Water

What could you said is insane about something as simple as water? You would think that it would be so simple that no one could get it wrong, but that does not seem to be the case.

I suspect that I am in the minority when it comes to soda and tea. I don't like the taste of tea and generally don't care much for soda, with the except of Henry Weinhard's Rootbeer. This is generally not an issue unless I go out to eat at places which have the soda dispensors. It seems quite clear to me that the people who setup the soda machines don't drink water. If they did, they would not put the water where they do on the dispensor. Typically water is available by means of a small lever on one of the other selections. It seems almost like they try to figure out which the worst selection would be and to use that to share with the water. There is almost always some residue from the shared item. In some cases it is more visual that taste, like when they use a red punch type drink. Other times it is a matter of taste, like when they share it with tea and this seems to be the most popular selection. I doubt that any of the other selections has a stronger taste than tea. If the dispensor is a self-serve, you can clear it by running the water several times to clear things out. If it is behind the counter, then you need to ask them to try again.

I have to wonder about the selection of tea for other reasons too. While I only dislike the taste, there are those who don't drink tea for religous reasons, often the caffine content. By sharing the tea with the water, those people are getting tea, whether they like it or not.

I think it is insane that they can not figure out to use the least offensive selection for sharing. There are some places which understand as they have a separate water dispensor, either in the machine or as a separate valve. Those are places in which the people can think!