Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Lid dispenser

tired of wondering who else used the lid to your coffee?
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The following idea applies to those coffee drinkers who for some reason do not have their own personal companion coffee mug. With disposeable coffee cups found in all the gas stations everywhere, there inevitably is a stack of plastic lids to go with those horrendous styrofoam cups. It never fails that if you go to get one of these lids, they stick together and you get three or four with a grab, and then have to fiddle around with them to separate them, leaving the unused lid behind. Many people just grab that lid for their coffee, with no care as to what leper might have had their boogery fingers on it before them. This proposed device works on the same technology of the pedal operated flip-lid trash can lid, or the pedal-operated cocaine dispenser used in many laboratories on laboratory rats. Load the dispenser with a stack of lids, then swipe the pedal and one lid gets kicked out by the ingeniusly engineered dispenser/ejector unit. The ejector is eerily similar to a pair of plastic forks, pointed downwards and angled inwards with slight pressure on the vertical stack of lids. With each swipe of the pedal, the ejector travels downwards and then back upwards to a distance that is adjustable to fit the size of the lids via a small user friendly knob which looks just like a guitar tuning knob, located out of the public's view but accessible to the vaunted store employee who maintains the coffee. The forks catch against the lip of the bottomost lid, and voila, a "sterile" lid for your coffee.
grontix, Nov 22 2003

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       Excellent first shot [grontix]. Nicetameetcha.
phoenix, Nov 23 2003
  

       I've decided I'm not coming back as a labrador. In my next life, I'm going to return as a lab rat coke whore.
thumbwax, Nov 23 2003
  

       I think if they were packaged face-up, face-down, face-up, face-down, they wouldn't stick together and no high-tech dispenser would be needed.
phundug, Nov 24 2003
  

       How odd. Only last night I read a Roald Dahl short story about a slightly compulsive-obsessive man who didn't want to use the phone at a gas station or buy anything to eat there because of the leperous attendant.   

       Anyway, it's yer own fault for buying gas station coffee. Can you not get one of those sucky cup thermos thingies and take some proper coffee with you from home? (check your own fingers for bogies before clipping the lid on)
squeak, Nov 24 2003
  

       + for a good idea. You could use the alternative solution I have seen baked in many food-handling places in the UK, where the staff have to wear those rubbery looking gloves when handling your food (or coffee lids in this case). Unfortunately it seems standard practice is to keep the gloves on all the time (e.g. when handling the money and one suspects, digging out a good fistful of bogeys or boogers).
dobtabulous, Nov 24 2003
  

       I wouldn't actually use this often, since I'm not a regular coffee drinker; + anyway.
galukalock, Nov 24 2003
  

       I often fill up my own personal goto mug with the warm beverage of my choice, but I can see this being quite useful for fast food chains as well ... [+] welcome, [grontix]
Letsbuildafort, Nov 24 2003
  

       It is interesting how hit-or-miss the germ-related OCD ideas are vote-wise. Some do really well, some bomb. (WTAGIPBAN)
krelnik, Nov 24 2003
  

       Well, I'm not exactly putting my mouth on the lid itself, no, but it couls still streamline the drink obtaining process ... instead of fumbling arround with 4 or 5 stuck together lids, it produces one lid to complete your fast food experience
Letsbuildafort, Nov 24 2003
  

       // then you actually haven't enough real problems in your life yet.//   

       Hey [Rod's Tiger] - I've got *plenty* of problems thanks very much!
dobtabulous, Nov 25 2003
  

       Oooh, can I have some, I'm not up to my full quota yet.   

       <Thinks> Spring-Loaded Problem Dispenser. Hmmm....
egbert, Nov 25 2003
  
      
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