June 17, 2009
In the latest local blow to the struggling newspaper industry, Richmond alternative newspaper Style Weekly said today that it has laid off two of its most popular vending machines, both located in the second-floor break room.
The roughly 600-pound vending machines – well-known among the 30-employee Style staff for the provision of both Lay’s snacks and Coca-Cola products – were seen being removed from the newspaper’s 1313 East Main St. headquarters late yesterday. Style editor Jason Roop said staffers had been “blatantly overusing” the snack and soda machines for several years, meaning less time was spent working on articles and advertisements for the 26-year-old publication.
“Unfortunately, these moves were difficult but necessary in order to improve our operational efficiencies and ensure that our readers get more of the content they deserve from the weekly paper,” Roop said. “This is particularly hard for me, as I recently switched from Diet Coke to Coke Zero to cut back on both caloric intake and sugars, and I will certainly miss the Bar-B-Q chips around 3 o’clock every day.”
“But these are the sacrifices we have to make,” Roop said, noting the “one upside” was that there would be no more money lost when you hit A4 on the snack machine, and then it only works half the time, and then you have to start shaking the machine and rocking it back and forth, but it’s so heavy that you typically have to call in a co-worker to help you get your chips out of the machine, but the stupid bag just leans against the glass and won’t fall down, and then someone else comes into the break room after you, and also hits A4, and then they get two bags of chips and don’t even bother to give you the bag that you basically bought for them, those jerks.
The changes are the latest of the paper’s cuts. Last year, a judge found Style liable for slicing the fingers of 24 local residents who picked up the publication the wrong way.
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Some people are content to just get the story. But you dug deep. You turned day by day drudgery into investigative journalism. You made it personal. A4. Nice touch.
There are some openings at the RTD. Interested?
yeah, i want a class action suit against Style for most papercuts from a single publication!!!!
Oh, man, A4 sucks. Unless you are the “jerk”, then it is the highlight of my, I mean “their”, mundane day. Double chips, bitches!
And Roop IS a hard-ass. You think this is satire, but it’s not.