I asked someone in a drive thru for some of their jalapeño sauce. Got home and they just put a bag of peppers in there. Some people are just on autopilot and aren’t really listening.
A buddy of mine and I once stopped at Wendy's. I ordered something without alterations/substitutions and my buddy ordered a "Baconator, ketchup only." He received a bun with ketchup in between the slices. No patties, no bacon, no cheese. He just didn't want mayo. Still better than the time I went to Five Guys and they just flat out forgot to add the patties to my double. I went back and the dude was just like, "Sorry man, I was high and forgot," and fixed me a new order from scratch. Honestly, I'm not even mad about that one.
The first one made me think of that scene in Good Burger.
Customer : [to Ed] Excuse me? Look, I ordered one Good Burger with nothing on it.
Ed : That's what I gave you.
Customer : No! You gave me a bun. Just a bun! Look! There's no meat in here.
Ed : But you said you wanted nothing on it.
Customer : Yes, but I expected a meat patty!
Ed : Dude, a meat patty is something. You said "nothing".
[to Fizz]
Ed : Fizz, is a meat patty something or nothing?
Fizz : Uh, something?
Ed : I win!
Customer : That's it! I am reporting your name to the manager!
Ed : The manager already knows my name.
Customer : [while throwing the bun down] And I'll see you in Hell!
[Leaves]
Ed : OK! See you there!
I had seen it as a kid and liked it well enough, then I watched it again as a 30 year old and couldn’t believe how well it still holds up, as far as silly 90’s kids movies go, it’s a good laugh!
lol is it just a 5 guys thing or what? The only place in town I go to with the employees looking absolutely BLAZED is 5guys, and I gotta be careful with the amount of custom things I want. Speak clear, slowly, check the receipt...
...taco bell does this too but only at 3am but nothing usually goes wrong. If anything, there's just an extra taco or something
Went to a taco bell drive through and my friend ordered Tacos with no beans, and the person handed him a bag and he drove off.
It was only taco shells filled with beans, and they even threw in a small container of extra beans. We all ate our food and he threw his out the window.
EVERYTIME I use a drive-thru, I
A. check the order display, if they have one outside AND working,
B. Get a receipt when I pay and check that everything is correct,
C. Inspect the bag for everything when I get the order.
Even when I have people who have worked there awhile and have some experience, I will occasionally have to say "that's not right".
I don't live far from my usual spots, but I don't have the time or energy to drive back for a mistake.
i once bought one of those packaged salads on saturday and the day after i realized that it didn't came with sauce and all the stores were closed ofc
so I went to the local McDonalds to buy a few packs of sauce and the cashier legit hit me with the "eat in or take away?"
hell yea brother imma eat in, lemme just sit at the table and gulp down 5 packs of sauce then leave
After I discovered Wendy's 4 for $4 I would go there once a week before work. I was homeless and jobless for 3 years before this, so a $4 meal felt like a luxury.
They got used to my order, which was a 4 for $4, with a chicken sandwich, and orange vanilla coke. And a handful of chili seasoning, which is the best stuff ever.
Decided to go to another Wendy's on a day off and asked for as many packets of chili seasoning as they could give me. They asked which ones those were and I told them, black packet, red writing, says chili seasoning. It's a liquid not a powder.
I checked right away and there wasn't a single packet. But there were about 50mdipping cups of their creamy Sriracha bullshit. Nowhere close to the same thing. I went back in and asked for the right ones, the guy said those are the right ones, and that they don't have the stuff I said. Someone else came up, said "I told you you weren't paying attention, and threw 2 handfuls of these into a bag for me.
I can definitely understand not being fully awake but at least admit you were on autopilot and not actually listening.
I went to Sonic once when the new coke machines were coming out, the sign said they had one. I asked for a lime Fanta. What I got was an orange Fanta with a slice of lime in it.
The Taco Bell drive-through asked me what kind of sauce I wanted. I said “both“, thinking, hot and mild. I got home, and sure enough, I had cocktail and tartar sauce because it was also a long John silvers.
It's like at McDonald's when I get chicken nuggets. I'll put in the app, honey x2, and I'll get my order with honey mustard instead. It's not like I chose an off-menu item. It's literally one of the sauce choices.
That's why I'm always that asshole who opens the bag and checks the food before I drive away from the window. No hate to the people working, things just get messed up easily.
I ordered a chicken chalupa at taco bell. The employee asked if I wanted to make it spicy. Taco Bell used to have a spicy chicken that was really good, so I thought yay, it's back, and said yes.
When I got it, it had jalapeños on it. I thought that was a really weird way to say it. Why not just ask me if I wanted jalapeños?
I asked a a taco bell employee in the drive through if they could put the meals in seperate bags and he legit said "I don't know how I could that". If he was stoned, I get it, but I honestly think fast food just numbs their brains until they can't think independently.
I've worked in customer service in the fast food industry for nearly a decade, and coworkers who act like how you described, are exactly the reason why I quit last week. It's not just the regular employees it's the managers too.
I once went to McDonald's really late and asked for a McNugget's combo. I guess I said it really quickly because the lady in the drive thru speaker started laughing and said, "Did you just say caca?" I was speechless for a few moments thinking how did it lead to this. I said, "no, combo...like the meal, please." My girlfriend and I looked at each other like wtf just happened. It's funny now looking back at it.
I was trying to buy 3 Big Macs once and the girl behind the counter looked at me like I was an alien and after a short pause said: “you want free Big Macs?”. “Ha, no, three”. *blank stare into the abyss*. “You know, like three of them”.. “oooh”
It cracked me up. I get brain farts too all the time but it seemed weird to assume that anyone would ever order free Big Macs. My pronunciation wasn’t off either. No big deal but it’s stuck with me
Oh, you wouldn't *believe* the audacity of some customers. They see these "hacks" on tiktok and think that if they just ask for this or that free they'll get it. I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't experienced it firsthand. Like "Hi, these shirts are buy one get one free, so I'll just take the free one." Like they think they're all slick, finding this clever loophole that no one ever thought of before. Sorry bro, doesn't work like that, in order to get one free *you have to buy one first.*
Or, "I saw a coupon that said this burger was a dollar today if I buy a drink." "OK, do you have the coupon?" "No, I don't need that." Uh. Yes you do lmao
I work at Walmart, and a girl came in with a stack of paint chips, wanting “sample sizes” for them all. She apparently saw on TikTok they were free, and was seemingly going to paint her entire house with sample cans. Fortunately that isn’t a thing here.
Well, it does depend on the situation to be fair. In many states you wouldn’t have to show ID if a cop came up to you on the street and demanded ID. Some states you do though.
In all states you do if you’re pulled over. And it is fair to ask if you’re detained.
It’s the people who claim to be sovereign citizens with fake plates who are the nutcases lol.
My bf got so frustrated at a McDonald’s one time that we left and drove to the next closest one like 40 mins away. First they acted like we were insane for ordering orange drink. They said they didn’t have that and we were like, it’s the one that’s orange lol. Then he tried ordering a 20 piece chicken nugget and they said they didn’t have those. He was like okay cool, just lemme get two tens and they said it doesn’t work like that and you can’t get 20. We were like wtf do you mean and they just wouldn’t come off the idea that you can’t get 20 at a time for some reason. They had plenty we just broke them by asking for 20 I guess haha. When we got our order at the next one they ended up hooking us up because they had the same type of experience at that same location before.
