Did you notice that the prices in the vending machines just went up another
5 cents?  What a rip off, that's about 25% inflation per year.  Soda used to
be 50 cents is now 65, and candy is now 55 cents for smaller amounts.  Who's
in charge of these bandits?  What's to be done?

How about self-serve sodas in the Engineering refrigerator?  We keep a stock of
various flavors in the cooler, available to anyone for a reasonable price (about
35 cents/can) on a honor system.  If the sodas get paid for, the practice
continues.  If they get ripped off, the practice stops.  If you don't have the 
cash, an IOU is OK too.

We could fund this initially from the donut fund, or interested parties could put
up some cash.  

How about sodaheads, any interest?
					-- jim

Ok, there's plenty of interest in having cheap soda in the Engineering cooler.
Now, those of you who are interested, what flavors and about how much per week
do you consume?

Also, Chris thought that we should share the fetching and stocking duties;
those participating taking turns on a regular basis.  That's cool with me,
are YOU still interested?

							-- jim

Ok so there is plenty of interest in getting communal soda 
but has anybody noticed that the "Mousy" beer they are selling 
in the Cafe has no kick to it?  

Ok so how about an "Engineering Beer Cooler"?  Why heck we
could set up neat bar area with like a stuffed mouse head
and some neat tall vinyl bar stools and maybe a dart board.


Come on let's organize!

.. and the bar needs bartops like SHOOZ, HORSE and RELIEF PITCHER....

Or we could put Hard Drivin' in it and call it "Veers".
Or put BMX in it and call it "Gears".
Or Audio Group could run it and call it "Ears".
Or we could go there if Nintendo wins the suit and call it "Tears".

"You want a place where everybody knows your Game."

Greetings sodaheads,
	I have stocked the refrigerator in the common area with various soda
flavors.  These are available to you and yours for the pittance cost of 35
cents per can, (or 45 cents/can for the Koala Springs).  The sodas for sale
are all on the bottom two shelves of the refrigerator in cases.  There are a 
few loose sodas in there already; I put them on the upper shelves so nobody
takes them by mistake.  

Take all that you want, just pay for what you take.  If you don't have cash,
just mark down on the sheet (taped to the refrigerator door) what you've taken,
along with who you are of course.  We'll settle accounts when it's time to buy
more.  I prefer this later method, since it doesn't leave wads of cold cash 
laying in the cooler.  

Let me know if there are flavors you can't live without, and I'll try to get
them, but remember this stuff does come from the Price Club, so the selection
isn't the greatest.  I have more Coke and Diet Coke in my office if the supply
runs low.  These were by far the most popular requested flavors.

					Enjoy,
						- jim
P.S.  Don't forget to recycle the empties.

After doing inventory a few days ago I discovered that we went from 17 cents too
much in the till to $18.08 too little.  As I said from the start, as long as this
plan breaks even (more or less), I'll continue buying soda.  Well, $18 is not
breaking even, so kiss the cheap sodas goodbye.  Please pay me what you owe me
so I can finish this plan off.  It's too bad you can't trust your own co-workers
(at least the slime that took the sodas/cash).
						-- jim

	Come on lets get with it and come up with the money! $18.08 are
alot of sodas (about 52). 52 sodas are not accounted for. How could this be?
We are all extremely honest people around here right! Or are we? Or is someone
STEALING the money out of the fridge. It seems to me that someone had a good
idea that was to benefit everyone, was willing to put in the time and effort,
was to recieve virtually nothing in return, and has found their efforts to
have been thwarted by the ignorant. Cool.

  Are you suggesting that we all chip in an come-up with the missing $18.

Well if it would persuade Jim to continue his service it'ld be worth the

money, but is there something we can do to prevent this kind of theft?

Farrokh

jim had asked that we DON'T leave cash in the fridge at one point
(if i remember correctly) and i bet whatever opportunists we have here
are more likely to abuse cash than cola (coke may be another story....)

It's easy. We just design alittle box that takes are money, counts it,
and keeps it secure. Then we just design a little thing that dispenses
the soda, one at a time. We make it so we can choose which soda we want.
It has to keep the soda cold. I guess it should have some way of making 
sure you are using real money. Maybe it can even make change. Oh yeah,
it would be great if it let us know when one kind of soda is out. We could
even pay someone for the convenience of buying the sodas and keeping it
full.


oh, oh, sounds kinda like a coke machine...........