Orders Messed Up - How to fix?

[Landomatic 3,813]

Whataburger thread got me thinking. I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve gotten an order where at least something wasn’t messed up from anywhere below a sit-down restaurant with a waiter. Pizza, fast food, fast casual, chinese, tacos, pretty much everywhere that level, apparently the new bar is mediocrity. And sometimes that’s a stretch.

I’ve had them remake my order a couple times, when it’s really egregious. But, usually I just let the screw-ups slide because it’s not worth going back for or waiting longer for or messing with.

Clearly seems to be a new thing, at least to this extreme, since Covid. So, how’s that getting fixed? Or has all of America just settled on mediocrity being acceptable?

[bernorange 8,377]

Stop eating shitty food.

[Chewbacca 7,807]

Chick-fil-a won't fuck up your order.  You should go there.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Stop eating shitty food.

This might be the only solution. Honestly, I've found myself doing two things. First, there are times where I decide just to eat at home because the hassle of dealing with that stuff is too much. Second, I always order everything how it comes with no changes.

[Helobious 9,516]

I order everything as is without changes about 99% of the time. Haven’t gotten an incorrect order anywhere in years. 

[Gene Parmesan 4,027]

I've never had a pizza order fuckup and I eat my fair share of pizza hut and dominoes.  Whataburger is going to mess up because A) they suck and have for some time, and B) offer too many variations.  Handpicking through all those options on a app where every burger is different is going to lead to more fuckups.  The more standardized the meal the less mess ups.  That's why chick-fil-a isn't going to screw up.  You've got incredibly limited options. 

[jimmyjazz 46,524]

The fact that unemployment is exceptionally low doesn't help.  Restaurants are competing hard for employees, many of whom just don't give a shit, because they can get another job tomorrow.

And, as others already pointed out, ordering without changes or substitutions definitely reduces the fuckup rate.

[utee94 15,902]

I don't think I've ever had a pizza order that was wrong.

 

[South Austin 52,764]

I was at Spago once and the waiter brought me two portions of caviar when I had clearly ordered three. I was so upset.

[Nueces River Rat 5,608]

1 hour ago, Landomatic said:

Whataburger thread got me thinking. I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve gotten an order where at least something wasn’t messed up from anywhere below a sit-down restaurant with a waiter. Pizza, fast food, fast casual, chinese, tacos, pretty much everywhere that level, apparently the new bar is mediocrity. And sometimes that’s a stretch.

I’ve had them remake my order a couple times, when it’s really egregious. But, usually I just let the screw-ups slide because it’s not worth going back for or waiting longer for or messing with.

Clearly seems to be a new thing, at least to this extreme, since Covid. So, how’s that getting fixed? Or has all of America just settled on mediocrity being acceptable?

I don't know why anyone would get upset at Whataburger or any other fast food burger joint if they got  their order wrong.   Unless it's something like mayo or mustard which you can't really take off the burger, it's easy to correct yourself.   

My high schooler is working a part time job at a sandwich shop this summer.   I'd say the vast majority of the time when she gets home she tells me they were short staffed because someone didn't show.    They are supposed to have four people working the shop at all times and when she's had to work the closing shift, they have been down to two which extends her hours worked by another 1 to 2 each evening because they have to cleanup. Most of the problem  is you have unmotivated people working these jobs these day despite the pay being almost double minimum wage and they are not the primary breadwinner for their families.   But as noted above, if they get fired at one job for being a no show, they can go find another one because some of the employers in industry need employees and they won't did deep into their resume or references.   They just want to see if you pass a criminal background and a quick interview... Here's and apron and hat .

[Landomatic 3,813]

1 hour ago, Gene Parmesan said:

I've never had a pizza order fuckup and I eat my fair share of pizza hut and dominoes.

 

50 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I don't think I've ever had a pizza order that was wrong.

Last 3 pizza orders were messed up for me. Dominos took 45 mins to show up after they notified me the order was out for delivery. Ice cold and one of the pizzas was wrong. Asked the delivery guy what took him so long and he said “no drivers”. Next was my local go-to which is always pretty solid. Asked for extra cheese and it showed up with no cheese. I called them on that one and made them send me a new one. Last one was Pizza Hut, they didn’t get the extra cheese or light sauce memo, “pepperoni lovers” had about 5 slices of pepperoni total, and they sent a brownie instead of wings.

