Wednesday, July 16, 2008

dreyers is my drug

I've never been one to drink soft drinks.

Soda.

Pop.

Whatever you call it.

When I was young and my parents had just divorced - and money was tight for my mother - on the rare occasion we'd eat out, mom would discourage me from ordering soft drinks because they usually cost $1.00 and then, we'd be charged for refills. Mom further went on to tell me that there were TEN (10!!) teaspoons of sugar in a 12-ounce can of soda and that does nothing but rot your teeth.

So, I grew to love water.

Tap water with ice.

And a lemon wedge.

These days, I drink water all day long and almost always have a bottle of water with me. I don't even like soft drinks anymore and just the thought of drinking one makes me burp. My husband, on the other hand, is convinced that whenever he eats certain foods, nothing compliments that food better than an ice cold Coke. Much like Charlie insists on drinking coffee every morning, he insists on drinking Coke whenever he eats Mexican or Chinese food.

Have I written before about my husband's love of coffee?? The man absolutely cannot function without it in the morning. He will walk around befuddled and agitated until that first sip and then, a wonderful human being emerges from beneath his wrinkled brow.

Charlie can do ANYTHING when he's had a cup of coffee.

Charlie can do NOTHING until that first molecule of Starbucks French Roast is ingested.

The point being, I have seen first hand that people are addicted passionate about certain substances.

This week, I'm hosting a business meeting in San Diego. When I hosted a meeting several years ago, I remembered ordering soft drinks to have setup in our meeting room at the hotel for some of my co-workers and when the bill came due, I was appalled to see that my company was charged $3.00 per 12-oz bottle.

THREE DOLLARS for a 12-oz bottle of soda that would probably cost no more than $0.50 if bought in bulk at Costco.

So, when I set up this meeting, I just assumed that everyone would be content with having ice water. Surely they don't need soda. It's a rip off and it will rot their teeth. Besides, if they need a jolt of caffeine, there is fresh coffee stocked in canisters.

Today, during our Spanish Fiesta afternoon break, when they brought out fresh guacamole, multi-colored corn chips and churros, and large pitchers of ice water with lemon, I noticed that some of my coworkers were looking around and seemed confused. They were pointing fingers at the empty station on top of the snack table where it was clear soft drinks would normally be located. A few minutes went past and I could hear the murmurs.

"Where's the Diet Coke? Are they bringing out Diet Coke? Why haven't they brought out any Diet Coke yet? Where do I get a Diet Coke? I need a Diet Coke!!"


I finally confessed to the group that even though our company had record profits last year in the billions, I didn't order any soft drinks for the meeting. I thought that they were too expensive and I didn't think that anyone would miss them. Besides! They had a lot of sugar. Right?

Yet, when I looked in their eyes, I recognized the panic. The same kind of panic that grips me when it's 10:00 at night, the store is closed and Dear God, we're out of ice cream.

To rectify my wrong doing, I immediately called the Catering Department to order a large assortment of soft drinks STAT and I promised my co-workers that I would never deny them of their Diet Coke again.

And only then, did they let me out of the headlock.

22 comments:

  1. As a soft drink addict, I broke into a cold sweat reading this post!

    Diet soda doesn't have any sugar in it!!!! Not that it's good for you or anything, it's got lots of other terrible things in it and it will rot out your teeth... but not a bit of sugar!

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  2. Ha!

    I'm trying to go all water, but I think I'm with Charlie (and the coworkers) - Mexican and Chinese do need Coke.

    It's obnoxious that the conference venues often don't allow "outside" food or drink, just so they can charge Disneyland prices for simple refreshment. Otherwise, I'd have an assistant go to Costco for every meeting and bring cheap soda in. :)

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  3. I am the same way Charlie is - but for me it's Diet Coke. I know it's terrible, but I can do NOTHING without a Diet Coke - and cannot do meeting type stuff without it!

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  4. Add me into the list of people who MUST have a Diet Coke to function. MUST. HAVE. No question about it.

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  5. Oh, a work meeting must provide soda at lunch and the afternoon break. My company does this sometimes, no soda served at lunch, ahhhhh!! I can't function without my lunchtime Diet Pepsi.

    And diet doesn't have sugar. I know it's still not good for you, but at least I'm not ingesting all that sugar.

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  6. Hello. My name is Margaret. Alias: Mom, M, Maggie, Auntie M, one of the Finnell's, Reiner's wife, one of Jen's many cuzzins.

    I too am a Diet Coke-Aholic. I have tried many times to quit. At times it has gotten so bad that my 7 year old has asked me to stop and drink water. Yep. it's true.

    I really don't have any other vices. I try to exercise but get out of the habit more than in it. Sometimes I swear but hey! that can be fun.;-) I don't smoke, rarely drink; unless with a relative...uhmmm.

