I'm on strike

[US 89]

or you need a condiment that's being held hostage behind the counter in the name of food cost

This is my biggest gripe about fast food, and it's something that will stop me from ever coming back.  If a restaurant wants to charge me extra for a condiment, then I'm done with them.  The Wendy's closest to my work is like this.  By golly, I shouldn't have to pay extra for sour cream to go along with a baked potato.  I used to have decent luck paying, taking my food to the table, then going back up to the counter a couple of minutes later to ask for the condiment, but eventually they started saying "I'd have to ring it up as a separate sale."  Well, OK, but I hope you realize you just lost yourself a customer over 25 cents.

I think he was talking about free condiments that they keep behind the counter, to keep greedy customers from taking too much. I've noticed this at a few McDonald's locations lately; they used to have ketchup dispensers over by the drinks and napkins, but now the ketchup is only in packets behind the counter (though still free). This is only funny because whenever I've asked for ketchup, they've given me nearly double the amount of ketchup I actually need. Which defeats the purpose.

[Scott5114]

I don't mind them bringing the food to me, but waiting near the counter and picking it up is a lot more efficient

It sucks, though, to have to stand around at the counter by yourself while everyone else in your party is sitting back at the table having a good old time without you.

never split the party

I don't use fast food restaurants as a social venue. If I am with a large group of people, we tend to do a sit-down restaurant. Or, more rarely, we are traveling together and making a fast-food stop before we go on. In the latter case, several of us are waiting for orders, since it's easier for each group that's paying together to end up on one ticket.

Most frequently, though, we stay home and order delivery on Grubhub/Doordash.

or you need a condiment that's being held hostage behind the counter in the name of food cost

This is my biggest gripe about fast food, and it's something that will stop me from ever coming back.  If a restaurant wants to charge me extra for a condiment, then I'm done with them.  The Wendy's closest to my work is like this.  By golly, I shouldn't have to pay extra for sour cream to go along with a baked potato.  I used to have decent luck paying, taking my food to the table, then going back up to the counter a couple of minutes later to ask for the condiment, but eventually they started saying "I'd have to ring it up as a separate sale."  Well, OK, but I hope you realize you just lost yourself a customer over 25 cents.

The person running the register doesn't realize and doesn't care. The fewer the customers there are, the less work they have to do. If the store closes, on to the next minimum-wage job; they're all interchangeable.

J. Edbart Hortencio Combwater VIII, Senior Adjutant Vice-Chancellor of Finance for Wendy's might, but you're just a line on a spreadsheet to him. No way that will ever get connected to his "revenue enhancement" policy of charging for sour cream.

So 21st century capitalism goes.

[J N Winkler]

When I am on the road, I generally eat two sit-down meals and snack instead of eating lunch.  I prefer a sit-down breakfast because coffee is supplied ad libitum (which is important if it is weak enough at a given location that it requires multiple cups for an adequate caffeine hit) and the breakfast menu is more varied, with egg dishes that include vegetables.  I prefer a sit-down restaurant for dinner because, again, the menu is more varied with options that include vegetables that are fresh and of reasonably high nutritional content.  The typical breakfast at McDonald's is all cereal and meat, and although Burger King offers a Caesar salad as greenwash, the mesclun is based on iceberg lettuce with approximately the same nutritional value as tap water.  Fast-food establishments are also uniformly dry, and I occasionally like a glass of beer with my dinner.

On the road it is already difficult to comply with my basic nutrition rules (at least five servings from three different vegetables, at least 100% of the fiber RDA every day), and fast food would make the situation worse.

I have had people tell me that they have difficulty obtaining a table and service at sit-down restaurants when travelling alone.  I have not had this trouble, but I am generally willing to eat at the bar if the establishment has a liquor license and there are people waiting for tables.  I generally do take a book with me to read when I am dining alone.  The main difficulty I have faced--thankfully, not often--is walking into an establishment while it is still open but after the kitchen has closed.  This is very common in Wisconsin (I suspect because state law allows restaurants with liquor licenses to stay open to continue serving alcohol alone after food preparation ends), but I have seen it in Missouri, and once in Twentynine Palms, California, I stepped into a Pizza Hut about an hour before closing when they were absolutely determined to close early and were equally determined not to tell me so, forcing me to wait fifteen minutes to get the message.  I believe any restaurant that stays open to serve alcohol only should be required to post its food service hours so that anyone looking to dine can move right along instead of waiting abortively to submit a food order.

It sucks, though, to have to stand around at the counter by yourself while everyone else in your party is sitting back at the table having a good old time without you.

