The march of technology

[quarrel]

Once upon a time, when you visited your friendly, low-tech soda vending machine, each selection had its own individual "Out of Stock" light that would illuminate when the machine was out of that particular beverage.

Then, microchips and control miniaturization occurred, allowing vending manufacturers to replace those costly multiple lights with a single LED. Still, creative programming allowed the potential consumer to discern whether his desired selection was sold out by pressing the appropriate purchase button before inserting his currency.

In this profit-intense age of mega-corporate bankruptcies and insider-trading interior decorators, such pleasantries are cast by the wayside. Our break room is plagued by the presence of a capitalistic monstrosity -- a soda-pop Scrooge that gives the consumer no knowledge of its remaining inventory until after coins have been inserted and a purchase committed to. It's a sad, sad day when a hard-working employee craving a fine cola beverage can be forced by the beverage-industrial complex to spend his hard-earned pay on diet orange.