Monday, May 5, 2008

Weis Up! and The Awful Salesperson Who Should

Quick story. An unusually disturbingly outrageously wrong thing happened while buying this drink. At Sodamania/Subs-N-Such (the place I've already plugged twice, and was planning on remaining complete loyal to for eternity), I went to the counter to purchase this funny little can.  the guy told me the Weis Up! would be 81 cents. As I handed him a ten I watched as he handed back four dollars and some change. I said, "How much was that again?" and kindly explained he must've forgotten to throw a five in there with all the ones. He looked at me like I was an idiot, told me I should check my pockets better because he definitely gave me a five, and then made me wait- embarassed, people were looking, waiting- while he kicked his feet around, whispering something to the (presumed) manager about whatever stunt he believed I was trying to pull. He eventually forked over the rest of my change as I held my tongue. It was a tense situation. Quite the Larry David moment, I must say, as I almost told the guy, "Yeah, that's what I do. I go into stores for a drink every **ing day and try accusing salespeople of giving back incorrect change." Sigh.

Oh well. I'll still be returning there, because a) I have no choice, the place is an incredibly convenient source for my "research," b) this guy probably just has a mean-spirited soul and the rest of the staff (who have always seemed plenty friendly thus far) have to fight back the impulse to kick his ass daily also, and c) though implausible, the drink might be cursed*.

But ANYWAY.. on to the soda itself..
Weis Up! was created by Weis Choice, a division of (to my surprise) Weis Markets, based in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. We've all seen this sort of thing: a supermarket making generic sodas and foods under their private label. I mean, anyone who's ever thrown a BBQ party knows purchasing these fakeys is the only thrifty way to keep a cooler stocked. But how their lemon-lime soda ended up in a store's tiny cooler all the way down in Tampa Bay puzzles me. I would've stuck around and gathered information had I not been so angry at the aforementioned employee. Though direct comparisons to 7 Up are inevitable, the light drink seems more in line with Sprite. Whichever of the two it more resembles, one thing's for certain: unlike many predecessors, Weis Up! doesn't taste over-sweetened, probably due in part to the natural lemon and lime flavors (the soda still does have 38g of sugar). No unbearable aftertaste, either.

To my knowledge, Weis Choice colas can't be found on the internet. My advice is to decide how much drinking this product means to you, and remember if need be you can always find a lovely place of residence in the northeast. 

(*Implausible indeed. The rest of my day ended up alright.)

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