ibeching:

“By the 1960s, the communal, automatic soda fountain was a ubiquitous presence in Soviet grocery stores and eateries. The machines dispensed carbonated tap water: one kopeck for a glass of plain, three if you took it with a shot of syrup, all served in communal glasses.

“Getting free soda out of the machines became a national sport. There were many ways to do it: coin on a fishing line, the fake-coin maneuver, and the most primitive and surprisingly effective method of all—simply hitting it hard in the right spot…. All in all, it was an ethical as well as an hygienic disaster.”

—from Made in Russia