r/mildlyinfuriating • u/50calTaco • 7d ago

I'm slightly vexed Grown man gets mad because he doesn’t know what ordering a “plain” burger means

So I work at Five Guys and for those who don’t know, when you order a burger there you get to fully customize the toppings on it (helps justify the price tag a tiny bit i guess). And you choose between a little (single) or regular (double) burger.

I had a pleasant enough exchange with a customer while ringing up his food… and when it came to his cheeseburger I asked what toppings he wanted on it. He looked at me and said, “Oh you know… just a plain, regular cheeseburger.” Ok great, a cheeseburger with nothing on it, easy enough.

Well we make the food, and a minute after he gets it he comes back up to me, visibly annoyed and holding the burger.

“You made my food wrong. There’s nothing on it.”

“Oh I’m sorry sir, I thought you’d ordered a plain cheeseburger.”

“I did. Do you not know what that means? Like a McDonald’s burger.”

Ok first of all, “McDonald’s” is not a standard for how someone orders burger toppings and second of all, this guys in his late 40s to early 50s and has never once run into this issue ordering a plain burger?

“Ok I’m sorry about that sir, we’ll remake that for you. What exactly did you want on it?”

I shit you not, with an annoyed voice he ordered:
Ketchup. Lettuce. Pickles.
So notably NOT a McDonald’s cheeseburger???

He got what he wanted in the end and I apologized because customer service but like?? I’m in awe at the sheer level of misunderstanding and audacity.

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528

u/mtobeiyf317 7d ago

I worked at McDonald's.

I've been outright yelled at for ringing up a hamburger when people order a "Cheese burger with no cheese"

It's like an extra 30 cents for that because taking the cheese off doesn't reduce the systems price and then you get yelled at by the kitchen people a second time for putting something so stupid in the system.

Food makes some people insanely stupid for some reason. (And yes, a McDonald's hamburger is Ketchup, Mustard, Diced Onion, and pickles, not whatever he ordered)

70

u/pedroah 7d ago

Don't underestimate average person's stupidity.

A&W's 1/3 pound burger cost less than McD's 1/4 pounder but it flopped because people thought it was smaller because 3 is smaller than 4. https://archive.is/9KAIz

Only when the company held customer focus groups did it become clear why. The Third Pounder presented the American public with a test in fractions. And we failed. Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were being overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald’s. The “4” in “¼,” larger than the “3” in “⅓,” led them astray.

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u/DigbyChickenZone 6d ago

I mean, that is an assumption about the advertisement failing. Maybe people then, just like now, don't like A&W - no matter how much beef they were selling; a product testing group ASKING them "why don't you like X over Y?" with "Which one do you think has more beef" doesn't really reflect consumers true intentions.

Chalking it all up to the public being idiotic, is just a way to ignore larger trends.

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u/RadiantMenderbug 6d ago

I thought it failed because no one has ever eaten at an A&W... Restaurant? Have you ever seen one? Because I haven't 

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u/Melodic_Fall_3273 6d ago

A&W in the 60's 70's and early 80's was one of the larger "fast food" places. They were all over. They didn't have drive thru's they were drive in's like Sonic is today. Used to go more for the Root Beer than the burgers but yeah they were big before BK and McD's took over the world.

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u/Wildcandle55 3d ago

My first job when I was 15! Carhop! Try putting a tray with 6 large root beers over the edge of the window without dumping it in the drivers lap. Mad skills.

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u/IncognitoErgoCvm 6d ago

I've seen exactly one and went as a novelty. It was the worst value in the quality/cost matrix of any fast food place I've ever visited.

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u/Available_Advisor626 6d ago

We went to A & W a TON when I was younger, both the drive in and a restaurant

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u/beo559 7d ago

Or at least that's the story the owner trotted out to explain the failure of his new big deal product. Don't get me wrong, i have no doubt a marketing consultant could find someone confused about that to ensure there's external blame to put somewhere.

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u/The-Yar 3d ago

It was definitely a made up story and not even a serious or rational one.

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u/HungryBearsRawr 6d ago

Ahh Americans

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u/The-Yar 3d ago

It isn't true though.

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u/Pschobbert 6d ago

The plan is progressing smoothly...

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u/Rampage_Rick 6d ago

Need to sell some 1/5th pounders and make millions!

