Iowa man loses job over Twix stuck in vending machine

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

It's a story straight out of an episode of Seinfeld, just with an ending both more—and then less—satisfying. Last fall, a man from Spirit Lake, Iowa, decided he wanted to snack on a Twix while working his warehouse job at Polaris Industries.

So Robert McKevitt inserted a dollar in the vending machine, punched in the code for the candy, and watched it get stuck midair on the spiral hook.

He inserted another dollar in his quest to free it; no luck. He banged and shook the machine; ditto. And so, according to state unemployment records, he took a more extreme action: He drove an 8,000-pound forklift over, raised the machine two feet, then allegedly let it fall on the concrete floor—six times, reports the AP.

What he gained: three candy bars. What McKevitt lost: his job, five days later. And that's not all. In a Dec. 16 hearing whose outcome only last month became public, McKevitt's claim for unemployment benefits was turned down, over what the judge called a purposeful disregard for his employer's interests.

But he insists to the Des Moines Register that the dropping part is false; he says he shook the machine so hard it moved away from the wall, and just needed the forklift to return it to its place.

Adding insult to injury, McKevitt says he's heard "they have all new vending machines" at the warehouse. (Click to read about another kind of vending machine: One that sells crack pipes.)