My good friend Agent ACK and I were working out the other day and he asked me a simple little question. Neither of us knew the answer, and it was one of those things that you wonder in passing but isn't important enough to actually go and find out.
And this bothers me. Too often we dismiss our curiousity because it isn't readily satisfied in this day of instant gratification, and so our brains are dulled because we're just too lazy to go in search of answers.
Well, no more, Agents! Agent ACK has inspired me to start a new feature here on The M Files, to be known as "Life's Little Questions."
The question Agent ACK asked me was about Root Beer Slurpees. "How come they haven't had Root Beer Slurpees at our 7-11 for a while?" He asked. "Who picks the flavors?"
Who indeed, Agent. Who indeed.
So I decided to find out.
I went to the 7-11 and asked them how their Slurpee flavours were chosen, and here's what I was told (and this applies to all 7-11 convenience stores):
1) There is always at least one Coke and one Pepsi Slurpee.
2) Coke and Pepsi each pick one flavor of the month to go alongside themselves.
3) Any other flavors are at the discretion of the store.
But I had to verify my facts, Agents. One thing I always promise you with Life's Little Questions: All facts are checked at the source. No exceptions.
So I called 7-11 directly, yes I did. At Corporate Communications, 7-Eleven, Inc., (214) 828-7345. And they verified that yes, the above statements are true.
Delving deeper into the Slurpee issue, however, I found out these fun facts at The 7-11 Website:
- The first Slurpee machine in a 7-Eleven store was in 1965 with 3 machines that became an immediate success. The company ordered 100 more machines and by the spring of 1967 the Slurpee machines were almost in every store. The first 7-11 store (and their current corporate headquarters) is in Dallas, Texas.
- 7-Eleven customers sip and slurp 11.6 million Slurpee® beverages each month. Favorite flavors are Coca-Cola and Minute Maid Cherry. Since its introduction in 1966, close to 6 billion Slurpee drinks have been sold, just about enough for every person on the planet to have slurped.
- 7-Eleven coined the term “brain freeze” in 1994 to communicate the painful joy of drinking a frozen Slurpee beverage.
- The most Slurpee® beverages in the world are purchased in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(This must be why they invented Big Gulps. In Texas, everything is huge-- including, apparently, bladder size.)
(Although personally, I've never had Minute Maid Cherry. I guess I'll have to try it.)
(Actually, I think I coined it in 1975, at the age of six, right after screaming "Aagh! My eye!")
(Now what the hell is up with this? Winnipeg is one of the coldest cities in Canada! There's a reason they call it "Winterpeg," folks! And yet my father who lives there assures me that one can purchase bumper stickers in Winnipeg proudly proclaiming that city as the "Slurpee Capital of the World.")
OTHER 7-11 FUN FACTS
7-Eleven was the first convenience-store retailer to give customers “freedom of choice” by offering all major soft drink brands at the fountain.
7-Eleven was the first to:
… operate 24 hours a day
… sell fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups
... have a self-serve soda fountain.
And that's your Life's Little Question answered, Agent ACK. Anyone else got a Life's Little Question? Go ahead and Email Me. Anyone asking for the Caramilk Secret will be summarily ignored.
In what year did 7-11 Slurpee machines become self-serve in Canada? See the comments section for details.
It's a long-standing tradition in our culture, a male bonding ceremony dating back to caveman days. The Guys' Night Out.
Whether it's a celebration of testosterone in the Extreme Sports tradition of doing stupid things that carry with them the risk of bodily harm, or an excuse to revert to our genetically-predisposed state of grunting laughter and lewd humour, this Men's Mystery is a sacred ritual.
I was never one of those, actually. The guys I just described above. I have an aversion to pain without cause (exercising at the gym notwithstanding) that precludes my involvement in rugged sports, and I enjoy show tunes too much to really grunt my way through lewd humour.
And I never developed a taste for beer. When I do have it, I have Corona (which is generally classified as Girl's Beer With A Twist Of Lime) or a Big Rock Honey Ale, which hardly registers on the Pilsner Scale of How Butch You Are.
And yet, since I got married I've developed a whole new appreciation for this odd little ritual.
When you're a teenager, the Guy's Night Out is your perpetual state of existence. No longer bound to your mother, you strike out on your own to achieve some measure of independence and pursue your own interests separate from the family unit; these are the years of discovery and joy in those revelations; these are the stories you will tell in the future when you're reminiscing about how "wild" you were when you were younger.
Part of my problem THERE was that I was a sci-fi/fantasy geek. And so were my other friends. Most of my "wildness" was in my imagination, lived through my Dungeons & Dragons character. So the "wildness" us guys would get up to consisted of a lot of running around wearing costumes. Which is not to say that it wasn't wild, but when speaking of male testosterone issues it doesn't generally come up on the Top Ten.
And yet, as they say, you don't notice what you've got until it's gone. And I have to be careful here-- I'm happily married, and not one of those Man vs. Woman stereotypes who whines that his wife doesn't understand him, that she always needs "talking" and "romance" and what the hell language is she speaking, Men Are From Here and Women Are From Who The Hell Knows Where.
No. I have a great time with Marci. And we've just had our firstborn-- and THIS is the crux of the matter. In the years BB (Before Baby) I was able to go on Guys' Nights Out with frequent regularity. But since I became a father, those nights are fewer and far between. (Side note to all guys out there: Do NOT take your wife for granted just after she's had a child. You may think she'll get all weepy and stuff if you go out without her but I assure you, she's sharpening all the silverware while you're gone. Be thoughtful-- or be dog food.)
And that is why, since the baby, I have discovered all over again the joys of going out with the guys, free from responsibility to anyone but my own interests and enjoyment just like I did when I was an adolescent-- adolescence being the perpetual, natural state of men and "responsibility" being an overlay that can slip if not concentrated upon.
I've been to two movie nights over at Agent ACK's place; pizza and wings before the brainless ramblings of Jay and Silent Bob and Dude, Where's My Car? proved to be an enjoyable, relaxing time with other like-minded guys who wanted nothing more than a night to just be fools and yak about dumb movies and guy things without having to worry about what the girls would think.
Then last week, I went out for beer and wings and NTN Trivia with friends. I got my ass whupped in trivia, but it was all good because I was out with my buddies. And I had a really good time. We stayed out til eleven.
Now how freakish is that? "We stayed out til eleven." The twenty-year-old me is saying "Man, what HAPPENED to you?" and I say back to him, "Nothing. I'm having a great time."
Maybe I don't stay out all night doing god-knows-what, nor can I drop everything at a moment's notice to run out and do something fun. Perhaps I've exchanged a bit of adolescent freedom for adult security. But it's all good to me-- because there will always be the Guys' Night Out. It's not just an evening; it's a phenomenon.
With thanks to Tony, Bruce, James, Gareth, Mike and my other guy friends. I never realized how much fun we were all having until I stopped to think about it.