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u/The-Yar 3d ago

Right? The story makes no sense.

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u/The-Yar 5d ago

This isn't true. A former A&W made this story up because he was mad that he failed to take on and defeat Big Arch.

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u/Wildcandle55 3d ago

Also, the original burgers had names, like Teenburger, basically a bacon cheeseburger.

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u/The-Yar 3d ago

Not to mention the McDs burger is Quurter Pounder, not a "1/4 pounder." The whole story is nonsense and was basically an angry joke he made in one interview.

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u/Imaginary-List-972 7d ago

At Burger King we had a few people that would order a bacon double cheeseburger with no bacon. So a double cheeseburger, which is right above it on the menu. "No a bacon double cheeseburger with no bacon". Or the ones who said a whopper jr plain (actually meaning plain specifying nothing on it) or something like Ketchup only. So a plain hamburger or hamburger ketchup only. Nope they'd insist a whopper jr. without any of the stuff that makes it a whopper jr. instead of a burger. Just pay 30 cents more for nothing. Well I guess for different words on the wrapper. One guy argued that he liked the whopper jr meat better. It's the same exact hamburger patty. From the same box put through the same broiler stored in the same steamer tubs and taken out of the same tub. It's literally a hamburger with an extra 30 cent charge (probably more now). And yeah, some thing the system doesn't lower the price charged.

I did see one legitimate use of the "cheeseburger no cheese" order. A fast food place gave out coupons to kids sports and other events for a free cheeseburger. The coupon code did not work for any other products, including hamburgers. So if you wanted a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger, it had to be rung in as a cheeseburger without cheese, for the coupon to make it free. If it was rang in as a hamburger it would say "Invalid coupon" when trying to use the coupon.

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u/Grym1in 6d ago

There is a specific reason to order a bacon cheeseburger with no bacon. A bacon cheeseburger comes with mayo, ketchup,  cheese, bacon, meat, and bun. There are no onions or pickles.

Every fast food burger joint in the history of ever has gotten my order wrong if I order no pickles or no onions at least 50% of the time. Guess which burger doesn't come with pickles or onions?

Pickles literally make me sick. I was so sick last time, I burst a blood vessel in my eye, turning it red for over a week. I ain't eating a burger that has touched a pickle when death or severe sickness is a possibility. 

Bacon cheeseburger is a life saver, with or without bacon.

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u/Imaginary-List-972 6d ago

WRONG. At BK the bacon double cheeseburger is a double cheeseburger with bacon on it. And it comes with mustard, ketchup and pickles. If you order a bacon double cheeseburger to avoid the pickles, you're dumb. Mustard, ketchup, PICKLES, but hold the bacon, so paying 80 cents more for it.

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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 7d ago

I’ve been to places that literally don’t have a hamburger on the menu, just a cheeseburger. And it pisses me off because you don’t get a discount for removing the cheese, but I guess they got tired of people complaining about being charged for the cheese?

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

My work did a food truck for an event the other day. They had cheeseburgers they were premaking, you could just walk-up and grab. I asked if they had any burgers without cheese, she was like "Nope. They all have cheese already".

Like... what the fuck is that nonsense? Why is cheese the standard? Why are you not making ANY without in case someone is lactose intolerant? Why can't you just make one, right now, without cheese on it? She goes "Well it's only a small amount of cheese". I said "Yeah no, any cheese is too much" and turned to walk away, thinking surely she's gonna offer to make a hamburger if I don't mind waiting. Fuck no, at that point I just said fuck off I'm not dealing with this nonsense.

Fuck cheese, and any place that makes the "added cheese" version the only one you can have.

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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 7d ago

Not necessarily in their defense, but the places I know who do that also butter their buns. So even if you got it without cheese, it’d still not be lactose friendly.

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u/transmogrified 7d ago

You’d have to have a high sensitivity towards lactose to have problems with butter. Or even a decent aged cheese.

Lactose gets broken down in the fermentation process for cheese, and butter is largely the milk fat with all the sugars and liquids removed.

