Obligatory Frasier link.
If he explained the concept of hyperbole to you, would the anecdote make more sense? 
It’s not really confusing, but just something I forget about. Cinemark Theaters have four sizes of popcorn. And I usually wan the smallest. So order a small popcorn. But “small” is actually the second-smallest. It goes Junior < Small < Medium < Large. Of course, being a movie theater the correct naming would be Humanly Portioned < Obscenely Proportioned < Now Your Just Making Fun of Starving People < Really? We Were Just Making a Joke With This One But Then People Bought It.
I’ve made the same (mental) argument for years: “medium” requires at least three options. Though I don’t bother cashiers with it. I have the same complaint about Tostitos Salsa con Queso, which comes in exactly one variety of piquantness: “Medium”.
A few years ago I came across this, um, “educational” video on the proper way to order and eat sushi:
:pI loved the Dunkin Donuts Fritalian commercialwhere they contrasted their coffee ordering system to that of the snooty chains to the tune of a Talking Heads style song.
It’s not that deep. I agree that it’s not nearly as convoluted as that Katz ticket system or double extra secret menus.
In fact, as another poster pointed out, it seems pretty simple when you look at the menu at leisure. I guess it’s an example of something that sounded neat but was more annoying (to me) in actual practice.
If I want to build my food piece by piece I’ll go to a Subway or one of those ice cream places with a zillion toppings on display.
Cheeburger has modeled their menu similarly, as a gimmick, but without the benefit of having all of the fixin’s visible.
People want options, but the conventional burger ordering way is to say “Give me a Big Kahunaburger medium well with extra mayo” or “with no pickles”: base burger followed by a few subtle options. Cheeburger asks you to choose your burger bun and start building.
Everybody has someone in the family who takes forever to read the menu and still can’t decide between the salmon and the sirloin. Imagine giving that person a wall-of-options menu like that one.
I think the place must be great for kids. I’m absolutely certain that twelve-year-old me would have loved to eat there.
That is an advantage of Fuddrucker’s. Just give me a burger and I’ll go put whatever the hell I want on it.
Of course the disadvantage of Fuddrucker’s is the food is pretty awful (never had a beef hamburger there so maybe those are great) and they use the worst buns in the history of buns.
I didn’t. Did you not read my post? 
Unfortunately, I did. If you didn’t think she had some authority over cup sizes, why would you even waste time considering educating her on the concept?
Got some bad news for ya…
A lot of times, these stories that you read on the Dope? They’re “rounded.” Meaning that, in order to make a point, the writer will take an example that happened and make it more… entertaining, visual, relevant. Doesn’t make it a falsehood, just that telling it in story form makes the point more entertaining than a mere listing of items that occurred in a sequence.
So, yes, I was at a Wendy’s. Yes, they had two sizes, one a “medium” the other a “large”. Yes, I wondered briefly about this idiocy. Sadly, no, you got me… I didn’t really contemplate telling the cashier about their bad logic, and since I’m well along the road to honesty, I might as well admit that I didn’t silently weep for the future of America. (However, my eyes may have watered a bit. But that could have been the heat. San Antonio can get hot.)
I just told a simple story highlighting an example of a time when I noticed something relevant to the topic of this thread. Sorry it bothered you so much, but in the future, when you read a story and realize that you don’t like the facts, repeat to yourself “it’s just a tale, I really should relax.”
You should probably stop telling stories.
From the OP: Togo’s is a semi-major West Coast sandwich chain. To order there, you say “Hello. Medium Italian on wheat, everything except tomatoes” and pay. If that’s the place you encountered, it probably isn’t the chain or is called something else.
The In-N-Out secret menu is part of their charm. It gives an air of mystique, along with their proselytizing. I agree, their fries aren’t very good. I like shoestring fries, but they’re not crisp enough.
Menus are best when 2-4 printed sides long. If 1, I think “that’s it!?” and if longer, it gets overwhelming.
The Portland Rogue Brewery has “hops” and "barley. Any guesses?
Hops is men, barley is women. Bitter and sweet? But then I felt something is wrong and checked Wikipedia. The very first few words: “Hops are the female flowers…” :smack:
The other way of ordering dim sum that’s more fun is when they push all the food laden trolleys around and you take what you want - then get your card stamped…
Part of the problem with In N Out’s fries is that they are freshly cut and fried. Good fries have to soak in water for at least a little while between cutting and frying them. I’m completely behind their complete slice of onion on a burger, but it’s like they never even tried to learn how to make good fries. It’s the duality of man in a value meal.
You’re a little late. I’ve long since figured out Panda Express’s system and have successfully ordered there many times.
I’m amused that you described their obsessively linear approach as if it were utterly intuitive, commonplace, and self-revelatory. But, to be fair, I invited responses like this; I’m actually surprised that that we didn’t get this kind of post until screen 3 of the thread.
You are absolutely correct; I clarified somewhere upthread that I had confused Togo’s with WhichWich.
Why are you being so rude?
I ran from bathroom to bathroom trying to figure out which to use once. The doors had French names (like Dick & Jane. But French). Eventually a woman walked outa one and I ran into the other.
In another French Caribbean bathroom, I saw this. (bathroom photography is cool, unless someone walks in when the flash goes off)
Card? The places I’ve been to, they just counted the plates on your table at the end of the meal and charged accordingly.
I’ve seen the card thing. The problem with counting plates is that at dim sum the table could quickly get cluttered with stacks of them. The last time I went I think we had 8 people and ordered well over 50 dishes.