader.

Now as we all know vending machines are traps. Inevitably they will take your money, you will not get what you want, and the chances are pretty good that the note you leave on one will be ignored by the technician who comes to service it ("It stole my money and didn't give me my Ring Dings!").

But you can get amusement from them, watching co-workers trying to wrest something from the machine. The best is when someone tries to use the bill reader to purchase something, only to have the bill come back out. I watched such a display for a good 5 minutes today, as someone went through at least 3 different (and perfectly acceptable) dollar bills trying to get the machine to accept one. I suspect the process is a lot like what goes on with a slot machine -- you keep trying until you get something for your trouble. I tend to think though that'll you'll have a better chance getting something out of the slot machine.

Curiously...

[Otter]

For weeks, the vending machine on our floor wouldn't rotate all the way and the purchased food would hang. People either would buy a second one to get the first or just walk away. Eventually, I was the only with the energy to complain enough to get it fixed.

A couple of months later, it was still dropping food correctly, but started shorting people on change. They went nuts! (I think I had a JE about this.) I couldn't understand it -- 65 cents for nothing didn't bother them but 75 cents for a 65 cent candy b

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[nizo]

I thought that was why people shook machines, to get the food that was barely hanging on. At the very least you got to release some frustration, plus you get the added rush from the possibility of being crushed by the machine :-) And I don't know how many times I get bonus items because the last four people were too lazy to shake the machine.

(NOTE: shaking machine may cause death!)

Brilliant!

[nizo]

You know, I just realized that if slot machines actually showed you stacks of cash inside, people would play them more. I mean think about it, as you stand there drooling over the last Hershey bar, you can actually see the item you desire. So close, and yet so far away, but it certainly is a good visual motivater.

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[Billosaur]

Congratualtions! You have just found your million-dollar idea! Except... slot machines are starting to accept cards which contain the number of credits you have available. Slip it in the slot and bingo (no pun intended), the machine knows how much you have and can add and subtract the winnings accordingly. I guess the mechanisms for dispensing tokens break easily after hard use, so it's easier to just fill and empty a plastic card. However, most of the machines use both systems, so at least for a while ther

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[nizo]

Oh the slot machines don't have to actually dispense the cash; it could just be there for show :-) Kinda like some (non)vending machines....