While we all know that fast food can come out mangled and misshapen, many of us trick ourselves into believing that the food hasn’t been pre-licked by someone behind the counter. Then we see photos like this. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Here’s A Photo That May Change Your Mind About Having Taco Bell For Lunch Today
By 6.3.13 — Updated: 6.5.13
Patrons Dining Blithely Upstairs Unaware That Restaurant’s Basement Is Flooded With Sewage
By 5.31.13
The scene: A bustling, popular Mexican restaurant near St. Louis, where upstairs, patrons are going about the business of dining. Cut to downstairs, where employees are trying to clean up a basement flooded with contaminated water and waste. Upstairs? Normal. Downstairs? Disgusting. Until an unrelated fire alarm went off, customers apparently had no idea of the dirty mess a few feet below their feet. [More]
Yes, This Is A Hands-Free Whopper Holder
By 5.31.13
Forget the HAL 9000, Skynet, or Cylons… the next step in human evolution is already here, and it’s a hands-free way to eat fast food. [More]
Starbucks Bans Smoking Within 25 Feet Of Stores
By 5.31.13
Starting tomorrow, Starbucks customers who wish to smoke will need to head out to the parking lot or down the street, as the national coffee chain is enacting a ban on smoking within 25 of its stores. [More]
Domino’s Has A Very Limited Notion Of What “All Your Favorite Toppings” Means
By 5.30.13
Given that Domino’s has around two dozen toppings to choose from, and that some folks love to layer their pizza with multiple toppings, a franchisee could lose big by offering a pizza with “all your favorite toppings” for as little as $9. That is, until you see that Domino’s thinks you wouldn’t possibly want more than three toppings. [More]
Starbucks Baristas Trying To Keep Higher-Ups’ Grubby Paws Out Of The Tip Jar
By 5.29.13
Anyone who’s ever worked a job where customers are encouraged to dump their change or heck, even a wonderful dollar into a tip jar knows how coveted those tips are. That’s why Starbucks baristas are in a fight in New York to keep shift supervisors and managers out of the tip jar. The fewer people entitled to tips, the more money each barista gets after a shift serving up venti extra caramel no whip low foam frappywhatchacallits. [More]
If European Sunscreens Are So Great, Why Can’t We Buy Them In The U.S.?
By 5.28.13
As someone with skin that basically ignites upon contact with the sun’s rays, I’m always looking for a better sunscreen to aid me in my battle against the inevitable sunburn. Recently I heard about a product that was anecdotally called “miraculous,” but couldn’t find it in U.S. stores. I bought it from a British retailer online, and subsequently want to marry it. So if there are such great sunscreens in Europe and elsewhere, how come we can’t get them in the U.S.? [More]
Papa John’s CEO Apologizes For Driver’s Impromptu Racist Opera Singing
By 5.28.13
Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter has had to step up and publicly apologize after a delivery driver in Florida was caught dropping the N-word numerous times on a customer’s voicemail, even going so far as to work the slur into some opera singing. [More]
Burger King Employee One-Ups Stick-Up Artists By Taking Their Getaway Car
By 5.28.13
We’ve had stories of fast food workers foiling robbery attempts by brute force, but this is the first time we can remember hearing of an employee ruining a stick-up by hiding the suspects’ getaway car. [More]
Delivery Guy Caught Treating Customer’s Pizza As His Personal Snack Bar
By 5.24.13
The next time your pizza seems a bit skimpy on the toppings, you might want to consider asking your delivery guy if he was feeling particularly hungry. A pizzeria employee in St. Petersburg, Russia responsible for ferrying a customer’s pie on its journey to consumption couldn’t resist the urge to snack before the pizza reached its final destination. Unfortunately for him, there just so happened to be a security camera in the elevator. [More]
Store-Brand Sunscreens From Target, Walmart, Walgreens Outperform Higher-Priced Options In Test
By 5.23.13
If you think you get what you pay for when you buy sunscreen, you might be in for a surprise. Our less-sunburned cousins at Consumer Reports recently put a dozen sun-protection products to the test and the ones that came out on top were also among the least expensive. [More]
VIDEO: Stadium Vendor Takes Sno-Cones With Him Into Bathroom Stall
By 5.23.13
If you’re skittish about eating at the ballpark, this video of a sno-cone vendor allegedly using the toilet while his product sits next to him on the bathroom floor probably isn’t going to help. [More]
Taco Bell Sends Bizarre Love Letters And Rings To Models, Actresses
By 5.21.13
We here at Consumerist often get love letters and jewelry from admirers (Well, maybe not that often… or ever), but we have yet to be wooed with handwritten letters of affection and branded rings provided by a large fast food chain. [More]
We’ll Remain Unimpressed With Domino’s DVDs That Smell Like Pizza Until We Can Eat Them
By 5.17.13
What’s the point of a DVD that smells and looks kind of like pizza once it’s “heated up” in a player? If it’s just to get us hungry and thinking about pizza, that is a cruel, cruel marketing trick. Take a note, Domino’s Brazil — don’t bring your pizza invention around these parts until you’ve created a DVD we can watch and then consume with our mouths. [More]
Report Claims Many Walgreens Sales Items Are Out Of Stock, Mislabeled
By 5.17.13
Last fall, Walgreens launched Balance Rewards, which isn’t just a loyalty program, but is also the only way to access many of the store’s advertised discounts. However, a new report claims that Walgreens stores in four major cities are having a hard time making these discounted items available to shoppers, and that the items are frequently mislabeled anyway. [More]
CDC Confirms What We All Suspected But Didn’t Want To Acknowledge About Poop In The Pool Water
By 5.16.13
Memorial Day is almost here, bringing with it a summer of bad 3-D movies, sunburn, mosquitoes, vacation rentals that smell oddly of grandma, people in shorts, and of course, trips to the local swimming poo. [More]
Prisoner Sues Taco Bell For Allegedly Stealing His Idea For Doritos Locos Tacos
By 5.16.13
We’ve all had that moment: You’re watching TV late at night and see a commercial for a product that you swear, and will tell anyone who asks (or doesn’t), that you came up with first. They stole it! You might scream at the TV, startling the cat. One man currently incarcerated in a super-max federal prison in Colorado is taking his outrage a step further, and suing Taco Bell for allegedly swiping his idea for Doritos Locos Tacos. [More]
Oscar Mayer’s New Offering: It’s Bacon, It’s A Hot Dog — It’s A Bacon Hot Dog
By 5.15.13
How many times have you looked at pigs in a blanket with a side-eyed glance, secretly wishing those blankets were made of bacon — pigs in a pig blanket, if you will? Maybe often, perhaps never, but fans of all things pork are surely rejoicing at the news that Oscar Mayer is debuting bacon hot dogs this summer. [More]