    Thank you. I am relieved to finally have found a forum to discuss my habit.;-) I am down to 2 a day. It's tough. Especially when the Italians, Chinese, Mexican restuarant people,etc. are against you. All that added salt ...needs a Diet Coke.

    Breathe...I.can.drink.water.

    My throats scratchy ...think I'll order a.... Love, Marg. ;-)

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  7. I am sitting here in a stupor I will get back to you after I have some caffeine. In any form except for pop.

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  8. I'm with you... my parents never really let us have it so I grew up on water and milk. Although I'm also like your hubbie when a nice cold Coke goes great with some things... like I can't have pizza without a Coke... but I would say that is only like one a month or so.

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  9. Oh, I love Coke. Sure, I haven't had it more than a few times in SIX YEARS (the amount of time I've beein either pregnant or breastfeeding) but the thought still makes my mouth water. Such a trade-off though--wake myself up at the expense of keeping the baby up all night? Just one cup of coffee? One Coke?

    That said, the pounds are melting away since I gave up soda! Your mom was right!

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  10. Do you know how many times I've been to a meeting and they have NO water, ONLY soda? I'm a water-aholic like you! Talk about reverse discrimination. HA!

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  11. I stopped buying 'pop' when we were trying to get pregnant and I have to say that now when I have a drink of it, it tastes WAY too sweet. Diet just isn't for me either. It's water or fruit juice for our family! Funny thing though... ice cream doesn't taste too sweet! That's allowed!
    :)

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  12. To feed your ice cream addiction --- Breyer's Chocolate Crackle.

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  13. Growing up we weren't told not to have pop, but we didn't have it in excess. So I've got a pretty normal, healthy relationship with pop. I enjoy it well enough, I think it goes well with some foods, but I definitely don't drink it constantly or over-drink it when it's around. I often choose iced tea over pop at restaurants (because the carbonation fills me up too much!). I have begun to drink slightly less pop than I did as a teenager, which I think goes along with the Adulthood thing.

    But goodness, an iced cold Coke does hit the spot sometimes... usually if I choose not to order pop, I take a good sip of my boyfriend's Coke (which he never fails to order). Mmm.

    I don't drink "Diet" anything; that was the thing my mom was most against as we were growing up. She didn't care if we had a glass of regular pop, but DIET was out. Aspartame 'n all. LOL. And now I can't stand the taste of diet stuff anyway.

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  14. I am afraid I am on the side of your coworkers. Coffee first thing and then diet coke the rest of the day... I had to giggle at the "Where do I get a Diet Coke?"... So me.

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  15. do NOT take away my diet coke, girlfriend.

    never ever ever!

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  16. This was hysterical, Jen. You could have gotten hurt! I quit drinking soda last year and haven't missed it, but it really is addicting.

    I finally took your advice (or was it your mother's?) and started wheatgrassing. That's my new drink. Grass clippings. I will get a jolt of energy after a shot, just like a drank a Diet Soda. It's bizarre. But IT WORKS. I wish it tasted like a soda though. :)

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  17. Was my mom at your meeting? She would have been the one w/the tightest headlock!

    I'm an ice-cold water kind of girl, but I do love a nice cold Dr. Pepper every now and then!

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  18. I'm with your husband I can barely function in the morning until I've had some diet mountain dew! I haven't a chance my parents bought Pepsi in bottles by the case I think we could get 4 cases in our chevette hatchback every week. I'm pretty sure my mom put pepsi in our baby bottles -- my kids hate the taste of soda at 3-1/2 yrs and I plan on keeping it that -- it's as bad as crack!

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  19. I am a recovering Diet Coke addict. I will still drink it when out and about, but refuse to bring one more can into this house. When I was teaching I would go through 2cans a day (Ok 4 on a really bad day). My favorite student of all time gave me a large basket full of diet coke for Christmas. That was the first time I thought maybe just maybe I had a problem!

    Jennifer
    Triplet Mom in MN

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  20. Ha Ha! I would not have put you in a headlock. Ice water with lemon tops coke anyday.

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  21. When I think of the money it costs to drink coke and diet coke ---I am so glad that I am a water drinker.
    And now a word about ice cream---it has all those fillers in it to make the ice cream puff up and guess what that does to your thighs?
    I am running for cover now!
    MOM

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  22. hahah This is the true definition of penny wise and pound foolish. 1st I don't want to have to be at any required meeting ever. So I struggle through and look forward to breaks. And fancy teas and maybe cappachino maybe muffins in the AM a soda at the breaks... not a soda lover here either BUT give me one so I can stay awake. Then its cookies or sweets at the afternoon break PLEASE JEN loosen the purse strings and gimme fun and nescessary food and or drinks and coffee yes Coffee pleaseee.
    Ruth

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