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In response to
"I can mostly Fonzi the vending machine at work to dispense 2 Crunch Bars for the price of one. Until today..."
by
Mel Profit
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i have a similar story from several years ago, involving a change machine ...
Posted by
call me Ishmael (aka pacrat)
Apr 12 '17, 12:59
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so, several years ago (we'll just say more than 5), i was temporarily out of work. One day, i went by a certain local big-box store, the name of which you'd recognize but will remain unnamed for sake of this story, so that i could pick up a few necessities.
in teh lobby area, there was a change machine, 2 or 3 arcade games, and a crane game. i didn't really have a lot of money to spare at the time, being between jobs, but i figured i could spare a dollar for a game.
i went to the change machine, put in a dollar, and ...
got 5 quarters back instead of 4.
A fluke, right?
that's what i thought, but i put a 2nd dollar in just to see. after all, what's the worst that will happen? get only 3 quarters back? i'd still break even, 8 total quarters for 2 dollars ...
but i got another 5 quarters for a dollar.
i had 1 more dollar bill on me, and i tried again with the same results.
i had a couple of larger bills on me -- a 10 perhaps, or a 20 ... i went in to the customer service desk, and asked for change, all 1's. i then returned to the change machine adn got to work.
the long and short of it is that more times than not, i got 5 quarters for a dollar. i took my bulging pocket of change home, wrapped them up in a coin wrapper or two, and went to the bank, getting paper money for it all. (and yes, all in 1's).
i returned to the story and repeated my work with predictably similar results. I didn't get 5 quarters every single time, but i think i kept track of it and had it figured at about a 70% success rate getting back more than i put in.
someone must have gotten wind of it, though. after i left the 2nd time to go to the bank and turn in my quarters and then went back to the store, there was a guy in the foyer area. i changed a couple of dollars before figuring that this guy had walked in behind me to "fix the machine properly" ... so i left without getting any more greedy than i was.
in a couple of hours, though, i'd managed to profit about $20.
I guess ST will brand me a petty thief and criminal now for this confession. :)
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