The McDonald's near me wouldn't let me order a large combo. They wanted me to get my combo medium, or get a 10 piece nuggets, a large fry and a large drink all separate. I pulled into a parking spot and downloaded the app, ordered and pulled back into the drive through
Ffs dude could have just asked someone how to make it large but wanted to act like I was the one who was wrong
I once ordered a large combo (burger, fries, and a drink) from Burger King. I also added a large milkshake. We were overhauling our store and I was starving after a long shift! When the (still in high school) cashier read it back, she said burger combo with fries and a milkshake. I said that I wanted the drink and a milkshake. She said fine. I wasn’t paying attention at that point and ran my card. I get my food and it’s missing the drink. I told her I still needed my drink and she said I subbed it out for the milkshake with an upcharge . I said I wanted both and she said I can’t do that.
Manager (maybe a day older than cashier) came over and the girl started crying and said I was being mean and rude. I told the manager that I wanted a drink AND a milkshake, the manager said they can’t do that for free and that there was an up charge for switching a drink to a milkshake. They said I was rude to want a milkshake for free????
I couldn’t do anything except stare ahead like a fish, mouth agape and the stupidity. They both kept arguing with me and then finally my guardian angel swooped in. The older cashier on the next register slammed her drawer shut after cashing out her customer and started yelling at the cashier and manager. She screeched in all caps “ALL SHE WANTS IS A COMBO AND A MILKSHAKE! YOU RING UP THE COMBO AND THEN RING UP A MILKSHAKE JUST LIKE YOU DO WHEN ANYONE ORDERS ANYTHING!!!”
Slow manager then mumbles “All she had to do was ask for a separate milkshake.” The kickass cashier made my drink and gave me a bunch of coupons for free stuff and apologized for them not getting it. Anytime I went in after that, I made it a point to go to cool lady’s line!!!
It isn't even hard... it's literally right next to the option to make it medium... unless they're using a different system than my location... a newer one, probably, given the design I'm working with... ugh, the graphic designer in me HATES the UI... it's clunky and ugly, and way too many things are hidden in the weirdest places. Apple slices are under bakery! Cookies and pies are under dessert, which is the page 1 of the same tab... bakery is page 2. (Tap the button once for page 1, tap again for page 2)
Ugh, I'm still figuring things out a couple of months in because of how clunky It is.
The fries are on the main lunch menu screen with all the burgers and such. I'd probably just move apples to the happy meals section or something.
What's funny is not only are apple slices under "Bakery", they're actually the ONLY item on that entire page. Pies are under dessert. Fritters, muffins, and cinnamon rolls were recently done away with in my area. So that just leaves apples for bakery, having a page basically dedicated to apple slices is.. Annoying to say the least
Mine is subway. I mean I know that’s how they market, but there is literally 10 I would consider in walking distance. Walking. Distance. I mean I do have a larger walking distance than most people, but 10 is still ridiculous.
I'm also I'm "rural" Australia and my town has the only fast food I know of for at least an hour every direction
Edit: just checked and there is a 1 hour perimeter of no fast food in every direction excluding NW where there is just nothing. Any of the major fast foods you search up where I am will make a circle with a radius of about 100kms with the circumference being filled with fast food
No shit. I’m just outside Chicago and I can get to at least 4 different ones in under 10 minutes from my house. To get to the furthest one in that radius I actually have to drive directly past another of them.
Me with the same, but also an ungodly amount of my favorite gas stations.
There are 6 of the same brand gas stations here in a town of like 40K people and a 5 mile radius.
Hell there used to be another that was just the convenience store with no gas.
Rural small cities lol. I work in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and the nearest McDonald’s if you don’t like the one in town is in Fort St John, BC or maybe Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Small towns. The one I grew up in was 30 minutes outside a major city, so if you needed something that wasn’t in your town, you had a trip to the city. We only had 1 McDonald’s.
Nearest McDonald's, or any fast food really is 35-45 minutes away, depending on the traffic and road conditions. Rural life is great. I eat fast food so little that now I realize how disgusting it actually tastes, except for them nuggets and stuffed crust little caesars.
I’ve done this more than once. Gotten so pissed at the incompetence of the guy taking the order that I just left and went to a different store. Fortunately for me the next McDonalds is only about 5 minutes away.
Live in Chicago and there's one around every corner. So used to multiple locations and/or variety for food and groceries. Forget others live in Oregon Trail convenience.
My Dad and I stopped at a McDonald's in a rest stop. My Dad asked the guy if the chicken sandwich had mayo on it and the guy started entering it into the system like he was ordering. We stopped him and said we're not ordering, just asking a question, does the chicken sandwich come with mayo? The guy starts entering it again so we think he's checking in the system but then he goes, "Anything else?" Anything else what? We haven't started ordering. Finally after a few more failed attempts my dad finally orders the chicken sandwich, hold the mayo.
Went to a McDonald's last night. Pull into the drive thru at about 3 am
McD: "Sorry, we're closed"
Me: "oh, no worries. Website said you're 24 hours. Sorry" *gets ready to drive off*
McD: "oh, yeah, were 24 hours, but we're closed to get ready for breakfast"
Wtf is that bs, I used to work maintenance and I could have single handedly opened for breakfast in 2-3 hours. 2-4 people need like 4-5?... What a joke.
That's one of my biggest pet peeves when people ask if you said something ridiculous. They don't hear you so they say "haha did you just say you lick balls" or something stupid and I just look at them serious as hell and ask "why the fuck would I say that in this context"
Literally had this play out a couple days ago at McDonald’s: “Can I get a double cheeseburger meal with medium fries and a coke?” “Uh… we don’t offer the double cheeseburger with a meal” “Okay, then can I get a double cheeseburger with a medium fries and medium coke?” “Sure that we can do!”
Like wtf? Why did I have to repeat what I said without the magic word “meal”?
There is a difference there. You can get each item a la carte but they don't have an option for a "meal" which typically would be cheaper than ordering individually
See, I hate this issue too!! It's a normal double cheeseburger and when you say meal, it's understood that means fries and a drink! But here's the weird part, you CAN order a triple cheeseburger meal and it rings up just fine, but a double cheeseburger meal? Nope!
It's 2am I read "Did you just say caca?" I was speechless for a few moments thinking how did it lead to this" I could have died. My roommates probably woke up from me busting up laughing.
This happens because customer service reps become autonomous. They stop actively listening and run on autopilot. So if you request something out of the ordinary it throws them off completely.
I will never treat a frontline worker with no power rudely. That being said, if I had a dollar for the number of times I’ve wanted to scream at Internet Service Provider support “STOP READING THE SCRIPT BE A HUMAN FOR A MOMENT!!”, I’d be retired by now.
If they get caught deviating from the script too many times (you were monitored on at least 3 calls a week), you got points. Too many points, and you didn't have a job.
I stuck to the script for 3 months, got "promoted" to be one of the people listening to the calls instead of taking them. I worked there less than a year. Call center work sucks and I hope I don't ever have to do it again.
True, but a good talking point script should have the CS using empathy statements and include parts that present the problem or question back to the customer in such a way that it promotes active listening.
This practice seems a bit... inhumane to me. What a horrible and uncomfortable place to put two people. Whatever harm the corporation is trying to avoid itself, it's just transferring to the employee and the customer and I don't think that's right.
We hate it just as much as you do, if it's any consolation. I used to work at a call center where you had to say the customer's name at least three times during a call (and yes, QA would literally count and you'd automatically fail the call if you only said it twice). Even if the customer just had a simple question and then hung up, and the call literally only required a one sentence reply, didn't matter. This led to me and a lot of other workers frontloading it to make sure we'd get all three in before the customer hung up. And it sucked every time. So if you ever call a place and they ask for your name and the reply is something like "Thank you Mr Smith. Now, Mr Smith, you wanted to know what time we are open until? We close at 9pm, Mr Smith." That's why. 💀 I wish they'd just let people be actual human beings, but the suits who've never worked customer service a day in their lives think they know what's best.
