A Confounded Mystery
The other day, I was driving back from Trader Joes, and I passed a store called Big Lots! in Fruitvale. I had never been to a Big Lots!, so I decided to check it out. As I walked in, I discovered that I'll probably never again go to a Big Lots!, because they were having a store-closing sale, with everything in the store marked down by 20 percent.
It seems Big Lots! sells a bunch of junk that couldn't be sold in other stores, so I was about to leave without buying anything, but my eyes lit up when I saw a Little Debbie display. Ever since moving to California, I've had to do without Nutty Bars, because the grocery stores out here don't sell Little Debbie products.
(Safeway update: When I last went to my local Safeway's service desk, I was greeted by a cold stare. Without prompting from me, the clerk growled, "Let me guess: quarters.")
I was disheartened to see that the Little Debbie display in Big Lots! contained no Nutty Bars, which have a bright yellow package:
Instead, they had something called "Peanut Butter Wafers":
I thought that was odd, because Nutty Bars are peanut butter wafers. When I got home, I discovered that the difference between Nutty Bars and Peanut Butter Wafers is that Nutty Bars have four wafers (two chocolate covered on the outside and two on the inside), while Peanut Butter Wafers only have three wafers. The lack of a wafer in the middle mades the bar lean too heavily to the chocolate side, while Nutty Bars have the perfect balance between chocolate and peanut butter.
So the mystery: why would Little Debbie make a strange product like "Peanut Butter Wafers," almost identical to their best-selling Nutty Bars, but missing a crucial wafer?
It seems Big Lots! sells a bunch of junk that couldn't be sold in other stores, so I was about to leave without buying anything, but my eyes lit up when I saw a Little Debbie display. Ever since moving to California, I've had to do without Nutty Bars, because the grocery stores out here don't sell Little Debbie products.
(Safeway update: When I last went to my local Safeway's service desk, I was greeted by a cold stare. Without prompting from me, the clerk growled, "Let me guess: quarters.")
I was disheartened to see that the Little Debbie display in Big Lots! contained no Nutty Bars, which have a bright yellow package:
Instead, they had something called "Peanut Butter Wafers":
I thought that was odd, because Nutty Bars are peanut butter wafers. When I got home, I discovered that the difference between Nutty Bars and Peanut Butter Wafers is that Nutty Bars have four wafers (two chocolate covered on the outside and two on the inside), while Peanut Butter Wafers only have three wafers. The lack of a wafer in the middle mades the bar lean too heavily to the chocolate side, while Nutty Bars have the perfect balance between chocolate and peanut butter.
So the mystery: why would Little Debbie make a strange product like "Peanut Butter Wafers," almost identical to their best-selling Nutty Bars, but missing a crucial wafer?
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