c4countdown

Just today, I saw someone get a drink out of a vending machine, and it fell down and hit ANOTHER drink below it which fell out due to the impact of the other drink, so the guy got 2 drinks for the price of one! (It also means that the next person to order the drink that the guy got free won't get anything.)

Any other epic tales of vending machines?

Thomas Carey wrote:Any other epic tales of vending machines?

No.

Good story.

I find vending machines really exciting to use. Am I unusual in this regard?

Michael Wallace wrote:Am I unusual?

Well, maybe... I think they're just, well, I dunno. I just think nothing of them; I just do what you do. ...Unless you take the vending machine home with you, then hit it with a hammer to open it, then stuff your face with all the sweets in it. Or anything like that. Not that anyone would do that. Not that anyone SANE would do that.

I'd love to see a vending machine that sells vending machines.

Mark James wrote:I'd love to see a vending machine that sells vending machines.

yeah haha thatd be awesome

The vending machine at our school has no security whatsoever and the front window is left open pretty much all the time. Loads of people take stuff and sell it for a marked-up price.

Old pennies used to work in the change machine in the Stillorgan bowl. Now that you've stopped giggling at the name, Stillorgan, I'll continue: Old pennies were the same size as the now old pound or punt coins. I made what felt like a fortune off this as a kid and can't believe they didn't stop it sooner.

When my dad was in Germany many years ago, he found that shillings were the same size as mark coins, so he could get his cigarettes from HB machines at less than half price

Andy Wilson wrote:Now that you've stopped giggling at the name, Stillorgan, I'll continue

Blimey. Last time I went to Dublin I stayed at the Stillorgan Park Hotel. And it never even occurred to me that the area had a funny name. I'm losing my touch.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Andy Wilson wrote:Now that you've stopped giggling at the name, Stillorgan, I'll continue

Blimey. Last time I went to Dublin I stayed at the Stillorgan Park Hotel. And it never even occurred to me that the area had a funny name. I'm losing my touch.

I bloody well live in Dublin and never noticed. Also I only noticed the other day that Palmerston is Palmerston and not Palmesrtown. Everyone pronounces it like it has the W in it. Apparently there was a vote by the locals to decide whether or not there should be a W.

At university we has a vending machine in our halls of residence. Once it gave out free Aeros (must have set the price to zero. My friend came up to my room and showed me this single Aero that he had taken and he seemed to be feeling really guilty about it as well. I went down with a bag...

Also the pool table took two 20p coins but you could actually use pennies (being basically the same size). And when you pushed the thing in, if you let it out exactly the right number of clicks, you could push it back in again and so get an infinite number of games for 2p.

Gavin Chipper wrote:At university we has a vending machine in our halls of residence. Once it gave out free Aeros (must have set the price to zero. My friend came up to my room and showed me this single Aero that he had taken and he seemed to be feeling really guilty about it as well. I went down with a bag...

Also the pool table took two 20p coins but you could actually use pennies (being basically the same size). And when you pushed the thing in, if you let it out exactly the right number of clicks, you could push it back in again and so get an infinite number of games for 2p.

Ah, broken pool tables. With the one in the college I used to got to you could lift up the whole cushion on one side and manually turn the mechanism to dump the balls out for infinite free games. And on another pool table we played on we used to stuff the pockets with plastic bags so as not to lose the balls back in to the table.

Mark James wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:At university we has a vending machine in our halls of residence. Once it gave out free Aeros (must have set the price to zero. My friend came up to my room and showed me this single Aero that he had taken and he seemed to be feeling really guilty about it as well. I went down with a bag...

Also the pool table took two 20p coins but you could actually use pennies (being basically the same size). And when you pushed the thing in, if you let it out exactly the right number of clicks, you could push it back in again and so get an infinite number of games for 2p.

Ah, broken pool tables. With the one in the college I used to got to you could lift up the whole cushion on one side and manually turn the mechanism to dump the balls out for infinite free games. And on another pool table we played on we used to stuff the pockets with plastic bags so as not to lose the balls back in to the table.

This one wasn't even really broken, just poorly designed. There was another one exactly the same elsewhere at the university, and a washing machine that you could do the click thing with.

Re: Stillorgan/Phil. I went to school across the road from that hotel. To be honest, I don't remember anyone thinking it was funny either until my Swedish mate Rene went to live in Dublin in the mid 00s. Suppose it's all in the pronunciation. Would have definitely bet that Palmerston had a W in it.

Andy Wilson wrote:Re: Stillorgan/Phil. I went to school across the road from that hotel.

What, Oatlands College? Walked past there on our way for Sunday breakfast at a caff in the Stillorgan shopping centre. Small world eh?

That's the one. Most famous pupil being Dermot Morgan. We tried to have him back as our guest of honour for the annual prize giving when we got to 6th year but were politely told to choose someone else by the principal, who didn't have fond memories of him as a student. There was no vending machine in the school.

In the Cohen building at Hull uni (the building I'm mostly in for geography lectures when I can be arsed to turn up) there is a vending machine that has the KitKats set with no price so as soon as it is filled up practically whoever is first to it cleans out the machine. I've yet to be lucky enough to get there first and I'm not sad enough to stalk the guy who fills up the machine. His name is Stephen Morfitt.

A couple of my mates at uni, Dave and Jim, worked for John the vending man for a while, driving round to the different uni sites to refill the vendors or pick them up/drop them off before/after repairs/replacement etc. Was a pretty fun job apparently, but mainly because John was a bit slow and a bit prone to catastrophes like driving into walls or forgetting to tie up the vending machine they were moving in the back of the van, and having it fall over with an almighty crash when they went round a corner. Oh yeah, best bit was it was one of those 'new' (about 5 years ago) vending machines that did freshly-cooked chips and stuff, so it filled the back of the van with oil and chips when it went down.

Matt Morrison wrote:Oh yeah, best bit was it was one of those 'new' (about 5 years ago) vending machines that did freshly-cooked chips and stuff, so it filled the back of the van with oil and chips when it went down.

What. The. Fuck. I have NEVER seen these vending machines or anything quite as awesome as this before. I think the closest I have come is the vending machine that is sometimes in a dentist selling like a toothbrush and toothpaste and stuff which made me go wow.

Yeah I don't know why I never tried it. I'd like to know what the chips tasted like come to think of it.

You've seen hot Pot Noodle ones and stuff though yeah? They're semi-commonplace nowadays.

Matt Morrison wrote:You've seen hot Pot Noodle ones and stuff though yeah? They're semi-commonplace nowadays.

Errrr no, I'm guessing they are just like the ones that sell coffee and hot chocolate.

Matt Morrison wrote:You've seen hot Pot Noodle ones and stuff though yeah? They're semi-commonplace nowadays.

It's a 'no' from me as well, Matt.

Soph K wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:You've seen hot Pot Noodle ones and stuff though yeah? They're semi-commonplace nowadays.

It's a 'no' from me as well, Matt.

Yeah but you're only 10 - I'm double that. By the time you are 20 I reckon babies could be purchased from vending machines.