Reader Brandon goes to Wendy’s about once a week and usually orders the double stack “plain” as in “without toppings, just meat and cheese.” This fairly straightforward request has never caused a problem… until now. Brandon says that he and some friends stopped in to Wendy’s to grab some food, but when he ordered his usual order, they refused to give it to him. Nothing Brandon could say convinced Wendy’s to give him a double stack with no toppings, so he and his friends eventually gave up and left empty handed.
Brandon says:
I know a fast food restaurant is not a place that I should expect to receive excellent customer service, but when an employee treats me completely illogically, I just cannot ignore it. An employee at Wendy’s this past weekend refused to serve my double stack plain (with no toppings) and stated that it was their policy that they had to serve it the way it comes (with toppings) for that particular sandwich. The straw that broke the camel’s back was that she told me that the double stack was the only sandwich that had such rules for its preparation. A more detailed account is provided below in my letter to the Wendy’s feedback site:
“Let me first preface my experience by saying that prior to this experience, Wendy’s was hands down my favorite fast food restaurant. I likely visit Wendy’s once a week and have never had a bad experience until my most recent visit to this store in Baton Rouge, LA.Three friends and I arrived at the restaurant around 1:00 to get some lunch. Ordering first, I asked for a double-stack plain. After the cashier entered my request into the computer, the lady next to her who prepares the sandwiches interrupted and said that the double stack does not come “plain” (meat and cheese only) as I had requested, to which the cashier agreed. I stood there befuddled and asked the employee if she could simply refrain from putting lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise on my sandwich and serve it with meat and cheese only. She told me that she could not, as it was the policy that you have to get a double stack the way it comes (with toppings) and that it was the only sandwich on the menu with such rules. The double stack is my sandwich of choice and I order it every time I go to Wendy’s and have always been able to get it served “plain.” After a pointless discussion of a minute or so of trying to figure out why she could not make the sandwich plain, I left the store with my friends, all of us in a state of disbelief as to the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.
Aside from the fact that I have been successful countless times in ordering a double stack plain, it is actually more cost effective for the restaurant to serve it plain, retaining the cost of the toppings that I did not want. Such poor customer service not only was an insult to me as a customer, but gave the illusion that Wendy’s sandwiches are pre-packaged and not able to be changed according to the customer’s wishes. Hopefully this is an isolated incident of poor employee training at this one location, but I can assure you that it will forever tarnish my opinion of the Wendy’s franchise. Burger King’s “have it your way” campaign just became much more appealing.”
In hindsight I know I should have asked for the manager who I can only hope would have been more reasonable than this employee, but I was so confused and angry by the whole situation that I just left. Let’s be honest: after causing a small scene at a Wendy’s, chances become pretty good that my food will either be spit in or worse. I’d rather just go somewhere else. I normally don’t get very worked up about stuff like this, but this was just such a stupidly unnecessary situation that I’ve been telling everyone I know. Because I didn’t actually buy anything, I realize I should not expect Wendy’s to offer me anything, but I am very interested to see what their response is. They promised to contact me within two business days.
All we ever order at Wendy’s is that spicy chicken sandwich (yum), so we have no idea what the rules might be about burger toppings, but we can’t see any reason why “plain” wouldn’t be a valid way to eat your burger. What if you were allergic to pickles or onions or whatever?
We think Wendy’s should send you some free burger coupons or one of those weird red wigs from the commercials or something. The whole story is just bizarre. Kudos to you for not throwing a fit and telling the Wendy’s employee to hold the toppings between her knees.
(Photo: mbeldyk )
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@P_Smith: Care to back that up? Such rumors have been falsely attached to nearly every fast food founder’s name, including Dave Thomas’. Next are you going to tell me that Jack in the Box / KFC / Popeye’s / Insert Name Here puts something in their chicken to make black men sterile?
Thomas certainly didn’t have any problem with the manager I wrote about above, who has been openly gay (openly black, too!) and managing a Wendy’s for years. Heck, the doors of the store have even had rainbow stickers on them for ages, since long before Thomas died. Considering he visited the store personally each year (I met him during one such visit when I was there for lunch), I would have to wonder that he didn’t order the stickers removed if he was openly gay-hating, or why he didn’t find some way to get the manager out of Wendy’s employ?
Are you familiar with the Dave Thomas Foundation, which aids couples looking to adopt children out of foster care? An excerpt from a People magazine article from 1993 ([www.people.com]):
“Wendy’s corporate adoption program, which Thomas started in 1990, helps Wendy’s employees adopt children by paying some of their medical, legal and counseling costs. Says Thomas: “People ask me, ‘What about gay adoptions? Interracial? Single parent?’ I say, ‘Hey, fine, as long as it works for the child and the family is responsible.’ My big stand is this: Every child deserves a home and love. Period.” [emphasis mine, of course]
Correcting myself: I wrote that the DTF supports couples looking to adopt, but — as Thomas himself said — they will help single parents as well.
@P_Smith:
Upon further reflection, I realized that you probably mean Wendy’s pulling of advertising from the Ellen show as evidence of Thomas being an open gay-hater. If so, it’s a bit of a stretch to go from a company’s choice not to pour advertising dollars into a show that became hugely controversial in the news, and assuming the company founder, who incidentally was barely involved the company at the time due to illness, was a bigot. Wendy’s erred big time in its judgment and paid a price for it, as they should have. I was someone who wrote them to complain, as did many other members of my church – the MCC. What the media failed to report was that Wendy’s reinstated its advertising on Ellen a short while later. Ellen was a favorite show of mine, and I *did* notice when the ads came back.
And giving money to cults? So Dave Thomas twice appeared on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club to talk about the important of adoption. While I absolutely abhor the Christian Coalition’s anti-gay agenda (which, in contrast to the one attributed to Wendy’s and Thomas, is very clear), I wouldn’t fault someone with a strong adoption cause for being interviewed on their show, especially considering his foundation refuses to provide grants to organizations which support discrimination, such as the Christian Coalition and its related groups.
Good, you skipped the rants. The employee training at all fast food places is minimal. It’s a first job for most people and you’ll always run into one confused or inexperienced person on any given trip. The turnover at these places is sky high, it’s the nature of this kind of business.
The order taker was misinformed, thought they were saying the right thing and they were wrong. Stop making a federal case, it was a mistake, they don’t force toppings, no place does that.
I’ll tell all you American readers a secret, we have a burger place in Canada called “Harvey’s”. Simply the best. Freshly cooked burgers and fresh toppings. It takes a little longer, and it is a little bit more expensive, BUT, worth every penny. Recently they have added onions grilled in Franks Red Hot. Awesome! Makes Wendy’s, McDonalds, BK etc look like (and sometimes taste like) dog food!
well, a double stack doesnt come with mayo, tomato, or lettuce. it’s ketchup, pickle, onion, mustard. asking for it plain is no big deal. ask for it plain, no cheese, and no bun, and you’ll get it just as you asked lol