lying to customers?

i went to subway for dinner and got a veggie sub with a diet coke, but the diet coke didn't taste like diet coke at all. it tasted like watered-down regular coke. could i be right? if so, isn't that illegal?

Hum, all fountain drinks taste watered down to me. Although I do get paranoid; at restaurants I have someone else taste-test my coke, in case the server got mixed up. I can't tell the difference between regular and diet, and I don't want 300-500 extra calories sneaking in anytime soon. Especially if I don't know them to log them XD.

 

I don't know if it's illegal or not... but it definitely wouldn't be good practice! Suppose someone was a diabetic and got a regular coke? I think employees would be trained enough to not make that mistake. The damage to the company image would be serious, especially if the diabetic keeled over.

it was one of those free-refill drink things where you get your own drink. and it was labelled 'diet coke' but it tasted like regular. i think from now on i'll buy the bottles of diet coke, 'cause they're actually diet.

Most likely you just couldn't tell it was diet.....I have to have hubby or friend check and make sure my soda is diet.....I did realize now that if I try a regular soda it tastes like syrup!!! So most likely it was diet.....if you are ever concerened about that you can ask them to make sure (because it would be extremely dangerous for a diabetic if by chance it wasn't diet)

i personally am wary of workers..

frankly, it's unlikely the customer will ever know the difference and, if they do, it's also unlikely that they'll go to such great lengths to argue their side to get the employee in trouble.

my teacher actually told me a story today; a few decades ago he was an employee at a fast food restaurant. it was like ten minutes til close and a guy ordered a burger. my teacher, the employee, was tired and wanted to go home and he had just finished cleaning off the grill and didn't want to clean it again. he said screw it and put the patty in the deep-fryer and the customer never knew the difference.

i avoid restaurants, hah.

except for starbuck's.

but on rare occasions.

There is a cafeteria where I work.  I used to buy diet dr pepper there every day.  Well I noticed one day that the one I ordered wasn't right but I let it go.  The next day same thing.  So I asked one of the cashiers I was friendly with to check it.  Not only was it wrong it was mr pibb xtra....extra calories and extra caffene!  I always ask now if I suspect.  It also helped me to drink less soft drinks.  I take one with my lunch every day and only drink water the rest of the day.

My family has been in the restaurant business for many years.I don't think most people realize that some major chains DO NOT make their calorie counts available to the public for several reasons,One is -they are not exact.Think about it-if an employee is putting together a dish-most things are prepackaged and exact-like a burger patty at a fast food restaurant-so all patties are uniform in weight and therfore calories and fat.But when the employee is putting together a dish and it calls for a tbsp of mayo.There is a difference in a level tbsp and a HEAPING tbsp.Any good restaurant owner or manager can tell you from a profit and loss aspect,that this is an issue they always have to keep an eye on.Well,from a consumers standpoint,if you are counting calories or trying to eat healthy,it's something to think about.I personally,if I'm trying to lose weight, figure there is going to be a little fluctuation,and you just do your best when trying to order heathfully,and just figure on 15 more minutes of cardio that day,when you haven't actually made the meal or dish yourself. As far as that story of the deep fried burger,those kind of things do happen,and any one in the restaurant business for any length of time can probably tell you stories, but honestly,they are few and far between.  There is one common sense thing that a lot of people don't think about-NEVER,NEVER,NEVER be rude to someone who is serving you something you will consume(that doesn't include getting something recooked etc.If you are kind,it really is not a problem for most restaurant employees-I'm talking about people who are rude to the employee,belittle them etc,Not too smart huh???but that's another subject.  

Original Post by humanbeanpole:

My family has been in the restaurant business for many years.I don't think most people realize that some major chains DO NOT make their calorie counts available to the public for several reasons,One is -they are not exact.Think about it-if an employee is putting together a dish-most things are prepackaged and exact-like a burger patty at a fast food restaurant-so all patties are uniform in weight and therfore calories and fat.But when the employee is putting together a dish and it calls for a tbsp of mayo.There is a difference in a level tbsp and a HEAPING tbsp.Any good restaurant owner or manager can tell you from a profit and loss aspect,that this is an issue they always have to keep an eye on.Well,from a consumers standpoint,if you are counting calories or trying to eat healthy,it's something to think about.I personally,if I'm trying to lose weight, figure there is going to be a little fluctuation,and you just do your best when trying to order heathfully,and just figure on 15 more minutes of cardio that day,when you haven't actually made the meal or dish yourself. As far as that story of the deep fried burger,those kind of things do happen,and any one in the restaurant business for any length of time can probably tell you stories, but honestly,they are few and far between. There is one common sense thing that a lot of people don't think about-NEVER,NEVER,NEVER be rude to someone who is serving you something you will consume(that doesn't include getting something recooked etc.If you are kind,it really is not a problem for most restaurant employees-I'm talking about people who are rude to the employee,belittle them etc,Not too smart huh???but that's another subject.

