Angie Malone was pulling an all-nighter in Bird Library — her proposal for IST 659 was due at 5 PM the next day — and it came to the point where her hunger pangs made it impossible to concentrate.
A vegan, she was drawn to the $0.85 Swedish Fish offered in a nearby vending machine. She had $1.75 in hand — more than enough — and began to insert a crisp one-dollar bill into the appropriate slot. Evidently, the machine was not accepting paper money that day.
“No problem,” thought Malone, “I’ll just get a cup of coffee from the coffee machine, and with the 50-cents change I’ll receive, I’ll be all set!
The coffee machine took the dollar bill and ate it, dispensing neither coffee nor change. Malone was really freaking out now — she considered going to Kimmel for a bite, then remembered that they don’t accept debit cards. No other places were open — it was really, really late at night. So, with no other choice, she used her check card in the adjacent ATM machine, withdrawing $20.00 after consenting to the $2.00 service charge. After receiving the large bill, she changed it into a 10-dollar and two 5-dollar notes using the large-denomination bill changer next to the ATM. She then inserted one of the 5’s into the change machine, receiving 20 quarters in exchange. She used four of these quarters in an attempt to purchase the aforementioned Swedish Fish.
“Please use exact change,” flashed the digital display on the vending machine. Malone didn’t have any dimes, only quarters (Remember: the snack cost $0.85).
As a last resort, Malone started crawling around on the ground in an attempt to retrieve any coins that might have rolled under the vending machines from past transactions. Eventually, she found what she was looking for underneath a Pages cafe couch cushion and was then able to purchase the fish-shaped candies.