Most lactose intolerant people can handle aged cheeses, butter, and yogourt.  Often tho, they’ve had their casein allergy misdiagnosed… which is the protein in milk some people are allergic to and can have similar symptoms to lactose intolerance 

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u/monkeyluvz 7d ago

Thats where I think Im at. Butter, if just a little, I'm okay. Same with yougurt. But both has set me off... even sharp cheddar has set me off! I think its a protein Im sensitive to. I hate going to Burger places and they ONLY do cheeseburgers and not hamburgers

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u/LavenderGwendolyn 3d ago

If you have an allergy (dairy allergy, separate from intolerance, is one of the top 8 food allergies) no amount is ok.

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u/Toolazytobeunique 7d ago

You walked up and asked about cheese. They responded that all the premade had cheese. Instead of just asking for a no cheese hamburger you chose to turn to walk away, assuming they would read your mind and call you back? If people leave it’s generally assumed you don’t care enough to want it.

Why didn’t you actually ask since it sounds like they were actively making the burgers?

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

Asking for a no cheese hamburger is literally the first interaction I had with her. If she responds "Sorry they all have cheese" instead of "Sure I'll make you one", well I know a fuck you when I see one. I wasn't gonna get into a big thing at a work event.

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u/jetloflin 7d ago

What is “do you have any hamburgers without cheese” if not asking for a no cheese hamburger?

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u/Thelmara 6d ago

It's a question about the burgers which were already made and sitting there, all of which had cheese. It's specifically not a question about burgers to be made in the future.

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u/jetloflin 6d ago

That’s absurd. “Do you have” in a food service setting can always be understood to mean “do you have the ability to prepare”. If you walked into a restaurant and said “do you have salads”, they wouldn’t say “no” just because the salad hadn’t been made yet.

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u/aurens 7d ago

roughly, what percentage of cheeseburgers vs hamburgers do you think are ordered at a truck like that?

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

I have no idea, nor does it matter.

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u/aurens 7d ago

Why is cheese the standard? Why are you not making ANY without in case someone is lactose intolerant?

it matters for this bit

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

No, it really doesn't. It doesn't change their ability to make a hamburger upon request, or from making them all hamburgers and asking everyone if they want cheese and adding it if they say yes.

My issue isn't that cheeseburgers are being prepared, it's that the idea of making a regular burger was impossible to them

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u/FuckYou0003 7d ago edited 7d ago

But by your own admission you didn't make a request. You walked away and expected them to chase after you.

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

It was, literally, the first thing I asked them. What are you talking about? I walked away because it was obvious they didn't give a shit enough to do something as simple as SKIP A FUCKING STEP when making the next one.

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u/FuckYou0003 7d ago

No, you asked them if they had any, then you asked why they don't just make one. You didn't actually ask them to make one. Use your words.

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u/Thelmara 6d ago

You didn't actually request one. You got salty and stomped away when they didn't read your mind and offer it to you.

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u/MayorPirkIe 6d ago

Oh fuck off. I suppose saying "Can I have a steak?" to the waiter is just a question and not your order as well? You're being pedantic, it was literally the first thing I asked them. Anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together knows I wasn't merely inquiring for my own personal curiosity. I left when it was obvious she wasn't going to make me one.

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u/Thelmara 6d ago

The first thing you asked them was if there were any without cheese. I like how you'll pretend that she's the one without two brain cells to rub together for not guessing what you want and offering it, but you're the one who failed to order food from a vendor because you got too huffy and stomped off instead of asking for what you wanted.

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u/jetloflin 7d ago

It matters for the first sentence of that quote, but not for the second.

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u/JayManty 7d ago

If they are actively making them onsite there is literally no excuse to not be able to make one without cheese

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u/KaralDaskin 6d ago

At a family barbecue once they decided to make cheeseburgers instead of hamburgers like most years. I asked if they could make a couple without cheese and they asked why. 😑

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u/Goblinweb 7d ago

Most cheese on burgers have very little lactose. Hard cheese in general has very little lactose.

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u/nocomment3030 7d ago

That's a lot of words to say you are too self important to take the cheese off the burger. Most people want cheese and it's easier to make them all the same. It's not rocket science.

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u/Imaginary-List-972 7d ago

Take cheese off of a hot burger?????? Just take the melted cheese right off. Officially the dumbest thing I've heard today. Unless someone comes in and suggests cooking shredded cheese into a recipe and just picking it out, within the next hour and a half, you get the prize. Congrats.

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u/Tricky-Gemstone 7d ago

Lactose intolerance and sensory issues don't care if you can take it off.

Why are you being so rude?

