The vending machine fight is never really about snacks. Find out what people actually want.

Arguments that seem out of proportion to their subject are usually standing in for something harder to say. The complaint about the machine may really be about never being asked, or about somebody else always deciding, or about a month of shifts that felt thankless. Solving the stated problem leaves the real one running.

Ask one more question than you think you need: what would make this better, and what else has been annoying. Listen for the thing underneath instead of defending the snacks. People will usually tell you, as long as the question is genuine.