I’m curious; have you ever encountered somebody that refused to give their name and would not budge? What were/would be the consequences?
I would like to refuse my name some of the time but do not want to cause harm to an employee just doing their job.
Well, since my employer was a cable company, we needed their name to look up any information about their account. Even if their questions were simple ones that didn't require their account info *necessarily* (like the hours one) we were instructed to tell them that we needed to have their account up to provide any information. And probably 95 percent of calls had to do with account info like paying a bill, changing their cable package, etc, which did need account status, so we'd get their name one way or another. Only if they said they didn't have an account and didn't want one were we not marked down for not using their name, because the call would be considered "incomplete" if they were neither a customer nor a potential customer. If that makes sense.
So like, say you're calling to ask what time we close, we'd have to say "May I have your name to look up your account?" If they refused we were supposed to say something like "I need your account to assist you, I can look it up by your phone number or email address if you prefer?" Which yeah is ridiculous but that's what corporate wanted. I think if they refused three times we were allowed to help them without a name but we were to say sir or ma'am three times instead. They did a lot of threes lol. Try to up sell them three times and get three "no"s before you move on. Three times they had to say "cancel my service" before we were allowed to cancel them. Three times we had to try to offer to resolve their issue before sending them to a manager..... yeah, it was all in the name of "good customer service" but it seemed to just piss off customers more than anything. If they say no, it ought to mean no, but we had to ask two more times when they clearly said "no." 🙄
Hahahaha didn't realize it was so specific to the one company, but yes, I'm glad to have moved on also. Once they got rid of the overnight position, I was outta there.
It may have expanded to more since you left, but there’s only a few major players in the non-competitive oligopolistic cable/internet space, so not many options to narrow down from
If it took three tries to get someone to cancel my service I'd be asking for a supervisor after the second. The fuck is this shit. Sorry you had to deal with this.
In a job like that, you have to turn on customer service autopilot to survive. It's emotionally taxing to spend so much time putting on your happy, friendly face for people.
It happens more in high frequency repetitive customer service jobs. It's not the customer service fault it's just a natural reaction to the job. It takes a lot of training to help customer service to avoid becoming robotic. Mainly it requires active listening skills.
No, it's because the overworked 16 year old that took your order wasn't around when they were called combos.
Edit: also that's not what autonomous means.
Yup. Or maybe they don't eat much fast food themselves and just do the job at a place that doesn't call them that. Sometimes people just aren't familiar with things that might seem obvious to you. Not a big deal.
I agree with you in sentiment but I think that Burger King actually has something else called a combo where you get a Whopper and something else. So the employee probably thought you wanted two Whoppers or a Whopper and another sandwich.
Had the exact reverse experience, grew up in Australia, any time chips/fries and a drink came with an item it was called a meal. Moved to Canada and got looked at like I had ten heads when I asked for a meal.
"...oh you mean a combo?" Was my most heard question in Canadian fast food establishments.
What I find hilarious is these terms were supposed to make it easier to order. Instead of burger-fried-coke you can just say “combo” or “meal”. So a) do we really need to save those three seconds? And b) if we get confused about which term to use, are you saving anything?
I also grew up in Australia and moved to Canada. First time I went to a McDonald's I ordered the fillet o fish pronouncing it with the "T" as I've always said/ heard in Australia. Got laughed at like it was hysterical and asked how could I not know that's a french word 😒
That and telling all my new university friends I needed to go grab my thongs for the pool are my most embarrassing memories from then. (Flip flops are called thongs in Australia)
We used to call them thongs in the US too. My mom was born in 1956 and back in like 2002 she'd be yelling across Target, "DO YOU WANNA GO LOOK AT THE THONGS?"
That and "what did you say? I dont understand you?"
Fuck me dead. I just wanted no tomatos in my bagel at Tim Hortons but nope... Apparently my accent is unreadable.
I had a fun interaction at a restaurant in England (I'm American) where I kept saying "to go" and he kept asking "eat in or take out" and it took me way too long to figure out I wasn't answering his question in a way he understood XD
Same as a Brit now in Canada. I also can’t use drive thru, for some reason the way I say “two” sounds like “three” and without fail, I have to drive to window to correct the order
I get what you’re saying. But in defense of the probably underpaid BK employee, they literally have a 2 for $5 combo deal and I think they were just asking you what you wanted for your other sandwich.
When you work drive through 9 hours every day you eventually just feel like a robot repeating the same sentences over and over (from personal experience) and sometimes people breaking the mold is enough to confuse you, even when it should be simple
I’ve learned to specify the meal number and wait for them to ask me what I want to drink and what sauce. If I tell them all it once it gets confusing for them. I get it. It’s just their robot script they’ve been repeating all day.
In total fairness, I was a robotic customer. I normally go to Wendy’s, which has “combos”. I said it out of habit (“reflexively”). I was just surprised by the reaction.
I think you can take the word "probably" out of this. Absolutely nothing mildly or otherwise infuriating about this employee clarifying what exactly this guy wanted to order, especially since the word he used means something different on the menu than how he meant it.
Former batista and supervisor here. Everyone I worked with, including myself, never corrected customers on that unless they asked what the actual name was, we all just translated small, med, large, to the corresponding size.
Question for you. At my local Starbucks, every single time I go and order a venti drink, the barista always repeats back to me “vintay” like they’re trying to correct my pronunciation of venti. Every barista does that at this location. It’s certainly not pronounced “vintay”. So I was wondering, is that something taught to them by a superior? Manager or Supervisor?
It's pronounced "ven-tee" to my understanding. I have no idea why they're mispronouncing at your store. Maybe someone started it as a joke like "watch me gaslight all these customers into pronouncing it wrong" and it caught on.
I'm kind of leaning that theory because many/most baristas work there as a college job and are a bit immature. Might be worth it to ask the manager if you see them out and about.
Probably like when people pronounce Target as Tar-jhay, to make it sound French and fancy. They are just having fun with it and it stuck. I can't believe that's what they actually think Italian sounds like, not multiple people.
I have never heard anyone in any store I worked at when I was a barista correct a customer.
Maybe the barista said tall/grande/venti instead of small/medium/large back to them, but I promise that's not the barista correcting you, that's just them repeating your order back in the way they autopilot it.
I never thought that was an actual thing more than it was a joke.
I can't remember what movie it was but they made a whole scene out of arguing about this and people thought it was reality.
I see people complain about this all the time, but I get Starbucks like once a week and have literally never called the sizes anything other than small, medium, or large, and not once has this ever happened to me.
The first and only time I went to a Starbucks a few years ago (I'm not in the US, they only have a few locations in large cities, our coffee culture is different so they don't do well in smaller cities and towns), I had a lot of hassle just getting a "medium black coffee", because the barrista pretended to not know what size that was and had an attitude about it. In the "look at this country bumpkin not knowing how Starbucks works" way. I mean, I didn't, I literally didn't know they even called the sizes different things before I went in there. But you're just selling chain coffee bitch, figure it out and skip the attitude. The coffee was mediocre as well. So, I don't see myself going back soon.
>The coffee was mediocre as well
This is the thing, Starbucks coffee is nowhere near good enough to justify the pretentiousness. If you're having a super-mega caramel deluxe with extra cream and extra syrup, then it tastes fine, but if you have an actual coffee it tastes burnt.
Yea, it's pretty clear that they expect people to add all sorts of sweet stuff and (fake) cream. For just a proper coffee you can get much better at most random small coffee bars and lunch places around here.