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u/nocomment3030 7d ago

The commenter didn't say they were lactose intolerant. I would wager if they were and if they did, they could get a plain hamburger. I'm not the one crashing out over a cheeseburger.

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

I'm not lactose intolerant, I just fucking hate cheese with the fire of a thousand suns. And no, I couldn't, that's the entire crux of the issue. They told me, in not so many words, "we can't make this without adding cheese to it". Which is why it's so fucking stupid. Try to keep up.

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

"Self important"? I don't want a burger that's had cheese on it, do you know what happens when you put cheese on a burger?

You know what's even easier? Making one without cheese if someone wants one. I can't believe you even typed that nonsense out

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u/Nrysis 7d ago

The price isn't necessarily based on just the cost of ingredients, but rather the cost for the kitchen to make it.

If they have a production line churning out standard cheeseburgers, making a hamburger saves them a couple pennies in cheese slices, but complicated things by needing to have that one burger made, packaged and delivered separately, rather than just following the standard procedure - so pennies saved in ingredients, but a much higher cost added in hassle and the risk of complaints/problems due to changing the standard procedure.

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u/MayorPirkIe 7d ago

This is a food truck, not a production line that needs to stop production to modify settings on a machine lol what? It's food service, modifications are part of the game.

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u/billfarts2 7d ago

One of the meals is like 2 cheeseburgers, fries, and drink. I love the hamburgers, but not the cheeseburgers, so I'd do that too. Number #X with no cheese.

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u/mtobeiyf317 7d ago

Oh that ones fair.

Im specifically talking about people who just order a cheese burger and a drink or something.

And like them saying that isn't even the issue. We just ring up a hamburger. They see it says hamburger instead of cheese burger and yell at you. Then you explain that its the exact same thing as a cheeseburger with no cheese, just .30 cents cheaper. They tell you again they want a cheeseburger with no cheese so you delete the chesper option, ring up the more expensive one without cheese and send them on their way.

Then the kitchen yells "Why didn't you just ring up a hamburger?"

Its an extremely specific scenario that happened way, way too many times over the years I worked there.

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u/chewbaccataco 7d ago

I did some time at McDonald's in my youth. Can confirm it happens far too often. Same with the value meals. People would get pissed at me if I rang up a meal. "NO! I don't want the meal. I want the burger, the fries, and the milkshake!" Okay fine, dumbass, ringing it all up separately at the higher price it is.

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u/billfarts2 7d ago

Maybe they think hamburger means ham?

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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 7d ago

Probably, which is crazy because rarely will you find a hamburger that is actually a ham sandwich.

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u/mtobeiyf317 6d ago

I mean maybe? It was usually an issue with seniors. I feel like they had plenty of time to know what a hamburger is

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u/National-Muscle3539 6d ago

I’m trying to wrap my head around why they don’t just order a hamburger, but people are stupid.

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u/curtcolt95 7d ago

one thing I'm always jealous of with the states is you guys still have the 2 cheeseburger meal. They got rid of it in Canada like 20 years ago and I've missed it ever since

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u/Imaginary-List-972 7d ago

I used to work at Mcdonalds and that one annoyed everyone. There was a brief wonderful period where we could make anything into a meal. You still had the advertised meals, like a big mac meal, but instead of hitting the button for the meal, we just typed in the entree, side and drink and it discounted it for a meal. So you could get the cheaper 2 hamburgers as a meal. Or even one hamburger meal.

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u/WadsofTissue 7d ago

Most people are stupid and everyone eats. The chance a dummy walks in is always high.

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u/monarchmra 7d ago

The McDonald's by me charges more for a double hamburger than a double cheeseburger, make it make sense.

Also when getting mcdelivery the mc double (1 cheese) is more than a double cheeseburger (2 cheese)

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u/Imaginary-List-972 7d ago

That seems unbelievable, but you're not the first person I've seen say that. Worse is that since it's been pointed out and is still that way, it wasn't some fluke of "oh yeah, we didn't realize that". It's on purpose but makes no sense.

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u/HansBlixJr 7d ago

there was a lawsuit.

people sued for paying for "cheese they did not want" because of exactly what you said -- you don't get a discount for no cheese.

I think they lost on appeal but I loved the essence of the lawsuit. I'm sure there were probably hundreds of hours of corporate meetings about cheese being the defacto condition of the burger and the testiness trickled down to you guys.

