Food Service Rants 

I haven't done a good rant in a while... so forgive me this one. A bunch of us at work usually go out pretty much every day for lunch. We go to different places in the area, and usually it's pretty good. Today we went to a place called Vic's Chicago Style Eats. They have a wide variety of things from Gyros to Chicago Style Hotdogs to Beef Sandwiches. Ironically they don't serve hamburgers, though they do server vegetarian burgers... go figure. Anyway, I ordered the beef sandwich, which had shredded beef, peppers, onions, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese. When we got back to work and I dug into the sandwich, there on the side next to the bread was a pickle slice. Had I known - I would have said no pickle. I hate pickles on sandwiches. They completely overpower everything else so that you might as well just eat the pickle. So why is this an unadvertised part of the sandwich? What if I was deathly allergic to pickles?

This leads to my next rant. Sometimes we go to a local Hamburger/Custard shop called Kopps. If I order their burger, they always ask what do you want on it? Ketchup, fried onions, NO pickles. I say that specifically because for some reason they put a single pickle slice on the top of the burger. Yet for some unknown reason when I say NO pickles, that one on the top of the bun always ends up still being there. Maybe it's not a real pickle. Why is it that when you say you don't want something, it almost always ends up still being there? Nah... he didn't really mean no pickle. Is this the food service equivalent of "No really means Yes?" What else is going in there that I don't want? Wait... nevermind. Some questions are best left unanswered.

Which of course leads to my last rant. Sometimes we also go to Quizno's Sub (not Subs mind you... Sub). There you can actually watch them making your sub in front of you. Every time I order a sub there I say no oregano (or as they call it... "spices"). I like oregano cooked in pasta sauce, but not just sprinkled on stuff. Yuck. He'll say "No problem" and start making my sandwich, then pass it on to the guy right next to him who finishes it and gets it ready to go in their little oven. Every single time I swear that second guy grabs that shaker and starts shaking on oregano. I've even said specifically to that guy, no spices, only to have him immediately grab the shaker and go at it... with me looking at him dumbfounded. "Oh, whoops, you said no spices didn't you?" Then of course they have to remake the sub. Last time I went in there I actually looked at the spices man and said, "Could you please just put the shaker on the counter behind you out of arms reach while you make my sandwich? Thanks". He must have thought I was a nutcase. Maybe I am.