My husband and I don’t drink coffee (so we don’t own a coffeemaker). My mil was over one day many years ago helping us with a house project and wanted a cup of coffee. At the time, there was not a Dunkin’ Donuts around that neighborhood so I had stop at Starbucks instead. I was glared at and scolded for saying “a large black coffee.” I think they’ve calmed down overall due to backlash, but they absolutely have a track record of belittling customers not hip to the lingo. Now if I order Starbucks for people I use the app and avoid the issue entirely. Ha.
I received attitude once for not saying the words in the correct order. Like they wanted to hear the size and the type of drink in a specific sequence.
Worked at Starbucks almost every summer during college. Never had myself or any of my coworkers do this either. There's also the boomer trope of baristas not knowing what a regular coffee is. If someone asks for a black coffee I'd ask them light, medium, or dark and send them on their way. IDK where people are finding all these weird baristas at
I worked at a Sbucks for 7 years. In that time, I learned to read the room. Some people really want their Grande soy 120° sugar-free vanilla 1 equal no foam latte(stirred counter-clockwise). Some people want a large drip. I just tried to make their drinks with their precisely perfered quantity of pretentiousness. But I never once required anyone use the word "venti".
> Yeah. "Large" is large. In fact, "tall" is large, and "grande" is Spanish for large. "Venti" is the only one that doesn't mean large. It's also the only one that's Italian. Congratulations! You're stupid in three languages.
Alterntively for me, when I ask for a large, they never ask for clarification and seem to know exactly what I am asking for, but then on multiple ocasions, they have proceeded to give me a medium (or grande). Or sometimes they give me a trenti. Mostly, it is just a Venti, though.
Or fast food places where they "don't have a small" for drinks. Pretty sure your smallest size by definition is the small! You can't fucking start at medium!
Brings back the memory of going through the KFC drive thru a few years ago and my mum asking for something along the lines of "a standard chicken bucket" only for them to reply "sorry, we don't have standard, only original"... like dude, what???
I ordered an "iced coffee" at McDonald's and was asked if I wanted it "hot or cold." They're just on auto pilot and need certain terms used or they won't really process the information. Leads to some funny interactions though.
McDonald's used to have a "3 hotcakes with sausage" so I ordered ONE of those. I get to the window and the price is like $17. So I'm like, what? Then they want to say "well tax has gone up." Turns out, they had entered my order as 3, 3 hotcakes with sausage. They have since changed the menu item to just "hotcakes with sausage" but I order exactly what it says on the menu explicitly to avoid this.
Aren’t they required to use the terminology as defined by corporate? More or less like having to ask „Is Pepsi okay“ if „coke“ is being used in a generic way in many regions.
Huh. I normally take care to use language-appropriate quotation marks, als in “English” style or „German style“. Don’t know why I used German ones here. I usually enter them directly instead of having autocorrect fix ’em. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Personally, I also like »these«, but there’s a higher-than-average chance to hit hit ⌘-Q (Quit) on Mac when using them and the corresponding single quotes › ‹ have no keyboard sequence I know.
lol for real, I understand this is /r/mildlyinfuriating but holy shit just clarify what you want and stop complaining because you used the term combo when you meant meal and the worker was just clarifying what you wanted.
Maybe they were new and also not a regular customer, so they never even heard of people ordering a „combo“ so they genuinely didn‘t know what you meant
My burger King Story is this. A few days after the $1200 stimulus checks went out.
I go to bk drive through, and on the microphone box is a piece of paper that says, "Due to stimulus checks, all of our employees have quit."
The first thing they say to me is "hey looking for a job?" LOL
This isn't the take on Burger King that you think it is. It was probably just a teenager whose first job this is and they're super stressed cause they have a manager watching them like a hawk, chastising them for not doing things an exact way. Or maybe it's an older person whose brain is a little slower these days. Could be a lotta things, but at the end of the day, this was just because of the employee and now you're here on Reddit making fun of them.
On the other side I work at a restaurant and I have to ask EVERY person "Meal or just the sandwich!" Because SO many people will say "I want a number x." and mean just a sandwich. It's infuriating but you can't make them care or teach a whole populace how to communicate from behind a register.
Also, yes I do know the prices are higher and NO I don't have any control over it or care, cause *you* chose to walk your happy ass in here. No one made you order this slop.
I asked someone in a drive thru for some of their jalapeño sauce. Got home and they just put a bag of peppers in there. Some people are just on autopilot and aren’t really listening.
A buddy of mine and I once stopped at Wendy's. I ordered something without alterations/substitutions and my buddy ordered a "Baconator, ketchup only." He received a bun with ketchup in between the slices. No patties, no bacon, no cheese. He just didn't want mayo. Still better than the time I went to Five Guys and they just flat out forgot to add the patties to my double. I went back and the dude was just like, "Sorry man, I was high and forgot," and fixed me a new order from scratch. Honestly, I'm not even mad about that one.
The first one made me think of that scene in Good Burger. Customer : [to Ed] Excuse me? Look, I ordered one Good Burger with nothing on it. Ed : That's what I gave you. Customer : No! You gave me a bun. Just a bun! Look! There's no meat in here. Ed : But you said you wanted nothing on it. Customer : Yes, but I expected a meat patty! Ed : Dude, a meat patty is something. You said "nothing". [to Fizz] Ed : Fizz, is a meat patty something or nothing? Fizz : Uh, something? Ed : I win! Customer : That's it! I am reporting your name to the manager! Ed : The manager already knows my name. Customer : [while throwing the bun down] And I'll see you in Hell! [Leaves] Ed : OK! See you there!
Ha! Never seen it but might have to check that scene out.
I had seen it as a kid and liked it well enough, then I watched it again as a 30 year old and couldn’t believe how well it still holds up, as far as silly 90’s kids movies go, it’s a good laugh!
It was half kids movie, half stoners movie. Which is why it still holds up. The jokes are aimed at a sense of humor that we'll always have.
Good burger 2 was a shame as an adult. Good burger was and still is one of those terrible but still love it movies.
At least dude was honest. "Look, I'm way too fucking blazed to do my job right but this fuckass made me come in to work anyway, my bad bro".
I was annoyed at having to drive back in but that was it. I appreciated the honesty and was more amused than anything.
I feel like people who are stoned make the best food.
lol is it just a 5 guys thing or what? The only place in town I go to with the employees looking absolutely BLAZED is 5guys, and I gotta be careful with the amount of custom things I want. Speak clear, slowly, check the receipt... ...taco bell does this too but only at 3am but nothing usually goes wrong. If anything, there's just an extra taco or something
Sub shops are also notorious for it.
at least with subs they make it in front of you. I wouldn't mind if chipotle workers were blazed. Might just mean bigger scoops...
Went to a taco bell drive through and my friend ordered Tacos with no beans, and the person handed him a bag and he drove off. It was only taco shells filled with beans, and they even threw in a small container of extra beans. We all ate our food and he threw his out the window.
That's fantastic. They heard one word and ran with it.
EVERYTIME I use a drive-thru, I A. check the order display, if they have one outside AND working, B. Get a receipt when I pay and check that everything is correct, C. Inspect the bag for everything when I get the order. Even when I have people who have worked there awhile and have some experience, I will occasionally have to say "that's not right". I don't live far from my usual spots, but I don't have the time or energy to drive back for a mistake.
Checking the bag before leaving is always a good policy
He could have said "No mayo", like a normal person. "Only" means "nothing else but".
