Please forget the lettuce

I’m not sure if people just don’t listen, or if they aren’t too bright.  At least when it comes to filling food orders.

I can’t eat lettuce.  It makes me sick to my stomach.  I also can’t stand the taste, texture, or smell of it.  So I always ask for “no lettuce” when ordering sandwiches.  Some food service establishments are pretty good about honoring the request, others not so much.

Taco Bell is the absolute worst offender I have ever been to. At LEAST half of the time they’ll go ahead and put lettuce on whatever I order, even after they have repeated back my “no lettuce” request to me.  It’s bad enough at my closest Taco Bell that I have pretty much given up on ordering anything that normally contains lettuce, which doesn’t leave a lot left on the menu.  So I definitely don’t go as often as I might otherwise.  (It also doesn’t help that it takes 48 minutes to service 6 cars in the drive-thru line.  I timed it.)

Burger King is usually okay, especially if I ask for some sort of other customization on the sandwich… extra ketchup or tomato, for example.  But even though they claim I can “have it [my] way” it seems as though about one time in five they’ll mess it up.

Wendy’s has been better with a roughly 15% screw-up rate.  I can’t speak for McDonalds, as I don’t eat there often enough to get a feeling for how well they are doing, and almost never order anything that normally comes with lettuce anyway.

I was shocked today to find that Gandalfo’s messed up on my lunch order.  Usually when you pay a premium for a sandwich you’ll get premium service.  Today not only did my sandwich have lettuce on it, it had virtually no sauces of any sort, leaving it very dry and blah.  Disappointing.  I expect much more of them.

The worst of the worst are the ones that use shredded lettuce, as it is next to impossible to remove.  Some folks, like Wendy’s, use whole lettuce leaves, so it’s much easier to remove.  But even the remaining items have been tainted by the flavor of the lettuce and it really ruins the experience for me.

If you happen to work at a fast food joint, please pay attention to your customers’ requests.   Having to remove an unwanted item from their food is sure to annoy, and it’s bad manners.  People will be much happier if they just get what they ask for.