Ya’ know, this thread is really making me miss Burger Chef.
Remember Burger Chef? The fast-food joint that invented the practice of giving a free kid’s meal to a kid who got at least one A on their report card? Burger Chef, with the famous Works Bar? I loved the works bar- they would give you basically a plain burger, with maybe a little ketchup and mustard, then you took it over to the works bar and custom designed your own burger. Those of you who are too young to remember Burger Chef missed out on a fast-food delight.
When I was a little kid, Burger Chef was the default fast-food place for my family. I think the first time I stepped foot inside a McDonald’s was when I was eight, and it was the lunchtime portion of a school field trip. I don’t think I got under the Golden Arches again until Burger Chef went belly-up.
I fail to see how politely requesting a sandwich made to taste could possibly be considered whining or assholish. At most it sounded like a communication glitch. You didn’t ask for anything so out of bounds. So what if it was a fast food joint? You didn’t get angry, neither did the counter folks: no problem.
Even if your friends are just ribbing you, maybe they’ll learn how to show some spine…with class.
(What’s with the mindset that anybody who eats inexpensive food deserves to lick the floor?)
Generally, TVeblen I agree with you. Asking politely to get your order fixed does not make one a whiner or an asshole. The thing is though, I don’t know if we’re getting the full story or maybe the nuances of how this is being done.
The reason I state this is because the OP has mentioned more than once that several people have said this about him, not just that one group.
I think the asshole part of the OP has been answered pretty satisfactorily, so I’ll take a stab at the second part.
Getting a sandwich fixed at a fast food joint can take a handful of minutes (depending on the line) that could be spent eating. You, by going up, are potentially holding back the rest of the group since you’ll have to go up, wait in line, get your stuff fixed, come back, and then eat.
You’re holding back the pack, man. That’s why they’re ribbing you.
What I don’t get is this thing of calling a burger a sandwich. To me a sandwich is slices of bread with (usually) cold fillings. A burger is a toasted bun with (mostly) hot fillings. If a burger is a sandwich, what is a sandwich?
Valid point, Baboon, and I wondered about this too. But there seems to be a creeping feeling that anyone who eats fast food deserves the lowest common denominator, just by settling for it. I’m not sure that’s what even fast food restaurants actually want. (At least on the corporate level, leaving the counter level out of it for the moment.) “Just take whatever they throw you and run, man. You don’t deserve anything else just by being here.”
I’m just saying there’s no intrinsic jerkiness in asking courteously, no matter what the common trend. The problem may be in sheepishly settling for whatever’s shoved out from the warming lights.
If I remember correctly, BK had a bacon-double-cheeseburger on their menu at one time, it DID NOT come standard with veggies. I remember I ordered one and was surprised it had no veggies, I just kind of assumed BK = the veggies. So maybe the OP’s burger did not come standard on the menu WITH veggies, that would be consistent with BK’s BDC fixins.
I had to laugh, this so much reminds me of when I was a youngster. I would sit down to dinner and look my plate of food and say, “I don’t like this stuff”. Then I remember my mother taking the plate away and saying, “How do you like that?”. So yes indeed, I learned not to complain about what was served for dinner.
This is probably why I very, very rarely complain about the food I am served, anywhere.
I think there are health department issues with this. I don’t think they can subject their food preparation area to your germs.
I see nothing wrong with what you did. However, I used to go to restaurants with a woman who would NEVER take the food as it was presented in the menu. There was a fucking song and dance for every item. Potatos…but they must be cooked for 17 minutes. Salad, hold this, and that on the side. Steak, medium-medium-rare, and you don’t prepare that with butter, do you? Blah, blah, fucking blah. It was ALL THE TIME. It’s her perogative, but she was rather tiresome to go out with. She always got what she asked for, but christallmighty already. Bring your own fucking lunch next time.
I always order my cheeseburgers with “no pickles” because they have to make a fresh order. Otherwise, I am likely to get a burger that has been pre-made and sitting under the lights for a while, and there can be a big quality issue there.
And I believe there are food-handling rules that would not allow the fast-food place to just open up his burger and add the missing ingredients. Wasteful, true, but at some point in time somebody sued somebody and now we all pay.
A sandwich is anything sandwiched between two pieces of bread. The bread may be slices, or a split bun, or pita or whatever. A Hamburger Sandwich is a patty of cooked ground beef between any two pieces of bread. It is called a burger for short. Temperature of bread or filling is inconsequential.
A child squished between two parents in a hug is called a Molly (or James, or Emily, or Jason) Sandwich. No calories!
I vote for “not an asshole” but then again, I expect people to read my mind and I, too, am looking for validation when I am clearly wrong.
You’re paying for something, you are polite about getting it fixed… not an asshole.
Me: I’d like a chicken[beef,doublecheeseburger, etc.] SANDWICH
Counterperson: Would you like the value meal?
Me: :smack:
What is the magical phrase I need to use in order for them to not ask me if I want a value meal? It happens everywhere! (They say that some people mean value meal when they say sandwich, but I very clearly enunciate sandwich, emphasizing it as per the above quote. Wouldnt they take a hint?)
Here is the easiest way to handle this.
If you want a sandwich without an ingredient, say “Without <ingredient(s)>”.
If you want a sandwich with an ingredient added, say “Add <ingredient(s)>”.
If you want a sandwich with only one or sometimes two things, and it’s easier to say just that thing instead without five different things, say “Only <ingredient>”.
If the sandwich you’re ordering comes standard with cheese (like a Quarter Pounder with Cheese), it is unnecessary to stipulate that you want it only ketchup and cheese.
Even BK, who uses a different system than some other restaurants to do special orders will understand you if you use this method. The following things aren’t acceptable/necessary.
If you want extra ketchup and mustard, etc., on a sandwich, don’t say “extra sauce.” This will confuse the person taking the order, most likely, and unless either of you clarify, you will get a sandwich with big mac/tartar sauce, etc. on it. If you don’t know what kind of liquid condiment comes on your sandwich, you shouldn’t order it.
“Plain and dry” is unnecessary, and only wastes your breath.
Are you an asshole? No. You didn’t get what you ordered, and wanted it right. I wouldn’t have been offended, as long as you were nice about it, and I would have had it remade, with some sort of extra apology (A pie or something) as well. McDonald’s workers are trained to be nice to people, not just out of common courtesy, but because if you never come back, we’ve lost a bunch of money. That pie helps ensure you’ll come back.
At A&W, I get a Teen Burger (which is distinguished from the Mama Burger by the addition of cheese and bacon), with just ketchup and mustard.
I have had to pick up the habit of ordering ‘A teen burger with ketchup, mustard, cheese and bacon’, because if I say ‘Teen burger, just ketchup and mustard’, they ask if I want cheese and bacon on it.
In which The Asbestos Mango has become obsessed with the Works Bar…
I’ve often wondered why more fast food places haven’t adopted this way of doing burgers. It seems pretty simple. They put your dead animal flesh and cultured lactates on your burger in the kitchen, and maybe the ketchup and mustard, (these things can get a bit messy), then let the customer add their own fixin’s.
I understand that Wendy’s got rid of the salad bar because people abused it, but I think this problem could be solved by having the lettuce, sliced tomatoes, onions, etc., in smaller tubs. This would also reduce waste, as you wouldn’t have big ol’ honkin’ tubs of veggies going bad out there on the floor.
Seems it would be a good trade off. The additional expense of having the fixin’s out in on the floor would be offset by the reduction of food having to be thrown out because people’s orders got screwed up. Also, it might be a nice draw. A lot of folks, myself included, enjoy custom designing their own burgers.