When I get fast food to take away, I go in to order (drive-thrus don't work for deaf people) and then have to deal with the fact that there is never a place for a person to stand and wait that is both out of the way and within line of sight to the pickup counter.  I have also had clerks assume that counter ordering is invariably for eating in even if I have "To go, please" as the first words of the order.

This is my biggest gripe about fast food, and it's something that will stop me from ever coming back.  If a restaurant wants to charge me extra for a condiment, then I'm done with them.  The Wendy's closest to my work is like this.  By golly, I shouldn't have to pay extra for sour cream to go along with a baked potato.  I used to have decent luck paying, taking my food to the table, then going back up to the counter a couple of minutes later to ask for the condiment, but eventually they started saying "I'd have to ring it up as a separate sale."  Well, OK, but I hope you realize you just lost yourself a customer over 25 cents.

Margins in this sector are so narrow I don't mind paying for plus-one condiments or even specifying that a takeaway order is not to include plastic utensils (since we invariably eat with actual silverware at home).  But I do insist that if a meal is to be eaten with condiments (e.g., sour cream with taco salad), then the first unit of that condiment be supplied free of charge.

The person running the register doesn't realize and doesn't care. The fewer the customers there are, the less work they have to do. If the store closes, on to the next minimum-wage job; they're all interchangeable.

J. Edbart Hortencio Combwater VIII, Senior Adjutant Vice-Chancellor of Finance for Wendy's might, but you're just a line on a spreadsheet to him. No way that will ever get connected to his "revenue enhancement" policy of charging for sour cream.

So 21st century capitalism goes.

It's not just the private sector--this happens in the public sector too.  The ruling paradigm is a cost recovery pyramid where services used by the majority are offered free or at very low cost (often involving a high degree of subsidy) while services used by a minority are often not subsidized at all or are even run to generate an operating profit.  Our library did this about a year ago with interlibrary loan; it used to be free (as it still is at most American public libraries), but now we charge $3 a book.  The initial estimate was that ILL requests would fall by about one-third but the actual drop has been more like half.

[Scott5114]

I have also had clerks assume that counter ordering is invariably for eating in even if I have "To go, please" as the first words of the order.

This may not so much be an assumption of the clerk, but rather forgetfulness. Our register system was set up so that "For Here/To Go" was the last thing input (those buttons served as the total button that completed the order). Or the person putting the order together just misreads the ticket.

In any case, converting a For Here order to To Go is trivial enough. Some establishments (e.g. Five Guys) have even entirely done away with For Here orders and default to putting everything in a paper bag, which one can empty out and eat in or take wherever.

[kphoger]

I don't use fast food restaurants as a social venue. If I am with a large group of people, we tend to do a sit-down restaurant. Or, more rarely, we are traveling together and making a fast-food stop before we go on. In the latter case, several of us are waiting for orders, since it's easier for each group that's paying together to end up on one ticket.

All well and good for you, I suppose.  But I have a family of five, and it stinks to finally get out of the car on a road trip and still not be able to sit across the table from my wife and kids yet because I'm stuck waiting for my food up by the counter.

When I'm traveling with a larger group, it's not really all that much better for three people to be off away from a group of twelve than one person to be off away from a group of four.

When I am on the road, I generally eat two sit-down meals and snack instead of eating lunch. 

When I'm on the road, lunch is the meal I'm most likely to go inside and eat.  Our family typically packs some breakfast food to eat in the car an hour or so into the drive (if departing early enough, we'll even leave the kids in pajamas and let them change at the first pit stop).  For supper, we're generally eager to finally get to our destination so the drive-through looks pretty appealing.  But we use the lunchtime stop to let everyone stretch their legs, get refreshed from hours on the road, basically rejuvenate for the next half of the trip.

[hbelkins]

I'm one of those heretics who doesn't eat ketchup on fries. My luck is usually such that even if I don't ask, they'll put enough ketchup packets in with my food to satisfy a normal ketchup-eater for two weeks.

However, they don't include salt as a matter of routine. And if you ask for salt, you're lucky to get a couple of packets.

[kphoger]

I'm one of those heretics who doesn't eat ketchup on fries.

Heretics unite!
I don't like ketchup on almost anything.

[Takumi]

I'm one of those heretics who doesn't eat ketchup on fries. My luck is usually such that even if I don't ask, they'll put enough ketchup packets in with my food to satisfy a normal ketchup-eater for two weeks.

However, they don't include salt as a matter of routine. And if you ask for salt, you're lucky to get a couple of packets.

