Story from Long Ago

The following is a story from Sophomore year during All-City:

Ok, so it was sophomore year during All-City. Towards the end of All-City (leading up to the concert) we have several all-day rehearsals. These rehearsals can get a bit long, but luckily we get breaks every so often. Well, during one of those breaks, a friend of mine (named Ian) went down into the commons of the school we were in to buy some water. We bought our water and left, passing another fellow clarinet player going the opposite way. Just as we were about to exit the commons we heard a thud, followed by a blood-curdling "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!, subtended with severe beating of a vending machine. Ian and I run back over to the machine to see what happened. You're not going to believe it.

Our friend was simply trying to buy a bottle of milk. This is what the milk machine looked like.



This particular milk machine was empty on the bottom row because obviously milk on the bottom row tastes so much better and people bought it first. The bottom row is indicated here.



Unlike other vending machines which just drop the product into the bottom of the machine, the milk machine actually ejects the milk with quite a bit of force. Here's what prompted the screaming. Our friend paid his $2.00 and selected which bottle of milk he wanted. It was near the top. The machine ejected the milk, which fell to the bottom of the machine at a high velocity.



At the bottom it BOUNCED BACK UP and landed in one of the empty spots on the bottom row! In order for this to have happened, the milk would have had to stay perfectly aligned with the rows as it fell, and had to have been traveling so fast that it could bounce the 5 inches straight back up, and landed perfectly in the bottom row, ready to be sold again. Our friend was miserable. We, however, were laughing absolutely hysterically and to this day still tell this story (which is why I'm blogging it). He spent another $2.00 to get his milk, and this time it didn't bounce back up. I hope it was great milk, because it cost $4.00, but the story was priceless.