Let me tell you a story. You go to a restaurant and order a steak, and the waitress brings you a pork chop. When you complain, she says that they only have pork chops, but they are basically the same as steak. Would you be fine with that?
Okay, that would probably never happen, but let me pose something slightly more possible to you. You go to a restaurant and order a turkey sandwich with mayo, and the waiter brings you a sandwich with Miracle Whip on it. Is that okay with you? No, of course not. Miracle Whip is gross. You do not want that on your sandwich. You did not order that. It has ruined your sandwich.
I think you know where I am going with this. You may know that I am a Coke drinker. The story behind that I will save for another blog on serious addictions, but the point is, when I order a Coca Cola, I do not want a Pepsi Cola, or an Orange Slice, or a Diet Sprite, or anything else besides what I ordered. I am fully aware that many people with unrefined junk food palates cannot tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi, but that is still no excuse for trying to sneak one past the unsuspecting public.
Now, to give the waitstaff of our fine country credit, normally when I walk into a Pepsi establishment and order a Coke, the person waiting on me will say “Pepsi okay?” and I will scowl at them and then order a Mountain Dew. This is what should happen. This is right and fair and good. However, the other day, at a diner in New Jersey, I ordered a Coke, and the waitress nodded and wrote it down on her pad. Or maybe she was writing “sucker,” I don’t know.
So I get the drink, start drinking it, and say immediately, “Simone, taste this Coke, I think there is something wrong with it.” My wife tastes it, and looks around the restaurant. “Oh, I know why you don’t like it,” she says with a knowing smile. “It’s Pepsi.” I turn around, and sure enough, behind the counter in back of me sits a Pepsi fountain soda machine. Vendetta!
There are other factors contributing to this problem, I know. For instance, in some parts of this country, people inexplicably call everything a Coke. Pepsi Coke, Root Beer Coke, Orange Coke, it’s just crazy. If you order a “Coke” from one of these people, who knows what they will bring you!? This is a serious issue!
And so I hope that by raising awareness of this terrible problem, we can start to eradicate this societal ill. Waitstaff, if someone orders a Coke, don’t just bring them a Pepsi and assume they won’t know the difference.
Yep. When I was a youngster in the South, any soft drink was a ‘coke.’ … Go into a grocery store for a cold coke, and the clerk would ask: “What kind of coke you want?” … I would answer “orange.” Or, if feeling really frisky, “Dr. Pepper.”
The generic term coke is due to the fact that Coke tastes so much better.