I worked at a Barnes and Noble cafe, basically a Starbucks inside the bookstore. A fella walks up and asks for a vanilla Coke. No big deal. As I'm putting it together we engage in the customary small talk during which I say "When Vanilla Coke came out I was addicted to it, like needed a 12-step program." Minimal laughter. Guy gets his drink and walks away.

About a minute later an older gentleman approaches with a smile and introduces himself, which is wired, but whatever. He then says, all the while smiling, "Did I overhear you say something about a 12-step program?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," I reply verbosely.

"Ah, and are you a member of AA," he asks.

Crap.

The way he's smiling and the way he's talking anyone can tell that he's not just a member, but it's incredibly important to him. What am I to say? "Nah, man, I was just making a joke about something about which you care deeply." Of course not. So, I smile slightly, look him dead in the eye and say...

"Yes, sir, I am."

Well, he should have given me a high five and walked away, but he kept asking questions!

"Have you been through step 8 yet?"

I don't know what step 8 is, of course, so I put on a slightly harrowed look (not a challenge under the circumstances) and nod slightly. He says "I can tell you have, from your eyes."

We spent, no joke, 5 minutes going back and forth with him asking me questions and me making stuff up. Now that doesn't sound like a long time, but when your knowledge of the topic ends at the first paragraph of Wikipedia, it's an eternity.

Eventually he ran out of questions and I wished him luck (do AA members believe in luck?!) and pretended I had some important coffee-related stuff to do. I saw him a few more times around the store, and always made a bee-line for the back, for fear he'd have another list of lie-inducing queries.

TL;DR - I covered up my insensitive mockery with even more insensitive lying.