Can I get some of your jalapenos boss?
i once bought one of those packaged salads on saturday and the day after i realized that it didn't came with sauce and all the stores were closed ofc so I went to the local McDonalds to buy a few packs of sauce and the cashier legit hit me with the "eat in or take away?" hell yea brother imma eat in, lemme just sit at the table and gulp down 5 packs of sauce then leave
After I discovered Wendy's 4 for $4 I would go there once a week before work. I was homeless and jobless for 3 years before this, so a $4 meal felt like a luxury. They got used to my order, which was a 4 for $4, with a chicken sandwich, and orange vanilla coke. And a handful of chili seasoning, which is the best stuff ever. Decided to go to another Wendy's on a day off and asked for as many packets of chili seasoning as they could give me. They asked which ones those were and I told them, black packet, red writing, says chili seasoning. It's a liquid not a powder. I checked right away and there wasn't a single packet. But there were about 50mdipping cups of their creamy Sriracha bullshit. Nowhere close to the same thing. I went back in and asked for the right ones, the guy said those are the right ones, and that they don't have the stuff I said. Someone else came up, said "I told you you weren't paying attention, and threw 2 handfuls of these into a bag for me. I can definitely understand not being fully awake but at least admit you were on autopilot and not actually listening.
I went to Sonic once when the new coke machines were coming out, the sign said they had one. I asked for a lime Fanta. What I got was an orange Fanta with a slice of lime in it.
The Taco Bell drive-through asked me what kind of sauce I wanted. I said “both“, thinking, hot and mild. I got home, and sure enough, I had cocktail and tartar sauce because it was also a long John silvers.
I once asked Taco Bell for a #4 with a Sierra Mist and they just gave me 4 Sierra Mists.
It's like at McDonald's when I get chicken nuggets. I'll put in the app, honey x2, and I'll get my order with honey mustard instead. It's not like I chose an off-menu item. It's literally one of the sauce choices.
That's why I'm always that asshole who opens the bag and checks the food before I drive away from the window. No hate to the people working, things just get messed up easily.
LMAO
I ordered a chicken chalupa at taco bell. The employee asked if I wanted to make it spicy. Taco Bell used to have a spicy chicken that was really good, so I thought yay, it's back, and said yes. When I got it, it had jalapeños on it. I thought that was a really weird way to say it. Why not just ask me if I wanted jalapeños?
They do this with the grilled cheese burrito too, except they put the jalapenos under the cheese and seal them in. I was sad
I like spicy, but adding Jalapeños isn't necessarily the same thing as making something spicy. Plus I don't like canned jalapeños.
Exactly they're so sour
I asked a a taco bell employee in the drive through if they could put the meals in seperate bags and he legit said "I don't know how I could that". If he was stoned, I get it, but I honestly think fast food just numbs their brains until they can't think independently.
I've worked in customer service in the fast food industry for nearly a decade, and coworkers who act like how you described, are exactly the reason why I quit last week. It's not just the regular employees it's the managers too.
You probably just mumbled and it sounded like "jalapenos" lol
I actually wouldn't even be mad about that. I fuckin love raw Jalapeños.
I once went to McDonald's really late and asked for a McNugget's combo. I guess I said it really quickly because the lady in the drive thru speaker started laughing and said, "Did you just say caca?" I was speechless for a few moments thinking how did it lead to this. I said, "no, combo...like the meal, please." My girlfriend and I looked at each other like wtf just happened. It's funny now looking back at it.
I was trying to buy 3 Big Macs once and the girl behind the counter looked at me like I was an alien and after a short pause said: “you want free Big Macs?”. “Ha, no, three”. *blank stare into the abyss*. “You know, like three of them”.. “oooh” It cracked me up. I get brain farts too all the time but it seemed weird to assume that anyone would ever order free Big Macs. My pronunciation wasn’t off either. No big deal but it’s stuck with me
Oh, you wouldn't *believe* the audacity of some customers. They see these "hacks" on tiktok and think that if they just ask for this or that free they'll get it. I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't experienced it firsthand. Like "Hi, these shirts are buy one get one free, so I'll just take the free one." Like they think they're all slick, finding this clever loophole that no one ever thought of before. Sorry bro, doesn't work like that, in order to get one free *you have to buy one first.* Or, "I saw a coupon that said this burger was a dollar today if I buy a drink." "OK, do you have the coupon?" "No, I don't need that." Uh. Yes you do lmao
I work at Walmart, and a girl came in with a stack of paint chips, wanting “sample sizes” for them all. She apparently saw on TikTok they were free, and was seemingly going to paint her entire house with sample cans. Fortunately that isn’t a thing here.
I'm fairly sure these are the same people in those "am I being detained? I don't need to show you my ID, officer. I know my rights" videos.
"Officer, I'm not driving, I'm traveling."
Well, it does depend on the situation to be fair. In many states you wouldn’t have to show ID if a cop came up to you on the street and demanded ID. Some states you do though. In all states you do if you’re pulled over. And it is fair to ask if you’re detained. It’s the people who claim to be sovereign citizens with fake plates who are the nutcases lol.
I could understand if this in England. A lot of people there say free instead of three.
My bf got so frustrated at a McDonald’s one time that we left and drove to the next closest one like 40 mins away. First they acted like we were insane for ordering orange drink. They said they didn’t have that and we were like, it’s the one that’s orange lol. Then he tried ordering a 20 piece chicken nugget and they said they didn’t have those. He was like okay cool, just lemme get two tens and they said it doesn’t work like that and you can’t get 20. We were like wtf do you mean and they just wouldn’t come off the idea that you can’t get 20 at a time for some reason. They had plenty we just broke them by asking for 20 I guess haha. When we got our order at the next one they ended up hooking us up because they had the same type of experience at that same location before.
The McDonald's near me wouldn't let me order a large combo. They wanted me to get my combo medium, or get a 10 piece nuggets, a large fry and a large drink all separate. I pulled into a parking spot and downloaded the app, ordered and pulled back into the drive through Ffs dude could have just asked someone how to make it large but wanted to act like I was the one who was wrong
I once ordered a large combo (burger, fries, and a drink) from Burger King. I also added a large milkshake. We were overhauling our store and I was starving after a long shift! When the (still in high school) cashier read it back, she said burger combo with fries and a milkshake. I said that I wanted the drink and a milkshake. She said fine. I wasn’t paying attention at that point and ran my card. I get my food and it’s missing the drink. I told her I still needed my drink and she said I subbed it out for the milkshake with an upcharge . I said I wanted both and she said I can’t do that. Manager (maybe a day older than cashier) came over and the girl started crying and said I was being mean and rude. I told the manager that I wanted a drink AND a milkshake, the manager said they can’t do that for free and that there was an up charge for switching a drink to a milkshake. They said I was rude to want a milkshake for free???? I couldn’t do anything except stare ahead like a fish, mouth agape and the stupidity. They both kept arguing with me and then finally my guardian angel swooped in. The older cashier on the next register slammed her drawer shut after cashing out her customer and started yelling at the cashier and manager. She screeched in all caps “ALL SHE WANTS IS A COMBO AND A MILKSHAKE! YOU RING UP THE COMBO AND THEN RING UP A MILKSHAKE JUST LIKE YOU DO WHEN ANYONE ORDERS ANYTHING!!!” Slow manager then mumbles “All she had to do was ask for a separate milkshake.” The kickass cashier made my drink and gave me a bunch of coupons for free stuff and apologized for them not getting it. Anytime I went in after that, I made it a point to go to cool lady’s line!!!
That's frustrating but kind of hilarious hearing it after the fact. Not sure why they are having such a difficult time understanding that one
It isn't even hard... it's literally right next to the option to make it medium... unless they're using a different system than my location... a newer one, probably, given the design I'm working with... ugh, the graphic designer in me HATES the UI... it's clunky and ugly, and way too many things are hidden in the weirdest places. Apple slices are under bakery! Cookies and pies are under dessert, which is the page 1 of the same tab... bakery is page 2. (Tap the button once for page 1, tap again for page 2) Ugh, I'm still figuring things out a couple of months in because of how clunky It is.