I get that these workers have a low level of give a fuck. But the flip side of that is that they’re not being asked to cure cancer here either. I mean, you’ve got one job. And it ain’t rocket surgery.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,487]

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

Chick-fil-a won't fuck up your order.  You should go there.

[Francisco 2.0 32,442]

6-8 months ago, we quit doing drive thrus completely.  We walk inside, place an order and eat at the establishment, because of the number of screwups we had from a wide variety of places (Panera Bread, for instance.  Wife placed an order, I go to fetch it, and there's no salad for her, but some wrap that she didn't order).  I got a burger from Whataburger that had no meat.  Kids wanted Panda Express one evening, and no one had Orange Chicken that had ordered it. 

Going inside is inconvenient and time consuming, but that has eliminated mistakes in the ordering/receiving process totally, no matter what establishment.

 

 

[BabaYaga 15,417]

Staffing issues is a lot of it.  Newly trained people and lots and lots of turnover

[Gene Parmesan 4,027]

Light sauce?  You deserve to have your order screwed up then.

[gsoda3 3,314]

the mcdonald's by our house gets our orders wrong a lot.  so does the p.terry's nearest us.  popeye's... how hard is it to count the number of pieces in your box?  the past two times we've gone they've gotten that wrong.  chick fil a and wendy's have been solid.  we try to avoid fast food as much as we can but with 4 kids all playing sports it's inevitable.  i've been pleasantly surprised that our to go orders from actual sit down restaurants have been accurate-  all neatly labelled and packaged.  

[Jerry Callo 8,848]

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,830]

2 hours ago, utee94 said:

I don't think I've ever had a pizza order that was wrong.

 

I ordered from Yaghi's last night for delivery - they use Favor.  Well, the pizzas were correct, but the charges weren't.  Instead of the $23 or something for the specialty pizzas, they basically built each pizza from the ground up and charged $3 for each topping, so my 3 large specialties came out to over $100 on the bill.  My wife spent 30 minutes on the phone giving them grief until they fixed it.  She's good for that sort of thing.

[Brisketexan 105,692]

52 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

6-8 months ago, we quit doing drive thrus completely.  We walk inside, place an order and eat at the establishment, because of the number of screwups we had from a wide variety of places (Panera Bread, for instance.  Wife placed an order, I go to fetch it, and there's no salad for her, but some wrap that she didn't order).  I got a burger from Whataburger that had no meat.  Kids wanted Panda Express one evening, and no one had Orange Chicken that had ordered it. 

Going inside is inconvenient and time consuming, but that has eliminated mistakes in the ordering/receiving process totally, no matter what establishment.

 

 

you should have quit that DECADES ago.

 

Go in.  Order.  Check your order before you leave.  Err on the side of ordering EXACTLY as it is on the menu - if you don't want the tomatoes, take them off yourself.  Because if you say "no tomatoes," you're likely to end up with extra tomatoes, no mustard, and veggie patty subbed for the beef patty.

[Deej 77,293]

47 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

popeye's... how hard is it to count the number of pieces in your box?  the past two times we've gone they've gotten that wrong.  

The last three ten piece boxes I ordered at Popeye's had twelve pieces in each of them. 

Get your shit together, Popeye's. (just kidding..don't)

[gsoda3 3,314]

15 minutes ago, Deej said:

The last three ten piece boxes I ordered at Popeye's had twelve pieces in each of them. 

Get your shit together, Popeye's. (just kidding..don't)

ha that's always a nice surprise.  last time our 10 piece box had 9, the time before that it had 8.  i've since sworn off the popeye's in pflugerville.  

[dcbc 14,573]

All of the above about staffing is true.  As it applies to Whataburger, you also need to pick the Whataburger that screws up least often.  As we've learned from that thread, they aren't all created equally. 

 

As for burger orders anywhere, I've had the best luck specifying toppings before sauces, i.e., ketchup, mustard, and/or mayo, with any specific cheese request, i.e., shredded cheddar, last.  For some reason, if you go with sauces first, things get dicey with your toppings choices. "All the way" seems to be the best descriptor versus "everything on it," "all the veggies," or, my personal favorite, "Drag it through the garden."  Also, complete sentences or even the use of conjunctions like "with" or "and" seem to confuse them for whatever reason.  Exception is sandwich title, i.e., Whataburger with Cheese.

