“The Coke vs. Pepsi ‘cola-war’ of the 1980s: How it affects us as workers”

In 1981, during the height of the Coke vs. Pepsi cola war, taste-tests were being conducted all over America: on college campuses, in malls, at Fourth of July events, etc. Everybody had their preference and everybody thought himself or herself an expert. Surely they would be able to distinguish between the two tastes and pick out their favorite.

At my high school in eastern Pennsylvania, I volunteered to be part of the taste-test team on our campus. Along with the other four volunteers, I was tasked with setting up the test and filling a huge table with many hundreds of plastic cups. On each side of the table, we were to put either Coke or Pepsi; we were to be the only ones who knew which was which. Tastees were to drink one cup from each side, decide which they liked better, and write it on their secret ballot.

As the tastees went through the process, each made unsolicited comments and interacted with the volunteers. "This one’s Pepsi, I’m sure of it!" said one. "This one’s Coke," said another, "it’s much less sweet than the Pepsi." "I know my favorite, you can’t fool me!" Each person was a qualified expert.

Well the moral of the story is: don’t always believe what you’re told. You see, me and my fellow team members decided to embark on a little social experiment of our own. Rather than making one side of the table Coke and one side Pepsi, we made the entire table Coke! There was no difference between the two drinks! Despite this, people tasted a difference. They were so convinced they were sampling separate items that they let themselves become convinced that there were differences in flavor, texture, smell and sweetness.

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At the end of the school day, we publicly revealed what we had done. Needless to say, our High School administrators were a little bit taken aback, the Coke and Pepsi representatives who came to collect the results were a bit sour, and the students who listened intently to the results on the school intercom, each fully expecting they had guessed correctly, were dumbfounded.

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As employees, whether freelancers, independents, or more traditional workers, I believe there are lessons to be had.

• Firstly, don’t take things for granted; things are not always as they seem.

• Secondly, don’t work blindly based on assumptions, pre-conceived notions, biases and expectations. If they are wrong, we will err, with the unfortunate result that we will find ourselves doing the initial job a time-consuming second time. It has happened to me before-I was so eager to start a job, so convinced I understood the task ahead that I failed to read the "fine print."
• Thirdly, remember that even qualified, experienced experts can be fooled. We can misjudge. We can fall into the trap of believing what we are told. Last year I believed I was working for a trustworthy client who shall remain nameless. After submitting the finalized work, I never heard from her again. She didn’t answer emails, her phone calls had come, not from home as she had said, but rather from a public phone. I tried to track her down but couldn’t. I never received payment. 

• Finally, ask questions of the client if his or her instructions are a little bit too vague. Clarify, "take a second sip" of work. Make sure all is in order before starting. By doing this, we can often find nuances, subtleties, and wording we might have initially missed, which will put things in a whole different context.  

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