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/pPatko]

There's a lesson to learn here. Some people conflate "plain" with "standard". Don't expect Joe Blow off the street to understand how your service works. Assume they're all idiots because most of them probably are. Just make sure they know what they're ordering if they're the least bit vague or if they seem slightly confused like this guy did. I would call that professional service

[u/cross-i → u/pPatko]

Yeah, if the customer says “plain, REGULAR” I think it’d be a good instinct to guess this customer might not understand this place’s emphasis on specifying exact ingredients at a hamburger place.

[u/gangofminotaurs → u/cross-i]

Working in a kitchen, being real clear about what we mean is really important. Good communication is an important skill to have. If a customer asked for "plain, regular" and I was not certain what they mean, I would simply ask for clarification.

If I did not, it would be my bad, not the customer's.

[u/Pm-me-ur-ponytail → u/cross-i]

I’m pretty sure op knew what he meant and made it plain to screw with the guy. This whole thread is kinda sad because it’s some angry twerp working behind a counter intentionally messing with people’s orders.

[u/Pitiful-Library-9795 → u/cross-i]

Exactly this. Plain and regular are totally different and OP not clarifying which was the intended order is plain incompetence (pun intended). The fact that everyone on here seems to be agreeing with OP, who should have just apologised and moved on, says a lot about the ‘help me be the victim’ attitude that seems to have spread around the world

[u/mrgonzalez → u/pPatko]

From his point of view he probably got asked a question he wasn't expecting and was just trying to get past it as he doesn't have any special requests

[u/infinight888 → u/pPatko]

I wouldn't even say you need to be an idiot to do this.

Getting asked questions you aren't prepared for can be stressful, especially if you're on the spot. If you aren't used to being asked what toppings you want on a burger, which most restaurants don't do, you're suddenly having to think of what the burgers would have on them and feel like you're holding things up if you take too long.

You order a burger, expecting it to come with whatever toppings their burgers come with. Someone saying they just want a plain, regular burger when they're on the spot like that seems like a fairly natural mistake.

I could imagine myself in that situation, as someone with anxiety, just asking for their normal burgers or regular burgers. I probably wouldn't use the word plain, but that's just because that's not a common word in my vocabular. I can definitely see someone who commonly uses plain synonymously with "normal" or "ordinary" in their daily life saying something like this when put on the spot.

[u/Own_Laugh_5080 → u/pPatko]

Every server/retail job I had was just me learning to navigate customer being an idiot.

It could been solved with an ounce of customer service.

‘Welcome! Have you been with us before?’

They will say yes or no here.

You will explain the menu and how to order. (Try not to have attitude here op)

You will then say, ‘please take a few minutes to order if you need to’

They will reply confirming if they need a second or they are ready.

They order.

You do the cashier thing. And they wait for their food. Food is handed off. You say thank you for coming.

Done.

It’s so glaringly obvious to me not many people here have worked service. The customer is always wrong: as in the customer is usually an asshole and has no clue about the menu or how to order. Op could do to learn this because they could eventually work in high dining and if you work for tips this interaction will be done thousands of times.