Ketchup apostate here. I used to eat it on fries and such when I was younger, but I rarely do anymore. Lost the taste for it at some point in my 20s. Still, I greatly prefer it over mustard. Even mayo is well above mustard for me.

[kphoger]

Honey is the best for fries.

At Arby's, though, a combination of Horsey sauce and Arby's sauce is the bomb.

[MNHighwayMan]

There is an awful lot of ketchup heresy in this thread.

SMITE THE TOMATO UNBELIEVERS

[kphoger]

There is an awful lot of ketchup heresy in this thread.

SMITE THE TOMATO UNBELIEVERS

I love barbecue sauce, which has tomato in it.  So there.

[MNHighwayMan]

I love barbecue sauce, which has tomato in it.  So there.

Depends on the type of BBQ sauce–not all formulations have tomato/ketchup as an ingredient.

[Takumi]

There is an awful lot of ketchup heresy in this thread.

SMITE THE TOMATO UNBELIEVERS

I love barbecue sauce, which has tomato in it.  So there.

Same. Oddly, I've never tried fries with it. I usually just eat them plain.

[KEVIN_224]

Not to spoil the condiment party...but we've gone way off topic here.

As it related to the recent strike:

The five United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) locals–Local 328, Providence, RI; Local 919, Farmington, CT; Local 1459, Springfield, MA; Local 1445, Dedham, MA and Local 371, Westport, CT –said they would separately present the proposed deals to their members for a vote, but union leaders said they were recommending that workers approve them.

[signalman]

There is an awful lot of ketchup heresy in this thread.

SMITE THE TOMATO UNBELIEVERS

I love barbecue sauce, which has tomato in it.  So there.

Same. Oddly, I've never tried fries with it. I usually just eat them plain.

I love to dip fries in bbq sauce.  It's way better than ketchup IMO.  I haven't used ketchup for them in years, except for the rare occurance that I don't have bbq sauce available.  In that case, ketchup suffices.

[ce929wax]

I rarely eat ketchup anymore after discovering ranch dressing.

[inkyatari]

I rarely eat ketchup anymore after discovering ranch dressing.

You sound like my daughter.

[kphoger]

we've gone way off topic here.

You're welcome.

[NE2]

Latest business trend is to solicit for feedback, and punish employers if that feedback is below totally excellent.

Sounds great! Unless you meant employees.

[kphoger]

Latest business trend is to solicit for feedback, and punish employers if that feedback is below totally excellent.

Sounds great! Unless you meant employees.

It's possible he meant the store manager is punished by corporate.

[SectorZ]

Honey is the best for fries.

At Arby's, though, a combination of Horsey sauce and Arby's sauce is the bomb.

Incorrect. Sour cream is, followed by ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, and honey mustard sauce.

[JoePCool14]

I rarely eat ketchup anymore after discovering ranch dressing.

You sound like my daughter.

Literally me for the past 10 years. You can't beat ranch dressing.

[formulanone]

I'm one of those heretics who doesn't eat ketchup on fries. My luck is usually such that even if I don't ask, they'll put enough ketchup packets in with my food to satisfy a normal ketchup-eater for two weeks.

However, they don't include salt as a matter of routine. And if you ask for salt, you're lucky to get a couple of packets.

Ketchup apostate here. I used to eat it on fries and such when I was younger, but I rarely do anymore. Lost the taste for it at some point in my 20s. Still, I greatly prefer it over mustard. Even mayo is well above mustard for me.

Heretics unite!
I don't like ketchup on almost anything.

I'll put ketchup on fries about once or twice a year; I'll literally try anything else (short of mayo) as a fry condiment.

[inkyatari]

I'll put ketchup on fries about once or twice a year; I'll literally try anything else (short of mayo) as a fry condiment.

Backin Jr. High school I wondered.. "We put ketchup on hamburgers.  We put mustard on hamburgers.  Why don't we put mustard on french fries?" so I tried it, and loved it.  I got at least one other student doing it.

On the rare occasion I order fries, I'll either put BBQ sauce on them, or a mixture of mustard, ketchup and mayo.

[US71]

I'll put ketchup on fries about once or twice a year; I'll literally try anything else (short of mayo) as a fry condiment.

Backin Jr. High school I wondered.. "We put ketchup on hamburgers.  We put mustard on hamburgers.  Why don't we put mustard on french fries?" so I tried it, and loved it.  I got at least one other student doing it.

On the rare occasion I order fries, I'll either put BBQ sauce on them, or a mixture of mustard, ketchup and mayo.

BBQ sauce; YES!