Vent: Watched a barista at a coffee shop use a paperclip to fix their machine

I was at this small coffee joint in Portland last Tuesday grabbing a drip coffee. The espresso machine started acting up, so the barista pulled a paperclip from behind the counter and poked at some tiny hole near the group head. Fixed it in under a minute and the shots came out fine. Got me thinking, has anyone here used a random household item to patch up their home setup without dropping cash on a repair?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_coleman879d ago

Holding up a paperclip to fix a coffee machine sounds more like MacGyver than anything I'd trust with a hot espresso setup. I mean the thing probably just needed a tiny spring or something popped back into place, not like they rewired the whole boiler with a staple and some gum. People act like using a paperclip in a pinch means you're some kind of hardware wizard when really you just poked a reset button or cleared a clog. If the thing works after and doesn't blow steam in your face, who cares what you used to fix it? It's coffee, not brain surgery, and a paperclip is just a tool like anything else.

sagea889d ago

And you know what, that whole "it's coffee not brain surgery" thing got me thinking about the time I used a toothpick to fix my broken toaster and my roommate acted like I'd just performed open heart surgery with a paper straw. It was literally just a crumb stuck in the lever, but watching them tell the story you'd think I'd invented fire.