Roulette Vendor
There’s an elaborate vending machine in the building at which I’m working this week. Rather than dropping cans or bottles down through a slot, the machine employs a motorized arm. The arm first travels along a horizontal track to the column in which the desired bottle resides, and then another motor moves the “hand” vertically up the arm to the correct row. It grabs the bottle and carries it back down to the lower right corner of the machine where it is handed off to another motorized holder that hinges out of the machine, allowing you to retrieve the bottle. The advantage of such a mechanism is that it can purvey large, glass bottles that a standard soda machine could not.
Unfortunately, nobody considered the fact that the labels on the bottles were not designed with a vending machine in mind. The bottles have a front and a back. Only the front of the label tells you what is in the bottle. The majority of the bottles were not facing forwards, so while I could tell the difference between Snapple and Nantucket Nectar, the actual flavors were a mystery.
I was hoping to get a sweet ice tea. I ended up with apple juice.