It actually **says on the sign **, in words, that a reuben comes with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing.
If I ask for a reuben , that is what I’m asking for. The thing you printed on the sign.
Don’t stand there expectantly and then impatiently insist that I go through the ritual of asking for those things added, like I’m asking if I can please have an exotic custom order.
If I go to any other sub shop, the sandwich maker will cheerfully use whatever ingredients I request, but they’re also knowledgeable enough to tell me what a “standard” reuben is or a “standard” Italian is. If Subway’s style is suppose to feel more “custom” then they’ve failed. It just feels like “poorly trained employees”. And let’s face it. That’s probably what it is. Let’s not make excuses for them.
How much time and effort would you suggest store managers and employees invest for that 1 in 1000 customer who wants the sandwich made exactly the way they saw it on the TV?
I’m almost certainly n that you know very well that that’s not my position.
But just in case, I will clarify —
It is my position that it is not worth it for the manager of a SUBWAY (specifically a Subway, not “a store”) to do that under Subway’s current model.
So you understand why I’m saying that? I’ve already said so about half a dozen times so it shouldn’t be a mystery.
Since every other fast food place in the country operates profitably under that model, I think the demand would not be so trivial.
Pizza places already operate on a model similar to what people are asking for here. They list the ingredients you can choose, but they also have pre-designed combos you can just order by number. You can order a “meat lovers”, or you can specifically choose your toppings.
Diners do this with their omelets. Many burger places do this. And of course, sub shops do this. Basically all sub shops except this one chain.
A preprinted 3x5 card, stuck to the employee side of the counter, that says what the advertised specialty sandwich, as featured in the company’s own advertisements, and website, is suggested to have.
In other words, about 1 minute, depending on how long it takes the manager to peel and stick a decal printed by Subway headquarters.
If he has to teach his employees to read, well, maybe that’s too much to ask. Maybe they can use pictograms, for the illiterate. And emojis. Youngsters love emojis.
I think the issue is that no one is really asking for this so why would they do it. So I’ve got an idea.
Next time you want to go to Subway, just walk in say “Sandwich Artist, You can get anything you want, at Subway restaurant.” And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick and they won’t make his sandwich.
And if two people, two people do it, in harmony they may think they’re both burger lovers and they won’t make either of their sandwiches.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singing a bar of Subway Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an Organization.
And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Subway Restaurant and Walking out. And friends they may thinks it’s a movement
Yeah, but then you have to clean up the dumpster pad.
…the fact that this thread has gotten weirdly contentious blows my mind.
But I don’t like swiss and thousand island on reubens.
But try it the other way around: let’s say I want one EXACTLY like the one displayed; and let’s say — for the sake of argument — that they got it wrong.
How would I prove that they got it wrong?
And, near as I can tell, the answer is: “uh, hey; I see what looks like tomatoes and onions on the picture; and I see neither on what you just handed me.”
That is, I believe, how I’d prove the employee got it wrong.
Which means that, if the reverse is true — if all I can do is look at the picture, and look at the sandwich, and look at the picture, and say “hang on, I’m still looking for something to complain about; this was easier yesterday, when the guy left off the tomatoes and the onions” — then I figure the burden of proof flips: if I can show that Guy A failed to match the display, then I can complain that I didn’t get one like what was advertised; but if I can’t show any reason to think that Guy B failed to match the display, then what the hell can I complain about?
Cards that have to be constantly maintained and updated? I don’t believe it’s worth the hassle.
I think a much easier solution would be to just remember the ingredients and just tell the sandwich maker yourself.
Not really. People can be passionate about where they spend their money, and the services that they receive from it. That’s understandable. They want to be treated as if they are important, which they are, as a paying guest. But what they are not are the only paying guest.
And then there are those of us who have been on the other side of the counter, who have dealt with customers that demand that things be the way they want them to be, even though that directly contradicts how the last customer demanded things be.
I learned to find it amusing, because the alternative is to find it intolerably aggravating.
Another problem is that then the employees would be making the sandwiches on the cards, rather than the ones that the customer asks for.
When you ask for a custom sandwich at Wendy’s the sandwich maker has to change his pattern and make something different from what they are making a million of every day. That’s why you sometimes get mayo when you asked for no mayo. It’s ingrained habit, and they mess up and go by rote, rather than by order.
Having cards to follow means that they will have a tendency to follow those cards, and be more inclined to mess up when someone wants something custom.
This is like one of those conversations where someone says “America should retire the paper dollar” or “America should have universal healthcare”, and then a bunch of patriots show up to tell us all the reasons that it’s completely impossible and that nobody could possibly do that ever.
Trivial or not, apparently the buying public is fine with it, as Subway is literally the largest fast food chain in the world by locations and second (I reported incorrectly before) in sales behind McDonald’s (or third if you count Starbucks).
Then whatever it is you like, it’s not a Reuben. (Well, it should be Russian dressing, but Thousand Island is close enough.) That said, literally any sandwich place will allow you to substitute, but, to me, it’d be unexpected for me to order a Reuben and be asked what toppings I’d like on it. But not at a Subway, of course, because that is expected there.
Customers can certainly be aggravating, and no system is perfect. That said, asking Subway corporate to devise and communicate standard builds is not a demand to the person behind the counter.
If Subway announced tomorrow that they were going to start communicating standard builds, or offer a Subway style or anything like that, would you be upset that this would really negatively impact the person behind the counter?
(Again, I don’t expect Subway to do this, so this is a pure thought experiment.)
If yes, does this mean you feel that working at Subway or other restaurants without standard builds is superior to restaurants WITH standard builds? Less hassle somehow? While I’ve worked retail (nearly all custom-ordered, since it was a bridal shop), I’ve never worked in a restaurant.
No, we’re just saying that you should quit thinking that Subway is something that it’s not, especially when Subway already sucks for so many more reasons.
I’d be embarrassed to admit this publicly. I mean, toddlers know what food combos they like and don’t like.
No, it wasn’t. It was founded by someone trying to save money for med school.
And I’m saying that whatever they are is indistinguishable from an ordinary sub-shop where they haven’t properly trained their employees.
It’s not like Subway compensates by offering a service that other sandwich shops don’t.
This disease is so bad that often they won’t even let you say “The works” or “everything”, the employee just goes through the ingredients one at a time and individually confirms that you want each of them on your sandwich.
How does that help anybody?
I believe there are folks who say “the works” or “everything”, and who then recoil in horror when presented with a sandwich that contains jalapeños — much like how, as seen in this very thread, some people ask for a hot dog “with everything” but would be disappointed if the hot-dog vendor actually put ketchup on it.
And I believe that, for those people, help comes in the form of someone who replies to such a request by saying “so, you want this on it?”