diff --git a/VendServer/Idler.py b/VendServer/Idler.py
index 5b6645517945891c49dd79b8ff6f1c62077410a3..3a8aced266cddb66e5802288f7692a8bec75a487 100755
--- a/VendServer/Idler.py
+++ b/VendServer/Idler.py
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ class FortuneIdler(StringIdler):
 		text = "I broke my wookie...."
 		if os.access(fortune,os.F_OK|os.X_OK):
 			(lines, unused) = Popen((fortune,), close_fds=True, stdout=PIPE).communicate()
-			text = string.join(lines)
+			text = lines.replace('\n', '  ').replace('\r', '')
 		StringIdler.__init__(self, v, text,repeat=False)
 
 	def affinity(self):
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ class PipeIdler(StringIdler):
 		text = "I ate my cookie...."
 		if os.access(command,os.F_OK|os.X_OK):
 			(lines, unused) = Popen([command,] + args.split(), close_fds=True, stdout=PIPE).communicate()
-			text = string.join(lines)
+			text = lines.replace('\n', '  ').replace('\r', '')
 		StringIdler.__init__(self, v, text,repeat=False)
 
 	def affinity(self):