Well, no. I mean, yes, in Chicago (where I live) I would be surprised because that’s not what “with everything” means here. (Well, in a Mexican hot dog joint in Chicago, I would expect ketchup and even mayo on a “with everything” order, but your standard ma & pop joint, it’s not done here. Like getting, I dunno, ketchup on your Philly cheesesteak.)
But I certainly wouldn’t, in general, be disappointed if an “everything” dog came with ketchup elsewhere. My favorite dog in the world, Ted’s of Buffalo, puts ketchup on a works dog. And that’s fine with me, and how I order it there.
Have you watched the work patterns of the sandwich makers? Of course it’ll be a demand on them. It’s a fast-paced, repetitive, routine-based job. Any deviation from the usually pattern is a costly inefficiency.
We’ve had a thread on here from someone complaining that when he asks for a sandwich without cheese, they always go ahead and put on the cheese and he has to remind them to take it off. There’s a reason that happens.
Yes, if Subway central headquarters decided one way “dammit, we are going to have a list of pre-set sandwiches and by gum our sandwich makers will know what goes into them,” then yes, it’s possible for them to implement that. But it would nevertheless less efficient than what they do now, and there’s no good reason for them to do it in the absence of such a diktat.
In any case, this card system isn’t such a clean idea. Have you seen what the setup is like? Where are they going to paste the cards? On the sneeze guard? Thus partially blocking the customer’s view? For which position on the line will they place it? At two positions? At three? Or maybe it’ll be a moving card—an unhygienic card that’s shuffled along the sandwich board? Who’s going to keep track of it in a place that they’ll be remembered?
Those aren’t insurmountable problems, but given the current circumstances of how Subway operates and the expectations of the vast majority of their customers, it’s entirely unnecessary for them to put any effort into that.
But why throw a wrench into the works, when the system works so well? Every order has the same routine. People who dine there apparently love the routine and the ability to select their toppings as they please. I mean, yes, I guess they can train each employee on the standard toppings every time a new specialty sandwich comes out, but why bother? The way they have it now, you walk along with the sandwich maker and police their toppings, so there’s very little chance of customers complaining the wrong toppings are on it or realizing after they get their sandwich that there’s an ingredient they don’t like on it. There doesn’t seem to be much benefit for them to change what’s been working for them for so long. Like I’ve said before, they’re not the biggest restaurant chain in the world because they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.
(2) Of course Subway is more efficient than McDonald’s. At McDonald’s you have to stand off to the side to wait for your order to be fulfilled, and when it gets crowded, it gets a lot more chaotic than Subway. I see McDonald’s workers routinely making errors, running into snags, and engaging in a lot of running back and forth. Those are all inefficiencies that are rare at Subway.
McDonald’s is not structured on an assembly-line basis with the food being passed along and constructed by a chain of works that takes instruction from customers as they follow along. Inserting any element of deviation from that pattern will absolutely result in a loss of efficiency.
I don’t think they would change anything. But I’m startled to hear someone suggest that not having a standard build is more efficient. That’s much different than saying it’s preferable for some other reason.
And since this needs to be repeated: Subway loses my business at times because I consider their ordering process a minor hassle. No, it doesn’t cause me physical harm and I’m not going to keel over from the effort. Yes, I do actually go elsewhere. I agree, Subway is not my ideal, and they are not going to change what they are doing to suit me. No, I have no idea how many people may agree with me. Indeed, I don’t think they are truly misleading people. Forsooth, they can run their business as they see fit. Verily, there are a lot of Subways. Gadzooks, I think both customers and employees could probably handle having a Subway version of “Mike’s Way” available.
Well, it’s true that I don’t get to stand off to the side at Subway. Instead, I have to stand right in the middle of the chaos with no way to get out of the way as I inch through the line. I’m hard-pressed to consider this an advantage over standing away from traffic or taking a seat.
Of course it’s more efficient. Because the process for each sandwich is exactly the same. You move it down the line and wait for the customer to make the choice. How could that possibly be less efficient than trying to come up with a way for the workers to learn several different ingredient lists for different sandwiches?
Until people like you reach some critical number then why should they care that every once in a while they don’t get you?
They never get me because I hate their sandwiches. Do you think they should start changing their food based on what I prefer? Of course not.
Regardless of your personal feelings about it, it’s unquestionably more efficient for them. It’s even more efficient for you, even if you don’t like it for other reasons.