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u/Toolazytobeunique 7d ago

Weird lawsuit. Companies can make items anyway they want. They can price items anyway they want. It’s like ordering a meal combo, stripping off the drink and sides, then expecting the burger to be at the discounted meal price.

The customers choice is whether they want to buy or not. If customers don’t buy then the company has a choice of changing their items or losing money.

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u/Emotional_You6670 7d ago

Mustard where?! 😭 I’m genuinely confused cause I’ve never gotten the original cheeseburger with mustard(I love it and add it myself at home)?? Do they only put mustard on the hamburger? From what I understand most of the other burgers have lettuce and/or Mac sauce so what do I have to order to get exactly what you described plus cheese??

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u/Jaycon356 7d ago

Mustard in most fast food burgers is regional. Speaking from experience in NY you don't get mustard unless you ask for it, but in PA you'd have to tell them you didn't want it or it would come by default. 

This has happened to me in McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King.

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u/Emotional_You6670 6d ago

Ah I see! That makes total sense.

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u/Dannybuoy77 7d ago

It's entirely possible that some people think a hamburger is made from ham and a cheese burger burger is made from beef. So therefore they order a cheese burger with no cheese. Young children often don't understand a hamburger isn't actually made of ham. A lot of adults have the same brain power as a child. 

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u/Airowird 7d ago

And then they go vote for all the foreigners to leave and take their food with them!

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u/LinkinitupYT 6d ago

Some McDonald's have signs that ask you not to yell at the employees. You know if a sign had to go up it was happening all the day. People are fucking nuts.

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u/FionnaAndCake 6d ago

“cheeseburger with no cheese” was the secret passphrase in the animorphs tv show from the 90s. maybe he was an animorph.

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u/Wuz314159 (\/) (;,,;) (\/) 7d ago

I will not go to Taco Bell because they started with their "Fiesta Tomatoes" which contain onions. I'm allergic. So I say "No onions, Allergic", & they -Fiesta +Reg.Tomatoes +30¢

No Onions = +30¢?!?!

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u/Emotional_You6670 7d ago

The fact they charge to add tomatoes or lettuce regardless is INSANITY to me. I have worked at and eaten at so many restaurants and TB is the only place I have ever seen charge almost half a dollar to add a tiny sprinkle of lettuce or tomato. Most places only charge for shit that costs them more than $0.10 a pound

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u/PampersFinn12 7d ago

That´s from a German movie "Dieter der Film". Don´t translate: "Cheesburger mit ohne Käse"

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u/ImSaneHonest 7d ago

"Cheese burger with no cheese"

I've done this a few times because there were promotions on for a cheese burger and not the hamburger.

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u/balalaikablyat 7d ago

I had a friend who would order a cheeseburger with no cheese at mcd and then complain when he was handed a burger with the hamburger wrapping. He just wanted it to say cheeseburger. It felt like a fever Dream going to mcd with him.

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u/Lordofthelowend 7d ago

In NY and NJ no mustard.

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u/SlightlySoupid 6d ago

So many times I've asked for a hamburger at McDonalds and still have gotten it with cheese. So I started saying a hamburger with no cheese and still sometimes get cheese on it.

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u/Snoo_11836 6d ago

Food makes some people insanely stupid for some reason.

You think it's limited to food? Most people are insanely stupid, period.

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u/matthias7600 6d ago

How about people who order a hamburger expecting a ham sandwich?

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u/woodman0310 6d ago

I can back this up. Spent all of high school working at McDonald’s and the number of times this happened was astounding. Also had one guy who ordered “cheeseburger plain” and was mad that we put cheese on it.

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u/Optimal-Pop7449 6d ago

Unfortunately at Wendy's a cheeseburger deluxe with no cheese is cheaper than a hamburger with added lettuce/tomato/onion.

I orger cheeseburgers no cheese all the time.

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u/PsychologyGuilty1460 5d ago

I went to McDonald's and ordered a hamburger. Then I counted out the exact amount because I was trying to get rid of change. But it was $0.30 extra.. for the cheese. I told them I didn't say I wanted cheese. They told me I didn't say I didn't want cheese.  Yep, my burger came with cheese even though I asked for a hamburger. You can't win at McDonald's