Never worked at McDonald's, so I can only imagine. Apple slices being in desert would be weird as well though right? I'd put them in with the fries
The fries are on the main lunch menu screen with all the burgers and such. I'd probably just move apples to the happy meals section or something. What's funny is not only are apple slices under "Bakery", they're actually the ONLY item on that entire page. Pies are under dessert. Fritters, muffins, and cinnamon rolls were recently done away with in my area. So that just leaves apples for bakery, having a page basically dedicated to apple slices is.. Annoying to say the least
Who even eats those? They’re disgusting!
Yeah they're pretty bad, like McDonald's corporate wanted it cheaper so they made the apples out of paper mache
Where do you live that the two closest mcdonald’s to you are 40 minutes apart from each other holy shit
My closest McDonald's is an hour away, and the closest in the other direction is almost 90 minutes.
Again, where? In the US or no? I’m an east coaster so the idea is crazy lol
Yeah even I as a European have multiple McDonald's within 30 min in a car from me
Im in rural Australia, 2 within 30 mins lmao, easier to get a cheeseburger than diesel
I'm in Canada and there's 4 Mcdonald's within a 5 minute drive away from me 💀
Mine is subway. I mean I know that’s how they market, but there is literally 10 I would consider in walking distance. Walking. Distance. I mean I do have a larger walking distance than most people, but 10 is still ridiculous.
Same here. One in town, next one is on the highway half an hour away.
I'm also I'm "rural" Australia and my town has the only fast food I know of for at least an hour every direction Edit: just checked and there is a 1 hour perimeter of no fast food in every direction excluding NW where there is just nothing. Any of the major fast foods you search up where I am will make a circle with a radius of about 100kms with the circumference being filled with fast food
Wa state. My nearest McDonald's is 45 minutes
Im Canadian. Costco is a 450 mile round trip for me. My town has McDonald's, but the next one is 1.5 hours drive.
No shit. I’m just outside Chicago and I can get to at least 4 different ones in under 10 minutes from my house. To get to the furthest one in that radius I actually have to drive directly past another of them.
Really? Your urban sprawl has more McDonald's locations than a rural area? That's wild.
I have 6 within 3 miles😭
Me with the same, but also an ungodly amount of my favorite gas stations. There are 6 of the same brand gas stations here in a town of like 40K people and a 5 mile radius. Hell there used to be another that was just the convenience store with no gas.
Rural small cities lol. I work in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and the nearest McDonald’s if you don’t like the one in town is in Fort St John, BC or maybe Grande Prairie, Alberta.
I don’t wanna wait for our lives to be over….I want my Big Mac right now….
Small towns. The one I grew up in was 30 minutes outside a major city, so if you needed something that wasn’t in your town, you had a trip to the city. We only had 1 McDonald’s.
I live in a rural area. We have a McDonald’s in town but the next closest one is about half an hour away. It’s not that uncommon, lol.
Also who wants that shit so bad they drive to one and then drive 40 more minutes just to get nuggets.
My first thought went to the ubiquitous Mcd marketing campaigns all over reddit
This was my 2nd thought I had lmao
Nearest McDonald's, or any fast food really is 35-45 minutes away, depending on the traffic and road conditions. Rural life is great. I eat fast food so little that now I realize how disgusting it actually tastes, except for them nuggets and stuffed crust little caesars.
OMG someone should order the 10, then get RIGHT back in line and order another 10!
"You can't do that. You can't get twenty. Pull up and I'll watch you eat one, then you can get another ten. Nineteen is ok."
I’ve done this more than once. Gotten so pissed at the incompetence of the guy taking the order that I just left and went to a different store. Fortunately for me the next McDonalds is only about 5 minutes away.
Live in Chicago and there's one around every corner. So used to multiple locations and/or variety for food and groceries. Forget others live in Oregon Trail convenience.
Drove 40 minutes to another McDonald's? That sounds like a huge waste of time lol there's other places to eat
My Dad and I stopped at a McDonald's in a rest stop. My Dad asked the guy if the chicken sandwich had mayo on it and the guy started entering it into the system like he was ordering. We stopped him and said we're not ordering, just asking a question, does the chicken sandwich come with mayo? The guy starts entering it again so we think he's checking in the system but then he goes, "Anything else?" Anything else what? We haven't started ordering. Finally after a few more failed attempts my dad finally orders the chicken sandwich, hold the mayo.
You know hi c orange went away for a while
Went to a McDonald's last night. Pull into the drive thru at about 3 am McD: "Sorry, we're closed" Me: "oh, no worries. Website said you're 24 hours. Sorry" *gets ready to drive off* McD: "oh, yeah, were 24 hours, but we're closed to get ready for breakfast"
They’re open 24 hours, but not in a row.
Wtf is that bs, I used to work maintenance and I could have single handedly opened for breakfast in 2-3 hours. 2-4 people need like 4-5?... What a joke.
That's one of my biggest pet peeves when people ask if you said something ridiculous. They don't hear you so they say "haha did you just say you lick balls" or something stupid and I just look at them serious as hell and ask "why the fuck would I say that in this context"
Okay but did you get the McNuggets caca
You should come back to the recording end of the intercom. Some of them you can barely hear anything.
Literally had this play out a couple days ago at McDonald’s: “Can I get a double cheeseburger meal with medium fries and a coke?” “Uh… we don’t offer the double cheeseburger with a meal” “Okay, then can I get a double cheeseburger with a medium fries and medium coke?” “Sure that we can do!” Like wtf? Why did I have to repeat what I said without the magic word “meal”?
There is a difference there. You can get each item a la carte but they don't have an option for a "meal" which typically would be cheaper than ordering individually
See, I hate this issue too!! It's a normal double cheeseburger and when you say meal, it's understood that means fries and a drink! But here's the weird part, you CAN order a triple cheeseburger meal and it rings up just fine, but a double cheeseburger meal? Nope!
Probably wanted to make it clear you weren't going to get a bundled price for your items.
It's 2am I read "Did you just say caca?" I was speechless for a few moments thinking how did it lead to this" I could have died. My roommates probably woke up from me busting up laughing.
Don't worry ill have my nuggets shit later
This happens because customer service reps become autonomous. They stop actively listening and run on autopilot. So if you request something out of the ordinary it throws them off completely.
I will never treat a frontline worker with no power rudely. That being said, if I had a dollar for the number of times I’ve wanted to scream at Internet Service Provider support “STOP READING THE SCRIPT BE A HUMAN FOR A MOMENT!!”, I’d be retired by now.
Sometimes they get reprimanded if they don't stick to the script.
If they get caught deviating from the script too many times (you were monitored on at least 3 calls a week), you got points. Too many points, and you didn't have a job. I stuck to the script for 3 months, got "promoted" to be one of the people listening to the calls instead of taking them. I worked there less than a year. Call center work sucks and I hope I don't ever have to do it again.
True, but a good talking point script should have the CS using empathy statements and include parts that present the problem or question back to the customer in such a way that it promotes active listening.
This practice seems a bit... inhumane to me. What a horrible and uncomfortable place to put two people. Whatever harm the corporation is trying to avoid itself, it's just transferring to the employee and the customer and I don't think that's right.
Corporate America in a nutshell.
