Behold, the power of Diet Coke
I've never been able to drink coffee, and even when I lived in England for four months, I couldn't get into tea. My caffeinated beverage of choice, far and away, is Diet Coke, preferably in a 20-oz bottle, although each morning I fill a giant plastic cup from the soda fountain at work (and then, for the rest of the workday, I drink water, which was a very big, painful shift initially, but in the long run I'm a much happier camper with the water).
This week, though, I'm in D.C. for a work trip, and -- as is usually the case -- the giant breakfast spread each morning includes boatloads of coffee and tea, but no Diet Coke. And it is a Coke hotel, not a Pepsi hotel; I will drink Diet Pepsi, and the Smelmooo prefers it, so we usually compromise and buy whatever's on sale and/or has a game involved when we're buying our 2-liter bottles for home.
So anyway, desperate, I went up to the gift shop, which was supposed to open at 7, and literally waited outside, arms crossed, feet tapping, passive-aggressiving until they opened at 7:10, and bouth a $1.99 bottle of sweet, sweet nectar, and happily brought it to my breakfast meeting.
The guy across the table, whom I'd met the day before but hadn't really talked to, was starting at me for much of the morning, but people often do that because they think the Diet-Coke-in-the-morning thing is weird. And then all of a sudden, he caught my eye and mouthed, "I COVET your Diet Coke!!" And suddenly, we were like old friends, and have been chatting it up every time we see each other. And this morning, I brought him his own 20-ouncer at breakfast, and I thought he'd burst it made him so happy, even though he has a slight preference for the mini-glass bottles that you generally get with room service.
Every once in a while, I come into contact with someone who just decides, for no real reason, that he likes me, immediately. This happened with an old co-worker, whom I really credit with getting me more visibility and more opportunities in my organization, just because he decided at hello that I was smart and capable, even though I'd done absolutely nothing to demonstrate that that's the case. I think it's the same thing with the Diet Coke guy. It's a lovely feeling, but the flip side is that I'm equally likely to have people decide immediately, and for no good reason, that they DON'T like me. That's the snap judgment I'm always more likely to make, and 9 times out of ten I'm right. I used to make those calls, and then decide maybe I'd been unfair, or really they're just shy and not bitchy, or just clueless and not manipulative, but in the end I'd realize I'd been right all along, so now I just generally go with the initial impression.
And, really, I can't think of a single one of those "lost me at hello" people who drinks Diet Coke for breakfast.
This week, though, I'm in D.C. for a work trip, and -- as is usually the case -- the giant breakfast spread each morning includes boatloads of coffee and tea, but no Diet Coke. And it is a Coke hotel, not a Pepsi hotel; I will drink Diet Pepsi, and the Smelmooo prefers it, so we usually compromise and buy whatever's on sale and/or has a game involved when we're buying our 2-liter bottles for home.
So anyway, desperate, I went up to the gift shop, which was supposed to open at 7, and literally waited outside, arms crossed, feet tapping, passive-aggressiving until they opened at 7:10, and bouth a $1.99 bottle of sweet, sweet nectar, and happily brought it to my breakfast meeting.
The guy across the table, whom I'd met the day before but hadn't really talked to, was starting at me for much of the morning, but people often do that because they think the Diet-Coke-in-the-morning thing is weird. And then all of a sudden, he caught my eye and mouthed, "I COVET your Diet Coke!!" And suddenly, we were like old friends, and have been chatting it up every time we see each other. And this morning, I brought him his own 20-ouncer at breakfast, and I thought he'd burst it made him so happy, even though he has a slight preference for the mini-glass bottles that you generally get with room service.
Every once in a while, I come into contact with someone who just decides, for no real reason, that he likes me, immediately. This happened with an old co-worker, whom I really credit with getting me more visibility and more opportunities in my organization, just because he decided at hello that I was smart and capable, even though I'd done absolutely nothing to demonstrate that that's the case. I think it's the same thing with the Diet Coke guy. It's a lovely feeling, but the flip side is that I'm equally likely to have people decide immediately, and for no good reason, that they DON'T like me. That's the snap judgment I'm always more likely to make, and 9 times out of ten I'm right. I used to make those calls, and then decide maybe I'd been unfair, or really they're just shy and not bitchy, or just clueless and not manipulative, but in the end I'd realize I'd been right all along, so now I just generally go with the initial impression.
And, really, I can't think of a single one of those "lost me at hello" people who drinks Diet Coke for breakfast.
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