There’s something delightfully ironic about walking up to a straw dispenser only to find that someone, in a burst of misplaced creativity, has loaded the straws horizontally so they stick straight out the top like they’re auditioning for a role as a modern art installation. It’s as if they took one look at the conventional “pull-straws-from-the-bottom” method and said, Nah, we’re innovators. Now, instead of discreetly grabbing a straw, you’re faced with a bouquet of plastic tubes sticking out like the world’s most impractical porcupine.
I can’t decide if they’ve never actually seen a straw holder in action or if they genuinely believed they were improving on the design. “Why make people pull them out one by one when we could create a fun little straw forest?” Maybe they imagined it adding whimsy to the beverage experience, like a straw scavenger hunt. But the real experience is watching confused customers try to grab one without pulling out all the straws at once like it’s a game of Jenga. Kudos to them for thinking outside the box—literally—but next time, let’s stick to tradition. Or at least avoid creating a public safety hazard at the drink station.