Asked Thing 2, who has worked at Subway longer than a father should allow, what she would put on a Spicy Italian if the customer said, “Whatever.” Tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, black olives, whatever cheese and bun because they all taste the same, oil and pepperoncini. The normal order by Normals for anything.
FTR, she is now a HS lunch lady, union, and today closed on a home with her beard. I’m a pleased dad, especially since Wife declared him her son last year. So did I and I declared her big sisters roommate my daughter. I used to know her as “Rob,” stopped caring ages ago, and accept her, her baby daddy, Oldest, and her fiance (note the masculine form) as my children.
By that logic, how do you know the meat is actually what they say it is? How can you prove anything?
If you can’t trust the guy behind the counter, how can you trust the sandwich?
Do you check the salad to see if it’s really the kind they advertise? Or if the Jalapenos really are Jalapenos and not some other, perhaps cheaper sort of chili?
Flip it around as much as you want, the point is, if there is no known list of ingredients for that sandwich, then you can’t get one the way it is depicted.
And as has been established, the depicted sandwich is indeed a mere fiction, never intended to be sold at all.
I like my tacos with onions, tomato and cheese on soft corn shells. The order gets wrong so much, I started being very specific when ordering. * I want three tacos on soft corn shells with onions tomato and cheese ONLY* and repeated it twice.Seemed to work until i got three tacos with onion tomato and cheese only,no meat. I sent them back to be meated , the girl got a 20 for a tip .
So do I. I also don’t very much enjoy talking to the person preparing my lunch. So I tend to buy my lunches in establishments where the person preparing my lunch isn’t even in full view from where I’m sitting (or standing, I could be standing) while I wait for my order to be given to me.
“#4 combo, regular size, Diet Coke,” is plenty of talking for me. And then “Thank you very much” said with a genuine smile at the close of the transaction, of course.
Look, if you’re taking it there, then your complaint isn’t really with Subway, is it?
If I go to McDonald’s and order a Big Mac, I could look at the picture and look at the burger and look back at the picture and say, “hey, that picture looks like it shows sesame seeds on the bun — but what you’ve given me appears to have no sesame seeds!” And that is, I believe, an entirely reasonable complaint.
And if they gave me a replacement, I could — in equally reasonable fashion — look at the picture and look at the burger and say “okay, see, now, as far as I can tell, what you’ve given me matches the picture.”
…or I could, as you just have, take it a step further: I could look at the picture, and look at the burger, and say “that picture looks like it shows lettuce — but how do I know that what you’ve given me is actually lettuce? Oh, it looks like lettuce; and, as far as I know, it is lettuce; but I demand that you prove I got what’s depicted!”
It’s the same with a hot dog: if I ask for one with mustard and onions, possibly while pointing at a picture of a hot dog with mustard and onions, and receive what looks to be a hot dog (a) with neither mustard nor onions, but (b) dotted with mayo, then I’ll readily point out their apparent mistake; and if, by contrast, I’m given what to all appearances seems to be a hot dog with mustard and onions — well, it’d be weird for me to do what you’ve just done, and declare that I don’t know for sure whether the ostensible onions are actual onions; but I could, if I felt like it.
And so, too, with Subway: if I see a picture of a meatball sub with marinara sauce, and I point right at that while requesting it, and I instead get handed what looks to be a tuna sub with no marinara sauce — well, then, sure, I’d loudly announce that I didn’t get the depicted sandwich. But if I got handed a sandwich that appeared to contain both meatballs and marinara sauce, and appeared to otherwise match the picture, then I wouldn’t say the depiction is a mere fiction; I’d instead say what I would upon apparently getting a Big Mac, or apparently getting a hot dog with mustard and onions. Or anything else of the sort, at any restaurant, ever.
Tomorrow I will be meeting people at Subway before a movie so I may try the whole “give me a meatball on Italian with the Subway approved vegetables, cheese and sauce.” Do I then insist on the U-cut?
I’ll repeat: My preference would be for a Subway version of Mike’s Way. That’s all. There is no learning several different ingredient lists for different sandwiches. Please stop telling me what I am stating a preference for.
Kinship in the 21st is fun because it allows you to compose incomprehensible rambles for the purpose of confusing people whilst showing off your tolerance. Btw I always thought “beard” was rather derogatory.
This is an unnecessarily hostile response. I don’t have any interest in telling you anything. I am also just a guy on the Internet who can’t tell you anything you don’t want to hear.
That’s not what the OP is asking for so it’s a bit of a diversion. Anyway, You’re basically asking Subway to be something that violates their basic premise—you get to pick your own ingredients. There is no Subway style. That’s the whole point.
