Chocolate Pretzel Freestyle--the HEB Version

The Texas Story Project.

This is a story about six college girls who drove to HEB, told from the perspective of Samantha Beltran on the night of August 24, 2018. Samantha is an El Paso native who decided to follow her two older sisters’ example and attended St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX and is a Biology major.

"All I wanted was a bag of Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili chips. However, from the moment we pulled into the parking lot of HEB, it was clear the night was going to be entertaining. Outside, there were policecars with sirens on, men running, and cameras recording. After seeing this, we should have driven away, but instead we parked and tested our gut feeling to leave. We continued with our quest to find the chips while in a very sketchy environment. Part of our group felt that the store clientele was fine so she tried to shop without being accompanied by anyone. Of course, to us it just looked like her disappearing in a HEB. Finally, we found her and the purple bag of chips. After avoiding more detours we were able to make it to the cashier. Once at the counter, the cashier asked us if we were interested in hearing about a special deal he had going. Naturally, we were curious so said yes. Apparently, many customers say no because upon hearing our unanimous consent, he grinned ear-to-ear and started the beat. This red-shirted, khaki-clad, glasses-wearing employee broke out into a rap about HEB’s 5 for $5 deal (five bags of chocolate covered pretzels for five dollars). This creative man made a rap out of a deal he was being made to sell. The time and effort this 30-something year old put in paid off—we bought five bags of pretzels, which we did not need, just because of this person’s tactic. Although his name is unknown, we will never forget the sketchy night a HEB cashier rapped for us.”

Something that we did not know is that the employee had to reach a certain sales target per day and rapping to us, convincing us to buy the extra treats, helped him achieve the number he needed to keep his job.


Natalie Ward is a St. Mary’s University freshman majoring in Biology. She plans to attend medical school and become a pediatric orthopedic doctor. Natalie has moved to five different states so she has a unique accent.

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