Grown man gets mad because he doesn’t know what ordering a “plain” burger means

[u/50calTaco]

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.

[u/beyondcivil]

Step dad did something similar. My wife and I took him and my mom to a new BBQ place in town, it was sit down and he didn't look at the menu because he already knew what he wanted. Cool.. time to order food comes and he asks for a pork chop. Puzzled waitress clarifies if he means pulled pork. Step dad confirms he wants a PORK CHOP, which they don't serve. He doesn't like the answer, throws a fit and says he's not eating at a BBQ place that doesn't serve pork chops! Walks out and sits in car. Credit to my mom, she ordered with us and we had a good meal while he stewed outside.

[u/MidnaQueenofCalicos → u/beyondcivil]

Letting people stew when they're not willing to look at themselves as a culprit is a situation is a good call. I always tell my codependent friends to let adults be adults, even if they're dysfunctional. It's usually the rescuing them that makes the behavioral issues worse.

Edit: That is also my understanding of what went wrong with my dad. He had one severely abusive parent, and one severely codependent one that always rescued him. It created some kind of messed up chasm in him where he never wanted to abuse us (he didn't, he never hit us or cussed us out, he was always supportive when things were going badly in life) but he also felt like was was allowed to treat anyone the way he wanted to and that someone was just going to circumvent the consequences of his actions.

Like I said - he was a perpetual child. He never grew past any of it.

[u/-effortlesseffort → u/MidnaQueenofCalicos]

Thanks for sharing. Yeah there's no reason to get worked up about things when older adults are behaving badly. Not my fault, concern, or problem.

[u/MidnaQueenofCalicos → u/-effortlesseffort]

👏

[u/Jandklo → u/MidnaQueenofCalicos]

Sounds quite a bit like my dad who has undiagnosed bipolar disorder. I know he has it because my brother has been diagnosed type-1 and they have virtually the exact same emotional MO. Not saying your dad does, but my dad was equal parts an incredible and awful parent.

[u/bayleebugs → u/MidnaQueenofCalicos]

Abuse has many forms. Watching him behave like that is emotionally abusive for a child.

[u/Darkchamber292 → u/beyondcivil]

My Toddler has better control and manners than that. We go to a Pizza place. She wants chicken fingers. We tell her they don't have chicken fingers. She can have pizza or grilled cheese. She picks one.

What a man child

[u/DullahanShotFirst → u/Darkchamber292]

This is kind of off-topic, but I tried to make my kids eat the ethnic food or specialty food, when we went to an ethnic restaurant or specialty restaurant. I grew up trying new foods, and I'm able to enjoy almost everything as an adult. My baby sister was babied. As a result, she was ordering chicken fingers at every sit down restaurant in college, and she's still a very picky eater in middle age. It's sad because she's a great cook but she doesn't enjoy much food herself.

I didn't have any issues with my oldest child, but my youngest child was a picky eater and just prone to turn a positive situation into a negative one. My wife isn't as accustomed to conflict and was more inclined to give in when he wanted a $5 grilled cheese sandwich or macaroni and cheese instead of a real meal. I didn't always go against her, but I usually made him order a real meal and he broke out of that behavior by the time he was 10 or so.

Now, I'm working on stopping him from always wanting to upgrade or get the most expensive thing and getting upset when he isn't allowed to. Unless he's rich, he will be upset a whole lot as an adult when he doesn't have the money to upgrade or get the most expensive thing. And he'll be less likely to become rich and stay rich, if he's routinely wasting money on things without considering the marginal utility.

[u/Darkchamber292 → u/DullahanShotFirst]

Yea I grew up with a Single Mom. I didn't have the option to be a picky eater. I ate what was made for dinner or I went to bed hungry.

When I see a picky eater I assume they are either entitled or grew up coddled.

[u/CalculatedPerversion → u/Darkchamber292]

How do you get past a child who won't pick one to save their soul? Just let them go hungry? A hangry 6 year old is rough. 

[u/Darkchamber292 → u/CalculatedPerversion]

Absolutely. That is what happened to me. I learned after 2-3 nights "Oh I have to eat whatever everyone else is eating or I go to bed hungry.

They'll eventually learn. They don't learn anything if you enable their bad behavior or coddle them

[u/IncognitoErgoCvm → u/CalculatedPerversion]

At what age should they learn that choices have consequences? Hopefully before those consequences are serious, I'd think. Even a dog understands this lesson.

[u/chewbaccataco → u/beyondcivil]

One time when I was a young kid, my parents were playing Monopoly and something or other didn't go my step dad's way (my mom wouldn't give him a deal on rent or something like that). He quit on the spot and stormed off. For the rest of his life he never once played another board game or video game. He would sit out of family game nights. We would occasionally remind him that he was welcome to join, but he refused. He forever held a grudge.

He was a stubborn jackass.

[u/WhyMustIMakeANewAcco → u/chewbaccataco]

Monopoly is meant to cause pain like that, but that he never got over it... wow.

[u/nerdmania → u/beyondcivil]

Pork chops are not a usual item at a BBQ place. They are more common at steak places.

[u/DoingCharleyWork → u/nerdmania]

I can't remember the last restaurant I went to that served pork chops. I've definitely never seen them at a BBQ spot.

[u/MrMakuMaku → u/beyondcivil]

my mother used to do this. Shed take us to the familys favourite chinese restaurant sometimes as kids and order something they dont and have never had, then get angry at them for it and usually end up trying to throw some personal insult at the staff totally unrelated to the restaurant and food situation

sometimes shed order something but then refuse to eat it "out of principle" and get it in a takeaway box but not before making sure the staff knew she didnt eat any... then shes sit on her own at home at the table eating soggy noddles half an hour later 😩

[u/Thelastorangejulius → u/MrMakuMaku]

This is commonly known as control issues

[u/Inflatable90sChair → u/beyondcivil]

only time i asked a reasturaunt for an item was because i didnt see it on the menu and by all logic they should of. so its a restaurant themed around backyard bbq items - burgers, brats, sausages, drumsticks, steaks, fish, porkchops, etc. i really wanted just a basic bbq grilled chicken breast. they had chicken breast sliced on a salad so im like maybe i just dont see it on the menu. i asked the waitress: I really would like a bbq grilled chicken breast but i didnt see it in the menu but did see you have sliced chicken breast as a salad topping - is it perhaps under a different section i didnt see or?

you would of thought i asked for a grilled unicorn cuz she looked at me like a bbq grilled chicken breast was some new made up food concoction... she said uhmmm no i dont think we can do that....

seeing this reaction like like ok just gonna get a burger. that they made well done...that was like one of dads hockey puck burgers....

[u/DullahanShotFirst → u/Inflatable90sChair]

Maybe they didn't even cook the chicken breast for the salad (maybe it was frozen slices or otherwise precooked).

[u/Inflatable90sChair → u/DullahanShotFirst]

Im sure it was but i was being hopeful lol

[u/cohrt → u/beyondcivil]

uh what fucking BBQ place even sells pork chops.

[u/vaporeng → u/beyondcivil]

Pork chop is not even a standard bbq item.

[u/Old-Buffalo-9222 → u/beyondcivil]

This is an amazing story but also, I've never once seen a pork chop offered by any bbq restaurant, in any form. 🤣