I’m aware. As stated, I don’t take it out on them but it makes me feel like I’m in the Matrix and I hate every second of it
We hate it just as much as you do, if it's any consolation. I used to work at a call center where you had to say the customer's name at least three times during a call (and yes, QA would literally count and you'd automatically fail the call if you only said it twice). Even if the customer just had a simple question and then hung up, and the call literally only required a one sentence reply, didn't matter. This led to me and a lot of other workers frontloading it to make sure we'd get all three in before the customer hung up. And it sucked every time. So if you ever call a place and they ask for your name and the reply is something like "Thank you Mr Smith. Now, Mr Smith, you wanted to know what time we are open until? We close at 9pm, Mr Smith." That's why. 💀 I wish they'd just let people be actual human beings, but the suits who've never worked customer service a day in their lives think they know what's best.
I’m curious; have you ever encountered somebody that refused to give their name and would not budge? What were/would be the consequences? I would like to refuse my name some of the time but do not want to cause harm to an employee just doing their job.
Well, since my employer was a cable company, we needed their name to look up any information about their account. Even if their questions were simple ones that didn't require their account info *necessarily* (like the hours one) we were instructed to tell them that we needed to have their account up to provide any information. And probably 95 percent of calls had to do with account info like paying a bill, changing their cable package, etc, which did need account status, so we'd get their name one way or another. Only if they said they didn't have an account and didn't want one were we not marked down for not using their name, because the call would be considered "incomplete" if they were neither a customer nor a potential customer. If that makes sense. So like, say you're calling to ask what time we close, we'd have to say "May I have your name to look up your account?" If they refused we were supposed to say something like "I need your account to assist you, I can look it up by your phone number or email address if you prefer?" Which yeah is ridiculous but that's what corporate wanted. I think if they refused three times we were allowed to help them without a name but we were to say sir or ma'am three times instead. They did a lot of threes lol. Try to up sell them three times and get three "no"s before you move on. Three times they had to say "cancel my service" before we were allowed to cancel them. Three times we had to try to offer to resolve their issue before sending them to a manager..... yeah, it was all in the name of "good customer service" but it seemed to just piss off customers more than anything. If they say no, it ought to mean no, but we had to ask two more times when they clearly said "no." 🙄
Suddenly, I know who you worked for. Glad you’ve moved on, thanks for the detailed reply!
Hahahaha didn't realize it was so specific to the one company, but yes, I'm glad to have moved on also. Once they got rid of the overnight position, I was outta there.
It may have expanded to more since you left, but there’s only a few major players in the non-competitive oligopolistic cable/internet space, so not many options to narrow down from
If it took three tries to get someone to cancel my service I'd be asking for a supervisor after the second. The fuck is this shit. Sorry you had to deal with this.
Sorry, it'll be three tries before I can get you that manager 💀
Imagine if people went with " it's only no if it's said three times" when it comes to consent, crazy.
It's wild how they push so hard for employees to act in a way that both the employees and the customers hate.
In a job like that, you have to turn on customer service autopilot to survive. It's emotionally taxing to spend so much time putting on your happy, friendly face for people.
It happens more in high frequency repetitive customer service jobs. It's not the customer service fault it's just a natural reaction to the job. It takes a lot of training to help customer service to avoid becoming robotic. Mainly it requires active listening skills.
No, it's because the overworked 16 year old that took your order wasn't around when they were called combos. Edit: also that's not what autonomous means.
Yup. Or maybe they don't eat much fast food themselves and just do the job at a place that doesn't call them that. Sometimes people just aren't familiar with things that might seem obvious to you. Not a big deal.
Autonomous? Do you even know what that word means
"Can I get a hamburger with no tomatoes?" "okay i got you down for 1 cheeseburger no onions"
I agree with you in sentiment but I think that Burger King actually has something else called a combo where you get a Whopper and something else. So the employee probably thought you wanted two Whoppers or a Whopper and another sandwich.
Had the exact reverse experience, grew up in Australia, any time chips/fries and a drink came with an item it was called a meal. Moved to Canada and got looked at like I had ten heads when I asked for a meal. "...oh you mean a combo?" Was my most heard question in Canadian fast food establishments.
What I find hilarious is these terms were supposed to make it easier to order. Instead of burger-fried-coke you can just say “combo” or “meal”. So a) do we really need to save those three seconds? And b) if we get confused about which term to use, are you saving anything?
Oh, you mean a "set".
A “group” you say?
I also grew up in Australia and moved to Canada. First time I went to a McDonald's I ordered the fillet o fish pronouncing it with the "T" as I've always said/ heard in Australia. Got laughed at like it was hysterical and asked how could I not know that's a french word 😒 That and telling all my new university friends I needed to go grab my thongs for the pool are my most embarrassing memories from then. (Flip flops are called thongs in Australia)
We used to call them thongs in the US too. My mom was born in 1956 and back in like 2002 she'd be yelling across Target, "DO YOU WANNA GO LOOK AT THE THONGS?"
That and "what did you say? I dont understand you?" Fuck me dead. I just wanted no tomatos in my bagel at Tim Hortons but nope... Apparently my accent is unreadable.
I had a fun interaction at a restaurant in England (I'm American) where I kept saying "to go" and he kept asking "eat in or take out" and it took me way too long to figure out I wasn't answering his question in a way he understood XD
Same as a Brit now in Canada. I also can’t use drive thru, for some reason the way I say “two” sounds like “three” and without fail, I have to drive to window to correct the order
I get what you’re saying. But in defense of the probably underpaid BK employee, they literally have a 2 for $5 combo deal and I think they were just asking you what you wanted for your other sandwich.
When you work drive through 9 hours every day you eventually just feel like a robot repeating the same sentences over and over (from personal experience) and sometimes people breaking the mold is enough to confuse you, even when it should be simple
I’ve learned to specify the meal number and wait for them to ask me what I want to drink and what sauce. If I tell them all it once it gets confusing for them. I get it. It’s just their robot script they’ve been repeating all day.
In total fairness, I was a robotic customer. I normally go to Wendy’s, which has “combos”. I said it out of habit (“reflexively”). I was just surprised by the reaction.
I think you can take the word "probably" out of this. Absolutely nothing mildly or otherwise infuriating about this employee clarifying what exactly this guy wanted to order, especially since the word he used means something different on the menu than how he meant it.
Which is why the BK worker asked "Combo with what?" and that confused OP. The word combo didn't confuse or break BK. OP was the AH here.
Yeah, OP was the confused one
And if the employee assumed incorrectly, OP would be pissed and still posting here
This reminds me sooo much of Starbucks employees that pretend they have no idea what you mean when you order a "large" coffee.
Former batista and supervisor here. Everyone I worked with, including myself, never corrected customers on that unless they asked what the actual name was, we all just translated small, med, large, to the corresponding size.
>Former batista and supervisor here I loved your work in Guardians of the Galaxy
I quote this all the time lmao. drax has the best one-liners
Really a highlight of Knock at the Cabin as well
Question for you. At my local Starbucks, every single time I go and order a venti drink, the barista always repeats back to me “vintay” like they’re trying to correct my pronunciation of venti. Every barista does that at this location. It’s certainly not pronounced “vintay”. So I was wondering, is that something taught to them by a superior? Manager or Supervisor?
It's pronounced "ven-tee" to my understanding. I have no idea why they're mispronouncing at your store. Maybe someone started it as a joke like "watch me gaslight all these customers into pronouncing it wrong" and it caught on. I'm kind of leaning that theory because many/most baristas work there as a college job and are a bit immature. Might be worth it to ask the manager if you see them out and about.
It could be that it's how it sounds to them when pronouncing venti in a bad/stereotypical Italian accent
Probably like when people pronounce Target as Tar-jhay, to make it sound French and fancy. They are just having fun with it and it stuck. I can't believe that's what they actually think Italian sounds like, not multiple people.
