Let's try not to kill the diabetics

Hopped over to read Van's blog on people trying to kill him with real coke. When you're a diabetic, the fact that you ordered DIET coke is very significant. I've been through countless meals with my younger brother when he thought his pop tasted funny, and all of us taking a taste to determine if it's just the shitty city water in it or if it's real coke.

Younger brother and I often joke about what would happen to him if he drank a Dairy Queen milkshake... instant death to a diabetic!!!

People just don't pay any attention. I think they assume a skinny guy, such as Van or my brother, must have said "coke" and not "diet coke", "there's no way he could be on a diet, I must have heard them wrong." They just don't give a shit. Oblivious to the fact that you did indeed order DIET pop for a reason. And then get indignant when you ask for the correct drink. Our family usually ended up trying to be nice about it and explaining the diabetic angle, so it didn't look like we were "difficult customers". But really we shouldn't have had to do that. If you had opened your friggin ears and listened to what he wanted in the first place, we wouldn't be sending it back now, would we?

I do notice one thing my brother does when he orders a drink. When they ask him what he wants, he just says "diet", and doesn't say coke. I'll have to ask him sometime if he does that consciously so they don't think they hear just "coke". A lot of restaurants usually only have one choice of diet pop, if they have a fountain.

I wonder if there is a different scenario for diabetic women than men. i.e., is it more likely to hear a woman ask for a diet pop than a man, because women are stereotypically obsessed with their weight? Do diabetic women not have this diet vs regular problem, because the context of a woman asking for a diet coke "makes sense", whereas a man asking for a diet coke does not?