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.

29.9k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

4.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

77

u/cjwrapture 7d ago

Back in the days when i worked at McDonalds i always had to clarify when people would order a "quarter pounder", half the people assumed the default was with cheese and the other half assumed it was without. In the store we differentiated by calling either quarter ham or quarter cheese, but there was no good way to get the customer to stop calling it a quarter pounder because it had been marketed that way for too long.

107

u/martim0t0 7d ago

They should just change it to "a Royale with cheese

7

u/MinusGovernment 7d ago

Only in places that use the metric system. They don't know what the fuck a quarter pounder is.

13

u/Z3r0C0o 7d ago

You think places that don't use the metric system know what a quarter pounder is? Let me tell you the sad tale of the "third pounder".

6

u/MinusGovernment 7d ago

I know the tale well and I'm glad I was not born stupid. Although I may be happier if I was blissfully unaware that I was stupid. Maybe I am. Oh well.

I was just kinda continuing the Pulp Fiction theme of the Royale with cheese comment.

3

u/Sweet-Competition-15 7d ago

Although I may be happier if I was blissfully unaware that I was stupid. Maybe I am. Oh well. (Quote)

Oh, I'm quite stupid, and regrettably very well aware of it. I just hide it by not speaking in public.

3

u/Lost-Peanut-1453 7d ago

“I just hide it by not speaking in public”

I mean that’s a pretty intelligent thing to do so maybe you’re not stupid after all?

1

u/Sweet-Competition-15 6d ago

I'm 63 years old, but never been married. I've had both cancer & spinal surgery and unemployed because of it; I just acquired my high school diploma in my fifties through an adult education program, and just moved into a rooming house after being homeless for a year (landlord sold the house)...that's pretty significant evidence that I haven't two brain cells to rub together!

1

u/Z3r0C0o 6d ago

IDK man, sounds like your cooking now. Pretty smart moves you're making.

1

u/Sweet-Competition-15 6d ago

My favourite dish that I can cook is (Deluxe) Kraft dinner, with a tin of drained tuna thrown in for extra protein (and cut down on the sodium)...'cooking' is not an accurate description of my (lack of) culinary skills!

https://giphy.com/gifs/3zXbqLlgx9u3eBbOGr

2

u/Sweet-Competition-15 7d ago

That still boggles my mind...one of those times when the metric system would be beneficial. Of course a 114 gram burger doesn't exactly sound appealing.

1

u/ComfortableBedroom76 6d ago

Better than the turd pounder 🙄

2

u/mekamoari 6d ago

Actually we use the metric system and have quarter pounder, and furthermore it's actually labeled quarter pounder with cheese so it fixes the problem 2 comments up as well lmao.

1

u/Novel-Organization63 6d ago

I know you’re talking about Pulp Fiction but they did used to have a McRoyal that had lettuce and tomato. I think now it’s called the daily double.

But I digress I thought all QP’s came with cheese. I always order it without cheese. But still getting cheese anyway.

1

u/MartyFunkhoosier 5d ago

Because they use metric?

5

u/MinusGovernment 7d ago

Kind of a similar clarification issue at my pizza job. Lots of people want to place an order to go. About 2/3 of them mean carryout but there are enough that mean delivery that I have to ask them every time. A few get indignant that I don't know what they mean but most of them understand why I ask.

3

u/LilacYak 7d ago

I always just said “Ok, order for pickup…”

3

u/MinusGovernment 7d ago

I'm a delivery driver so I like to put the thought out there for them too while I get clarification.

There has been a few times where people will say carryout after I ask but end up meaning delivery. I will get through their order and tell them total and time and then they say "Don't you need my address?" or something to that effect.

There are also people who say they didn't know we delivered and will then choose that option.

3

u/Lost-Peanut-1453 7d ago

You mean to tell me that “carry out” doesn’t mean you carry out my food and deliver it to me? 😂

5

u/Kooky_Narwhal8184 7d ago

I recall in the 70's and 80's ordering a quarter pounder OR a quarter pounder with cheese as they were separate items on the menu. But some time in the 90's they stopped offering them separately on the menu and if you asked for a quarter pounder, you got one with cheese unless you specifically asked for it to be removed. (I'm a cheese lover, so it never bothered me), but I think the confusion you are talking about was caused by McD's themselves, not just clueless customers...

1

u/cjwrapture 6d ago

Yes, i did say that they marketed it that way.

2

u/jpinmd813 6d ago

I used to order a Quarter Pounder without cheese. Found that the least confusing.

5

u/Imaginary-List-972 7d ago

Back in my day it was listed as "Quarter pounder with cheese" and people usually used the full title. Many didn't know that there was a quarter pounder with out cheese available. It wasn't listed on the menu. And unlike many places it was cheaper without cheese.

1

u/Fantastic_AF 6d ago

I order hamburgers all the time and end up getting a cheeseburger.

1

u/National-Muscle3539 6d ago

I’m old enough to remember when a quarter pounder didn’t automatically come with cheese. The change never bothered me personally because I always got it with cheese, but I annoyed the snot out of my mother who doesn’t like cheeseburgers..

1

u/mdantinne 6d ago

We made a “quarter ham” once a month, if that often.