The Pringles test

Pringles, the potato chips that are sold in cans, are among the few affordable junk food snacks I buy in Hong Kong. I prefer Cheetos, Doritos, and Ruffles, all of which are available here, but not as affordable. The average price of a 200 gram bag of the latter three is $17.50 HKD, which is nearly $3.00 CAD. Pringles, on the other hand, has been on discount for more than a month, and normally costs $9.50 HKD, less than $1.50 CAD. I've eaten more Pringles in the last month than I've eaten in my entire life.

One thing I hate about Pringles, however, is that most cans are filled with broken chips. Even though the cans may seem intact, the chips inside are usually not. What I've learned to do is to bring the cans to my ear and turn them upside down, allowing me to hear how many broken bits slide inside the can. I usually have to turn 10 cans upside down before I can find a can that has an acceptable casualty rate.

A few weeks ago, I was at Wellcome (one of the two dominant Hong Kong supermarket chains) at the Westwood (a luxury condominium complex near HKU), and was conducting my Pringles test. I forgot to mention that I sometimes turn my head when I do the Pringles test. On my fifth or sixth can, I turned around and saw a cute girl watching me. When she saw that I noticed her, she giggled, then continued along, pushing her shopping cart, and a few seconds later, turned around to take another look. By coincidence, I bumped into her at the check-out aisle. In fact, she was right in front of me. She turned around a couple of times and smiled. I didn't bother to start a conversation with her because 1. I didn't know what to say and 2. I was already unavailable at the time.

I always thought that my Pringle test would mark me as a weirdo, not a cutie.