"Sheetz Run"

On Friday, my friends and I went to State College, PA to watch the #3 Wolverines take on the #10 Nittany Lions live at Beaver Stadium. I was, of course, excited for the game, however I was excited for many other things as well. Among these was the famed run to “Sheetz.” Brady has been telling me for the last two and a half years about this famed Sheetz, and I was honored this weekend to experience it for myself.

Brady claims that Sheetz is a greater Pennsylvania area gas station, rivals with the “Wawa” chain of gas stations, that is culturally significant to the region. According to him and his friends, teenagers state-wide make “Sheetz Runs,” as they are deemed, late at night when they are hungry. Though it is unsettled whether this is common practice, the tour group taking me to Sheetz has a log of their “Sheetz Runs” dates and exit times for recordkeeping purposes.

Brady explained me the difference between a Sheetz and a Wawa. Though both are gas stations, both pride themselves on their above-average gas station food quality. A Wawa, according to Mr. Bogda, is more of a place if you want a meal, whereas a Sheetz is a late-night (and we were indeed going at about 9:30 PM, after being up since 6:00 AM).

There were two equidistant Sheetz from Billal’s, Brady’s friend back from Lancaster, apartment. We chose one, and headed there. There’s not a Sheetz within walking distance of campus, probably because it is, after all, primarily a gas station, so we drove. On the way, walking to the car, I was asking questions about the Sheetz experience. My largest question was what exactly can I expect from a Sheetz. They informed me of their group history at Sheetz, namely post-senior year late runs (exiting as late as 1:05 AM), they introduced me to the kinds of food I may expect to order at a Sheetz, and interestingly, that I should expect a lack of interaction with the employees at this Sheetz.

During this conversation, we ran into some friends of Brady’s who were at the tailgate earlier, heading to a poker night at a friend’s apartment. According to the locals, this is classically representative of a “Sheetz Run.” To them, they see a Sheetz Run as a way to build community, to not only spend time with the friends with whom you are “running,” but also, with whomever the world may bring you to interact during the course of your run.

Armed with this information, we made our way to Sheetz. The drive over there was not all that exciting, as it was dark out, but soon I could see it from a distance. A bright red gas station, with the supposedly iconic Sheetz logo. The Pennsylvania kids all rode in one car, with me tagging along, whereas the rest of the Michigan kids (Lucas, Ben, Eli, and Zack) went in the other car. Because of our happen interaction with Brady’s friends, we, naturally, arrived later than the other car. Yes, I was jealous that they had the opportunity to arrive there a little earlier than I did, but, I am thankful of the interaction we had on our way that slowed us down.

Upon entering the Sheetz, I was greeted by the self-checkouts, which, as I was informed,

kept human interaction with the employees at a minimum. I was excited, exhilarated, and overwhelmed, seeing now this thing that, for over two years, has been simply something in my imagination coming real. Walking further in and turning left, I came across a set of kiosks, at which regulars were ordering their favorite eats. I had resolved that I would get chicken tenders, however when I approached the kiosk, I noticed that the adrenaline had made it hard to focus on ordering what I wanted. I fumbled around on the screen for a while before I found the chicken category. See, the screen was slightly deceptive in the fact that it showed bone-in wings to represent the entire chicken portion of the menu, which made it hard to find the tenders that I was so excited for. In the chicken tab, under what I would consider as chicken tenders, there were two different boneless options. First were the ”Crispy Chicken Stripz,” and second, the

“Boneless Wingz.” I went back and forth, checking the size, price, and amount options on each, before settling on the regular sized Boneless Wingz. I was presented with the option to choose my sauce, ketchup, before getting another prompt to choose my sauce again! I was confused, and left it blank, however, in retrospect, I wish I had requested more ketchup. After skipping that menu, I was presented again with the option to add another more specialty sauce, which I chose some sort of teriyaki. It was interesting to see the diversity of sauces offered by a typical American chain. I checked out, and upon placing my order, was told by the screen that I should pay at the register.

Again, this is where human interaction in our world today is beginning to fade out, in favor of interaction with technology. The employees will simply not start cooking your order until you’ve paid, however, you also have to go to the self-check-out kiosks at the front to pay. You cannot, counterintuitively, pay at the ordering kiosk. I received my ticket, number 158, and waited as my food was made to order, as advertised. It took some time, and at this point, I socialized with the friends and commented on the store, asking the locals for any tips, suggestions, or insights. The following are a series of things discussed:

• I was laughed at, made fun of, quite frankly, by Billal when I pronounced the “Boneless Wingz” as boneless win-GZUHH, however an in-depth analysis of the name Sheetz, noticeably that it is not, in fact, pronounced shee-TZUHH, would lead him to likely be correct.

• I was thinking of buying a pink flamingo lamp as a memory of my first “Sheetz Run,” however once I realized that they were $29.99 and not unique to Sheetz, I dropped the idea.

I decided, with Ben, to get a slushee. This involved checking out again. See, this is my largest problem with the Sheetz Format. I find that the kiosks and lack of human-interaction leads me to buy several things in several goes, instead of walking around, selecting what I will buy, and checking out at the end. There are no checkout lanes, and the door opens right up into them. It makes the kiosks feel more like an intermediary step than a terminating step. Perhaps this layout has been shown to lead to less shoplifting, or maybe it encourages the Sheetz-goer to buy more in the store. Whatever it is, I found it very interesting, and I’d like to know more about why they are laid out this way.

My food was called eventually, over a loudspeaker. Once we all got our food, we went to the other room to sit and eat. I felt like the cherry slushee and boneless wingz combination was not the best, and I felt that the grease of the wingz interacted poorly with the taste of the slushee. That being said, I enjoyed both separately very much. The teriyaki sauce on the wingz was delicious, but as I said, I could have done better with more ketchup packets. I struggled to open one of the packets, spilling some on my finger.

Overall, the portion size to price ratio was quite good, and I was satisfied with the quality of the chicken. The slushee was, well, like any other slushee from any other gas station, and did not fail to give me several brain freezes. Ben ordered some cinnamon roll poppers, and you can hear what he said about them here.

At the end of the Sheetz Run, we had to say goodbye to some of locals who guided us who were not going back to the house we were staying at, as we would not see them for the rest of the weekend. The goodbye was sad, and definitely put a melancholy tinge on the experience. I feel that were I to “run” to a Sheetz again, I would surely have this hard goodbye at the top of my mind.

Overall, I significantly enjoyed my Sheetz Run, and I am thankful to all who made it possible.