[CobrastanJorji]

Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke.

There's probably some debate about whether this is nefarious or genius, but I lean towards the later. "Coke" has always been the number one request from our patrons, and the amount of people who just wanted any soda but said "coke" was wild. there's a very large percentage of poorly palated patrons who aren't looking for a Coca-Cola, they're looking for a soda, and in their mind the two are the same.

They likely don't care which soda they're drinking, so I suspect this actually captures a very large amount of soda sales, while still solving the intent of the patron.

What's that? There's a process server outside? Whatever for?

[quink]

A perfect analogy, if I were to trust the glass with my deepest darkest secrets, had a relationship with it going back decades, expect it to point me to the right direction and keep track of much of my correspondence, and so on and so forth.

OK, maybe a glass of soft drink somehow doesn’t do that, but I suppose it’s perfect analogy adjacent.

[tbrownaw]

> Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke.

I have in fact heard "coke" used as a generic before. Just like google, kleenex, champaign, cheddar, ...

[pests]

This example was doomed from the start because of this fact.

A lot of the US south uses the generic "coke."* It is not uncommon for this conversation to play out: "Can I get a coke?" "Sure, which kind?" "A Coke" (or a pepsi, or fanta)

In my neck of the woods we call it "pop" which always sounded strange to me in isolation.

* As famously depicted in the 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey.

[CobrastanJorji]

That's what makes it work as a metaphor, I think. Our former Microsoft friend above says that when people ask for "google search," what they mean is "any search engine," just as people in Georgia say "coke" when they mean "a soda." You say the right response is "sure, what kind," but the Microsoft solution is to serve them a Pepsi that they disguised to resemble a Coca-Cola at first glance.

[lesuorac]

To avoid the whole question of if they carry pepsi or coke I usually just ask for a pepsi-coke and I've yet to run into any problems.

[ziml77]

But at the very least they need to say "No Coke. Pepsi."

[scotty79]

I don't see anything wrong with that. Coke is pretty much generic term. And Pepsi and Coke and other brands of cola flavored sweetened water are all pretty much the same.

People shouldn't be drinking this stuff at all anyways. It should be mandatorily white labeled anyways.

[lukevp]

This was so offensive to imagine as a Coke fan, great choice of metaphor!

[jjcm]

I definitely get what you're saying - there's an element here of taking what a customer asks for and returning something different, but I think it's an imperfect analogy.

It's not bringing them a Coke, it's bringing them a dispenser that says "Cola" next to a fridge with options. For people who just want Cola, it's immediately available. For those with a brand choice, there are additional options.

The reality I'm trying to portray though is that the demographic of people who search "Google" in a search field rarely overlaps with the demographic of people who are opinionated about their search tool, so this ends up serving a segment of the population in the way they expected.

[blibble]

> I definitely get what you're saying - there's an element here of taking what a customer asks for and returning something different

taking money for this is literally Google's business model

search for geico, entire initally visible results page is other insurance companies

[m3kw9]

It’s a cheap trick from some 20 year old fresh out of college. It works though but it makes Microsoft look soft and somehow non professional. But still good for them if they get to convert a few users

[bhelkey]

> I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke.

Did you tell them they were drinking Pepsi or ask some variant of "Is Pepsi okay?"

[CobrastanJorji]

In response to their request, I said nothing and brought them a red and white paper cup with "Cola" written on it in the Coca-Cola font.

[riiii]

Are you from the PR Disaster Mitigation Department trying to find justification for this?

[bhelkey]

What are you talking about?

A pretty common interaction is:

Me: Can I have a coke?

Waiter: Is pepsi okay?

Me: That's fine

Waiter: brings a Pepsi

It seems that the above commentor doesn't have this exchange but instead silently substitutes.

[tedunangst]

I have no idea why there's a process server outside, but rest easy, it's nothing to do with serving Pepsi.

[kalleboo]

If you ask someone for a Kleenex, are you going to be angry if they give you some other brand of paper tissue?

[thaumasiotes]

> there's a very large percentage of poorly palated patrons

You should look into writing poetry. ;D

[alt187]

I don't care either way. Brands don't exist, grow up.

[lobsterthief]

Sorry to break it to you, but yes they do.

[knowitnone]

except you can kill someone by switching their choice of foods. why would you do that?