Yah this is the truth. A mom and pop store cant really give you a calorie count, and anything from a fast food place should be taken w/ consideration to error.

I used to work at mcdonalds and let me tell you, some ppl got some loogie burgers, skoal cokes, cigarette ash sweet tea, and even an "EXTRA" special secret sauce big macs.

If you put ice in it, it could have melted a bit and made it taste watered down? But yeah I wouldn't put it past them.

My boyfriend is a type I diabetic and occasionally is served regular coke when he's requested diet. Nothing awful happens other than a small spike to his glucose after he's finished, at which point he jabs himself with slightly more insulin than he would normally. I think people misunderstand what actually happens to diabetics. They don't keel over from a glass of coke. People make mistakes. Sometimes, restaurants get busy and the employees aren't paying attention. They may change the syrup on the fountain drinks with the wrong pack and inadvertantly give people regular soda when they mean to give them diet. I am sure this isn't done on purpose or with malicious intent. If you are concerned as to whether you are getting an unintended caloric injection to your daily count, order a water instead and leave the diet drinks for home, where you know you've got it from the right bottle or can.

I am not familiar with how busy Subway is but if it is like McDonalds then no they couldn't confuse the Coke with the Diet Coke.  At McDonalds the Coke is in a giant tank (because it is the most popular) and all other drinks come in bags.  What you my have noticed was the ratio being off so that more CO2 water was added than normal.

I'm opposite from all of you who want diet and get regular.  I'm quite allergic to aspartame and several of the other fake sugars, and I have to check every time I want soda.  Luckily I've managed to learn to smell the difference before I even take a sip.  But I can assure you that they mess them up a lot.

I couldn't tell you how many times I've been given the wrong thing, been lied to about if an item has something im allergic to it when I ask, etc.  I try to be understanding if the waiter/waitress seems overworked, but sometimes I'll be at starbucks and watching them make my drink and they reach for the closer syrup even though it's not the right one, and I have to point out to them that "if you hand me that cup you're going to have a lawsuit on your hands and probably be fired" because I would be put in the hospital were I to drink it.

Bottom line is you can't trust what is in restaurant food.  If you don't want the wrong soda you just have to check yourself, or not order fountain soda.

wait, there's two different types of syrups at starbucks? DD:

crappp, i really hope they haven't been giving me the bad kind :T

how do you tell the difference just by looking so i can keep an eye on the person who's making my drink? i always order a lite frappucino, so obviously i'm not wanting the calorie-laden syrup.

If the Diet Coke comes from a help-yourself dispenser then it will be a combination of Diet Coke concentrate mixed with carbonated water as it exits the tap.  Sometime the mix is wrong so the drink tastes watery.  Happens in pubs all the time.

if people are so wary about their calories and if their drink is wrong then just get water or unsweetened ice tea if its available, you cant screw that up.

Garnet - Sugar-free Torani Syrups have a blue ring around the top of the bottle instead of red. I have no idea about other brands.

I heard on the radio this morning that a barista at Starbucks admitted to putting full fat milk into Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen's coffee drinks when they always order them with skim.  The barista said she did it because she felt like the girls are too skinny and looked like they needed the extra calories.  The Olsen twins say they will no longer go to any Starbucks.

I used to work at mcdonalds and let me tell you, some ppl got some loogie burgers, skoal cokes, cigarette ash sweet tea, and even an "EXTRA" special secret sauce big macs.

That's extremely disgusting. You seem proud to admit you did these things.

I can always tell the difference between a diet pop and a regular one. The taste difference is substantial to me. I have occasionally gotten the wrong one. It is generally an honest mistake.

I worked in many restaurants when I was younger. Gross things do occur. Mistakes often happen as well. My own experience as both a restaurant worker is that most people do the best they can to serve the correct dish in the manner requested.

When you go to a fast paced, fast food restaurant or fast paced sit down chain, the likelihood of errors happening are greater. If you have specific allergies that are life threatening, then you as the consumer must be more vigilant than others for your own safety.

Original Post by alibuch:


I used to work at mcdonalds and let me tell you, some ppl got some loogie burgers, skoal cokes, cigarette ash sweet tea, and even an "EXTRA" special secret sauce big macs.

That's extremely disgusting. You seem proud to admit you did these things.

 

Let's hope she meant she was seeing OTHER workers do these things and didn't do them herself. This is why you should never be rude to waitstaff and service workers - most are decent people but a few are freaking disgusting, and if you choose to eat at restaurants, you're at their mercy!

Chances are, the syrup was starting to run out.

Those machines have bags of diet coke syrup attached to them.. and a serving of syrup is pumped out and mixed with carbonated water. If the syrup is running low, not enough is being mixed and it tastes like watery coke.

I used t have to go change the syrups at my old place of work.. it was kinda easy to tell when the coke ran out because the colour eventually changed, but when the sprite ran out we only knew when the customers complaned it tasted like fizzy water.

Once, the machine broke and it was just pumping out irn-bru syrup. Maaan oh maaan! that was a good day!!!!