It was nearly 9 pm at my local Kroger… closing time.  Fortunately they had the automatic door propped open so I was able to walk in with ease.

After grabbing the last package of meat in their ransacked meat department, I happened to walk down the candy aisle.

Jelly Beans!

I tried walking briskly… but the jelly beans looked so good.  I’ll go ahead and splurge one last time and get my jelly bean fix.

I don’t like being stuck with licorice or lemon jelly beans so I decided just this one time, I’d use the self-serve dispensers so I can choose the flavors.

One concern did enter my mind.  What if the dispenser doesn’t close?  On the other hand, why wouldn’t it close?

I pulled the first lever to release my favorite flavor… cinnamon.  It was just a tiny bit.  Next I pulled the lever for the variety of flavors.  My bag was hardly full—I just wanted a very small sampling.  I decided to select one last flavor… Strawberry Cheesecake sounded good.

I pulled the lever.

When I pushed the lever back in, the lever got stuck.  Jelly beans kept pouring into the bag.

How many jelly beans can be stored in these dispensers?  Surely it will stop soon.

It didn’t.  My bag was now overflowing with pink jelly beans.

They started dropping on the floor.  I didn’t know what to do.  I kept pushing the lever back in to no avail.  Jelly beans continued to pour.

Eventually, the flow of jelly beans was reduced to a trickle and then they finally stopped.

I looked around and no one saw or heard a thing.

At the checkout I did confess my jelly bean disaster to the cashier who hardly seemed phased.  She did make sure to announce the disaster on the PA system for all to hear….

My 12 dollar bag of Strawberry Cheesecake jelly beans…

Turns out I don’t really like Strawberry Cheesecake jelly beans.  At least they photograph well.

Date:  December 2013
Camera:  Big Bertha (Canon EOS 5D Mark II)