Okay, I have probably asked this before, but what’s the deal with pickles? Today I ordered lunch for three people over the phone. I told them no pickles. So when I picked the lunches up, there were three pickles wrapped in waxed paper.
Why can’t the standard be, we’ll give you a pickle if you want one? Why does my food have to have pickle juice in it, just because some other people like pickles?
Do most people like pickles? Am I in the minority? Because if 51% don’t like pickles, we should change the pickle treatment.
I would rather ask for pickles, too. I rarely eat them, but those white crunchy ones are nice once in a while.
The answer to your question is probably the habit of the guy slinging the hash.
What is the signifigance of your name? Lillith was the alternate Eve who killed her children, was she not? Cool.
According to family legend, when I was about 2 1/2 or 3 years old, I took the pickles (which I didn’t eat at the time) off of my McDonald’s hamburger, put them to the side, looked at my dad and said “These are my pickles and you will not touch them. Do you understand me?” I don’t remember being this precocious. As far as I remember, I was always a perfcet angel.
Either way, nowadays, I do like pickles, but I still prefer other people not to touch them.
Were the pickles on the sandwiches, or on the side? It sounds to me that they assumed that you meant you didn’t want them to be directly on the sandwiches, and so they gave them to you as sides instead. (If they were on the side in waxed paper, I would think they’d never touched the sandwiches. But I might be wrong.)
The pickles weren’t to come on the sandwiches (tuna grills). They are served on the side. This is at a diner called Claudette’s.
The same thing happens at Bruegger’s. They actually ask you if you want a pickle. You say
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO
and they pick up a pickle and wrap it in waxed paper. Then they look surprised when you say, “No, I don’t want that pickle, which is why I said no when you asked me.”
What they really mean when they ask is “do you want the pickle on the sandwich” - that is, as a topping. When you say no, they assume you want it on the side.
Which is silly, of course - not everyone likes pickles. They’re wording their question to you poorly.
But I should add that every diner I’ve been in gives you the pickles on the side if you tell them to hold 'em. They’re keeping them off the sandwich, but not the plate.
I have the same problem at this corned beef place downtown…I ask for no pickles (theirs are always served on the side) and by the time the order gets passed down to the guy bagging the sandwich, he just automatically throws that pickle in there.
I’ve started asking for my hamburger I get through any drive-thru to be “no pickle” for two reasons: I really don’t care for the pickles anymore, and this is how I assure that I don’t get a pre-made burger that’s been sitting there a while. Special orders get made fresh!
Now a good, homemade hot beef sandwich on bakery white bread is only perfect with thin slices of cold, crisp Kosher dills, but it’s getting really hard to find the no-garlic version.
Lil, since Claudette’s is such a small place and you are a regular, I think you should call attention to their oversight. Try saying this when you order…after you say “no pickles”, say “and if you get my order right this time and I don’t find any pickles, you will get a tip!” I think you’re request will be honored and remembered.
