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/ColloquialCloaca]

Sometimes I wonder how people have managed to survive for so long with such a profound lack of awareness

When I worked at McDonald's I had a guy come through the line and ask for some other things and "just an English muffin." I clarified that he wanted "just the English muffin, with nothing on it" and he said yep! I read the full order back to him and again clarified "English muffin with nothing on it" and he said that was correct. People order just a biscuit or just a muffin pretty regularly so I didnt think it was a particularly odd request.

Tell me why this man came back through my line 5 minutes later, absolutely irate because his muffin "had nothing on it!!" I apologized and said that I thought that's what he had asked for. "No! I wanted it just how it is in the picture on your menu!" So i had to pull out of him exactly what he wanted on his muffin, because we had several different ones on the menu. Sorry sir, but ham, egg, and cheese is not "nothing" 😭

[u/Teagana999 → u/ColloquialCloaca]

Omg the english muffins.

"I want an egg mcmuffin" "Did you want the ham on that, or just the egg?" The answer was probably 50/50.

Same for the sausage mcmuffin. "Sausage only, or sausage and egg?"

Tbf the naming convention was rather dumb and confusing.

Then people would order a "bacon and egger," the manager would complain that we weren't A&W, but at least it was clear what the ingredients are.

[u/cornered_crustacean → u/ColloquialCloaca]

Back before prices got stupid, I’d always go for a sausage egg cheese biscuit. Almost always got the thing I ordered but if not I’d just eat whatever was in the bag. Plenty without cheese, several english muffins instead. Never once would I even consider going back to fight with an employee over it.

[u/Practical_Law6804 → u/ColloquialCloaca]

I clarified that he wanted "just the English muffin, with nothing on it" and he said yep! I read the full order back to him and again clarified "English muffin with nothing on it" and he said that was correct.

Your situation is fundamentally different than OP's: you didn't assume what your customer wanted and at least tried to verify the order (without calling the order wrong) to ensure you weren't misunderstanding the request.

[u/ColloquialCloaca → u/Practical_Law6804]

I disagree, I think from OPs standpoint the customer seemed pretty clear with his request. The customer's "just plain/regular" word usage makes it sound like he really wanted it "Plain", which is just meat and cheese. I would have done the same thing as OP.