# Evil Coke Machine: Stop Stealing My Money **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 24, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302 "2005-05-24T18:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/1 "2005-05-24T18:26:36Z")
It’s my own fault, really - I foolishly believed that, by putting a dollar bill into you, you would give me a can of Coke and 50 cents that I could give to the next machine in exchange for a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie. Instead, you gave me no Coke and no money back. And it was my last dollar bill, so now I sit here with no snacks. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/2 "2005-05-24T18:52:24Z")
Ooh, that happened to me at work once. I put in my money for a sandwich, was going to use the change for a drink and instead I got nada. For some reason one of my co-workers thought it was funny. No dinner _and_ I’m being laughed at? I wanted to smack her until I felt I’d gotten $5 worth. Sorry about your snacks. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/3 "2005-05-24T20:12:47Z")
You know, a couple of weeks ago I put money into a coke machine and got _two_ cokes! HA-ha!!! Just think of them as gambling machines, where you never quite know what your payoff will be … ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/4 "2005-05-24T20:24:49Z")
596 posts in two years and all you got is a coke machine took my money? Sheesh… How about this one, I put my sox on this morning and one of them had a hole in it. Darn. Golly. ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/5 "2005-05-24T20:31:16Z")
But it was a whole dollar! And it was my last dollar! I had to spend my afternoon uncaffeinated! And I guess I’m pitting myself, because this Coke machine has stolen my money several times before, yet I keep using it. Stupid JerH. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/6 "2005-05-24T20:32:45Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > … I put my sox on this morning and one of them had a hole in it. Darn. Golly. Well, if you’re going to darn it, what’s the problem? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/7 "2005-05-24T20:33:46Z")
It’s not just the money: it’s losing your money _and_ not getting the snack you were craving. Talk about hitting you when you’re down… Come to think about it, my instance could have been karmic payback for all the free games of pinball I played back when I was a kid and my uncle had a quarter on a string. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/8 "2005-05-24T20:34:06Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Well, if you’re going to darn it, what’s the problem? > 😃 😃😃😃😃😃🆒🆒🙂🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/9 "2005-05-24T20:50:28Z")
Once I put in .75 for orange soda, and ended up with four of them. Beat that. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/10 "2005-05-24T20:53:27Z")
I once put a dollar in a coke machine, and then five years later, BAM! Herpies. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/11 "2005-05-24T21:15:17Z")
I took your dollar, as advance payment for moving this thread to MPSIMS. I drank your Coke too. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/12 "2005-05-24T21:23:23Z")
The vending machines at school did this. Very annoying. On the up side, they sometimes gave out free stuff. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/13 "2005-05-24T21:30:53Z")
All the profits from our Coke machines go to the local school for the blind. They teach students vocational skills, like filling Coke machines. You can always tell when there’s a new trainee. Push the Sprite button and out comes a Dr Pepper. Woo Hoo! It’s better than Vegas! ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/14 "2005-05-24T21:44:53Z")
I have no fun Coke story, but I once got over ten bags of Doritos for 75 cents… there were a bunch of bags pressed up against the glass in two neighboring rows, and I figured I’d take a gamble on it… sure enough, all of one row fell, taking the neighbor out with it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ladybug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/15 "2005-05-25T00:33:08Z")
> [@DarkSideoftheFloyd](#): > > Once I put in .75 for orange soda, and ended up with four of them. > > Beat that. I once put in 50 cents for a Diet Coke and ended up with the machine spitting its entire inventory over the sidewalk. I went inside to find a store clerk. When we got back outside the machine was still dropping one can per second. There must have been 50 cans on the ground by that point. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/16 "2005-05-25T00:47:48Z")
We used to have a Coke machine at work that would sometimes take your money and not give you anything. The next time someone put money in, however, it would kick out two cans. Every time. People had a custom of folding a napkin and sticking it in the coin slot of any vending machine that was on the fritz. Napkin flag in the Coke machine=free Coke. I got a lot of those. I once got four cans of V-8 for the price of one. I took the one I paid for, and left the other three as a surprise for someone else. Good karma, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/17 "2005-05-25T02:27:56Z")
> [@ladybug](#): > > I once put in 50 cents for a Diet Coke and ended up with the machine spitting its entire inventory over the sidewalk. > > I went inside to find a store clerk. When we got back outside the machine was still dropping one can per second. There must have been 50 cans on the ground by that point. Oh yeah? Well I once put a quarter in a vending machine and it EXPLODED. Beat that. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evil-coke-machine-stop-stealing-my-money/305302/18 "2005-05-25T13:35:30Z")
> [@ladybug](#): > > I once put in 50 cents for a Diet Coke and ended up with the machine spitting its entire inventory over the sidewalk. > > I went inside to find a store clerk. When we got back outside the machine was still dropping one can per second. There must have been 50 cans on the ground by that point. Why doesn’t this ever happen when I got ATMs?