At the hotel the team lived in, there was a soda machine, and as Ortiz tells it, one of the Dominican guys tried to get a Coke. He put in the money but needed another 10 cents. The word dime flashed across the tiny screen in red letters. Dime means “tell me” in Spanish. Ortiz continues: “I explained that the machine wanted him to get closer and tell it the drink that he wanted. Fortunately, he believed me. That led to at least 10 minutes of wild entertainment in the desert. He would say in a speaking voice, ‘Coca-Cola.’ And I would tell him that he wasn’t being loud and clear enough. ‘Coca-Cola,’ he would say again, screaming this time.”
“On and on it went. We’d tell him to get louder. We’d tell him to switch the drink. We’d tell him to say it with authority. “Coca-Cola, dammit!” A few of us were dying laughing at this point, even as we continued to tell our friend that he was one good shout away from getting the soda of his choice.”
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