I think my first encounter with Diet Coke was watching my girlfriend (now wife) drink more Diet Coke than I thought was possible. When I’d come to visit, there would be Diet Coke cans (half-empty) all around the house, her car, etc. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into.
Then I found out this wasn’t just the habit of my girlfriend-now-wife. One of my professors/advisor at Princeton, Kenda Creasy Dean, started bringing Diet Coke cans to class in the morning. And she’d always have one when I stopped by her house. She said she’d leave half-empty cans all over her home as well. She readily acknowledged a love/’addiction’ to Diet Coke.
And then it began to manifest itself in my own life. I’d find myself drinking Diet Coke in the morning – a couple a day. I couldn’t believe what was happening.
And then I come to work at SBL, and found out that everyone was addicted to Diet Coke. Sometimes it was normal Diet Coke, sometimes lime. In fact, one guy always keeps 3 Diet Coke Limes in the fridge at all times – he brings more from home and rotates them through.
AND THEN there was the one time that one of my co-workers came in to talk with me about something, and after he left, I realized my Diet Coke was gone. He had mistakingly taken mine. We laughed for quite awhile about that (and about a phrase he once used: “like lipstick on a chicken…”).
So clearly this “Diet Coke”-addiction is widespread. And watch out for those Diet Cokers – don’t even THINK about giving them a regular Coke. **MAYBE** a Coke Zero, but even that is stretching it.
So, for those of you who work in an office setting, what is YOUR drink of choice? Is Diet Coke just an Atlanta thing, or is it even more widespread?