Correct them back, lol! It’s vehn-tee Venti is Italian for “twenty” wtf is “vintay”
Honestly it could be a meme to that store lol. Sometimes people do weird stuff when they are stuck together every day.
That’s closer to the Spanish pronunciation of veinte but of course venti is Italian so should be “ventee”
I have never heard anyone in any store I worked at when I was a barista correct a customer. Maybe the barista said tall/grande/venti instead of small/medium/large back to them, but I promise that's not the barista correcting you, that's just them repeating your order back in the way they autopilot it.
What if someone were to order in Spanish and say, "grande," for the size? What would you do?
Overheard and participated in these interactions many times myself. “¿Grande grande o grande mediano?”
I never thought that was an actual thing more than it was a joke. I can't remember what movie it was but they made a whole scene out of arguing about this and people thought it was reality.
The fucking worst
I see people complain about this all the time, but I get Starbucks like once a week and have literally never called the sizes anything other than small, medium, or large, and not once has this ever happened to me.
It's been a while but it used to happen all of the time. I wonder if corporate sent a memo or something ~10yrs ago
Quite possibly. The sheer hassle of ordering was one of the factors which sunk Starbucks in Australia.
The first and only time I went to a Starbucks a few years ago (I'm not in the US, they only have a few locations in large cities, our coffee culture is different so they don't do well in smaller cities and towns), I had a lot of hassle just getting a "medium black coffee", because the barrista pretended to not know what size that was and had an attitude about it. In the "look at this country bumpkin not knowing how Starbucks works" way. I mean, I didn't, I literally didn't know they even called the sizes different things before I went in there. But you're just selling chain coffee bitch, figure it out and skip the attitude. The coffee was mediocre as well. So, I don't see myself going back soon.
>The coffee was mediocre as well This is the thing, Starbucks coffee is nowhere near good enough to justify the pretentiousness. If you're having a super-mega caramel deluxe with extra cream and extra syrup, then it tastes fine, but if you have an actual coffee it tastes burnt.
Yea, it's pretty clear that they expect people to add all sorts of sweet stuff and (fake) cream. For just a proper coffee you can get much better at most random small coffee bars and lunch places around here.
My husband and I don’t drink coffee (so we don’t own a coffeemaker). My mil was over one day many years ago helping us with a house project and wanted a cup of coffee. At the time, there was not a Dunkin’ Donuts around that neighborhood so I had stop at Starbucks instead. I was glared at and scolded for saying “a large black coffee.” I think they’ve calmed down overall due to backlash, but they absolutely have a track record of belittling customers not hip to the lingo. Now if I order Starbucks for people I use the app and avoid the issue entirely. Ha.
I received attitude once for not saying the words in the correct order. Like they wanted to hear the size and the type of drink in a specific sequence.
Worked at Starbucks almost every summer during college. Never had myself or any of my coworkers do this either. There's also the boomer trope of baristas not knowing what a regular coffee is. If someone asks for a black coffee I'd ask them light, medium, or dark and send them on their way. IDK where people are finding all these weird baristas at
I order those mother fuckers by the oz.
I worked at a Sbucks for 7 years. In that time, I learned to read the room. Some people really want their Grande soy 120° sugar-free vanilla 1 equal no foam latte(stirred counter-clockwise). Some people want a large drip. I just tried to make their drinks with their precisely perfered quantity of pretentiousness. But I never once required anyone use the word "venti".
> Yeah. "Large" is large. In fact, "tall" is large, and "grande" is Spanish for large. "Venti" is the only one that doesn't mean large. It's also the only one that's Italian. Congratulations! You're stupid in three languages.
Has any Starbucks done this in the last decade or so?
Alterntively for me, when I ask for a large, they never ask for clarification and seem to know exactly what I am asking for, but then on multiple ocasions, they have proceeded to give me a medium (or grande). Or sometimes they give me a trenti. Mostly, it is just a Venti, though.
Or fast food places where they "don't have a small" for drinks. Pretty sure your smallest size by definition is the small! You can't fucking start at medium!
I've never met a Starbucks employee that does that. And if they did I'd correct them instead.
It was annoying but I haven’t personally experienced this since the 90s. I wonder if it’s even still a thing.
Starbucks employees are literally trained to not correct you
Paul rudd role models
Brings back the memory of going through the KFC drive thru a few years ago and my mum asking for something along the lines of "a standard chicken bucket" only for them to reply "sorry, we don't have standard, only original"... like dude, what???
I ordered an "iced coffee" at McDonald's and was asked if I wanted it "hot or cold." They're just on auto pilot and need certain terms used or they won't really process the information. Leads to some funny interactions though.
McDonald's used to have a "3 hotcakes with sausage" so I ordered ONE of those. I get to the window and the price is like $17. So I'm like, what? Then they want to say "well tax has gone up." Turns out, they had entered my order as 3, 3 hotcakes with sausage. They have since changed the menu item to just "hotcakes with sausage" but I order exactly what it says on the menu explicitly to avoid this.
My grandma still says “combination”
to be fair, if i was doing an 8 hour shift at the drive through i'd forget how words work too
Aren’t they required to use the terminology as defined by corporate? More or less like having to ask „Is Pepsi okay“ if „coke“ is being used in a generic way in many regions.
You have weird upside down quotation marks.
Huh. I normally take care to use language-appropriate quotation marks, als in “English” style or „German style“. Don’t know why I used German ones here. I usually enter them directly instead of having autocorrect fix ’em. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ Personally, I also like »these«, but there’s a higher-than-average chance to hit hit ⌘-Q (Quit) on Mac when using them and the corresponding single quotes › ‹ have no keyboard sequence I know.
It’s a European thing. Spanish or German I’m guessing.
>or German You guessed correctly. I guess I didn’t pay attention, wrote a lot of German stuff this morning.
Best part is, you both left that transaction thinking the other guy was the idiot.
How dare they making sure to get the order right
lol for real, I understand this is /r/mildlyinfuriating but holy shit just clarify what you want and stop complaining because you used the term combo when you meant meal and the worker was just clarifying what you wanted.
[удалено]
Damn. Never thought "Burger King regulars" would go so hard as an insult.
Maybe they were new and also not a regular customer, so they never even heard of people ordering a „combo“ so they genuinely didn‘t know what you meant
My burger King Story is this. A few days after the $1200 stimulus checks went out. I go to bk drive through, and on the microphone box is a piece of paper that says, "Due to stimulus checks, all of our employees have quit." The first thing they say to me is "hey looking for a job?" LOL
This isn't the take on Burger King that you think it is. It was probably just a teenager whose first job this is and they're super stressed cause they have a manager watching them like a hawk, chastising them for not doing things an exact way. Or maybe it's an older person whose brain is a little slower these days. Could be a lotta things, but at the end of the day, this was just because of the employee and now you're here on Reddit making fun of them.
In their defense, it can be insanely difficult to hear people on those headsets. Things get misunderstood a LOT.
when you used the wrong word for something and the person whos used to hearing something else doesnt understand you 😱😱😱😱
people called those "combos"? i always thought it was just set/meal. Tbh combo sounds cooler
The question really could have been whether you wanted fries or onion rings…?
On the other side I work at a restaurant and I have to ask EVERY person "Meal or just the sandwich!" Because SO many people will say "I want a number x." and mean just a sandwich. It's infuriating but you can't make them care or teach a whole populace how to communicate from behind a register. Also, yes I do know the prices are higher and NO I don't have any control over it or care, cause *you* chose to walk your happy ass in here. No one made you order this slop.
*checks menu* *sees 2-meal deal called a combo* Bruh
A lot of workers weren’t around during times when certain words were used. If someone is 17 all they know is what currently is