Just a wee aside. I'd always recommend that people take non-violent direct action if at all possible. I've been very annoyed about our Coke machine. Of all the missions one could chose, a coke machine is clearly not important. While the term non-violent direct action might usually be used to relate to something important, like ensuring adequate childcare facilities for immigrant workers on low income, or something, a coke machine does seem a bit of a weak cause. My cause is not even based on conscience - perhaps I should be thinking about attacking the Coca Cola Corporation for their anti competitive behaviour and marketing to children - I don't even know whether they do that. I don't want to attack them. I actually want to give my hard (or not so hard) earned money to the big evil corporate. My problem is that we have a Coke machine which regularly shows the wee "sold out" lights on some, sometimes all, of its Diet Coke buttons, of which there are 3, but seldom even sells out on one of its regular Coke buttons. In other words, the machine runs out of Diet Coke very quickly and never runs out, even slightly, of regular Coke. In other words, the ratio of Coke (4) to Diet Coke (3) is wrong.

You'd think that someone observing the machine when it's refilled would go something like - "Oooh - they've sold 250 Diet Cokes and 50 Cokes - I'll put more Diet Cokes in this time. It might even make some more money, since the diet coke wouldn't sell out and the drinkers won't have to go elsewhere for their crazy-assed-low-calorie-soft-drink-with-vegetable-extracts." But, no. The machine person doesn't use his/her brain. He just blindly sticks some cans in and pockets the cash.

Well, I've had enough.

So I've put a wee note on the machine advising the person who stocks it to have a long hard look at their stock-taking policy.

I put it more simply than that.

I'll bet that I'm ignored.

Aaaaagh.