So perhaps you’ve heard about the Dr. Pepper scarcity that’s the new toilet paper shortage. I don’t get how an aluminum can shortage (everyone is stockpiling their returnables, apparently) disproportionately affects one particular brand of pop and not all the pops. But, they’re losing their minds in the good doctor’s home state of Texas. (So beloved is the mystery concoction).
I bring this up because I noticed not just that Dr. Pepper was missing from the grocer I shopped at yesterday, but because even in our station breakroom’s vending machines, where choice is so plentiful it’s anxiety-inducing.
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Life used to be easier: water, pop, iced tea, lemonade, coffee, hot tea. Those were the choices. Now there’s a dozen or more of each one of those staples. Even milk, which I did not list because it felt like an outlier, has now been multiplied in dizzying directions (Soy! Coconut! Almond!).
I love Dr. Pepper. But aside from a brief reunion back in the Spring when I started stocking it for my daughter (for whom it was totally new and delicious), I’ve been neglecting it in favor of newer fascinations. Bai Raspberry SuperTea, Dragonfruit Vitamin Water, Ocean Spray CranApple, Mango Le Croix, and so on. Raised on Tang, I’ve now become a refreshment nomad wandering the desert in search of a taste oasis.
Right now I’m gonna go check the vending area to see if there’s any Dr. Pepper to be had. Remember... most everyone here is now working from home. Man I can taste it already.