 

So in my case, that'd be a Whataburger with cheese, all the way, mustard, ketchup, mayo, shredded cheddar cheese.  And no matter what, if you order unsweat tea, taste it before you drive away.  I wish we could just agree to call it tea and come up with another name for that disgusting syrupy stuff.  But deciphering "unsweet" versus "sweet" through an intercom is a tall order.

Edited July 7, 2022 by dcbc

[Vegas64 679]

The veteran fatty (not the poster everyone hates but the person who eats drive-thru enough to know this move), is to not pull away from the drive-thru until you have put hands and eyes on all orders and cross-checked against the physical paper receipt. It takes 60 seconds tops and saves you the trouble. 50% of the time there is an issue and you get it handled immediately. 50% of the time you have wasted 30-60 seconds of the line behind you.

But generally speaking, it's best for everyone's mental health to understand the dynamic we are dealing with and have tolerance for error. Staffing issues that cause shortage of workers, the workers who are there are either really young and inexperienced or not the sharpest of individuals, and lots of times they just don't care. As someone who worked drive-thru as a teenager, I get it. It's just a job, there is no pride of ownership or doing an amazing job unless you are a stellar teenaged individual of impeccable moral character and work ethic which I'm sure you are all and I was the exception.

[Prepuce of Doom 21,138]

Apparently a few of you dummies need to be reminded that Popeye's is perfect and you are the problem. 

https://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2017/1/4/14166686/popeyes-is-perfect-and-you-are-the-problem

[Gene Parmesan 4,027]

The drive thru only makes sense if there is inclement weather.  Otherwise it's wasting your time at the offset of not having to walk 50 ft.

[gsoda3 3,314]

1 minute ago, Gene Parmesan said:

The drive thru only makes sense if there is inclement weather.  Otherwise it's wasting your time at the offset of not having to walk 50 ft.

a surprising number of restaurants are still drive through only.

[Brisketexan 105,692]

1 hour ago, dcbc said:

And no matter what, if you order unsweat tea, taste it before you drive away.  I wish we could just agree to call it tea and come up with another name for that disgusting syrupy stuff.  But deciphering "unsweet" versus "sweet" through an intercom is a tall order.

Correct.  Thus, this is my order "UNsweet tea.  That's NO sweetening, NO sugar.  I do not want sweet tea."

Nevermind that the actual division is 1) tea or 2) sweet tea.  If you say "tea," you'll get sweet tea.  Because reasons.

[CooterBrown 18,105]

you should have quit that DECADES ago.

 
Go in.  Order.  Check your order before you leave.  Err on the side of ordering EXACTLY as it is on the menu - if you don't want the tomatoes, take them off yourself.  Because if you say "no tomatoes," you're likely to end up with extra tomatoes, no mustard, and veggie patty subbed for the beef patty.

I’ve raised my kids to eat things as is. Don’t make substitutions or deletions. Don’t like it as is? Order something else.

Really, it was just to make sure they’re not picky eaters but it has a bunch of side benefits.

[elfenix 34,396]

2 hours ago, Gene Parmesan said:

Light sauce?  You deserve to have your order screwed up then.

i always say "easy" for fear of getting the low fat version.

[hookemATL 12,006]

34 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Nevermind that the actual division is 1) tea or 2) sweet tea.  If you say "tea," you'll get sweet tea.  Because reasons.

PALABRA.  Keep that diabetes syrupy horseshit in GA/AL/MS where it belongs.  If you say "tea" in the State of Texas, and they give you sweet tea, you should be able to sue for damages and/or shit in your hand and rub it in their face.

 

 

[dcbc 14,573]

33 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

If you say "tea," you'll get sweet tea.  Because reasons.

Am I wrong, or was it not always this way.  I grew up in Houston, and if you ordered tea, you got tea.  If you wanted it sweetened, there were myriad chemicals on the table, including sugar, which would accomplish that goal and keep your table from wobbling too.  Austin was no different in the 90s.  When I moved to Tyler in 2001, I noticed a sea change in protocol.  I just assumed I'd finally gone too far east of normal.  But a few years later, on return trips to Houston, there then were questions regarding "suuweeeet or uhn-suuweet."  I feel like we've already had this conversation, but it's a source of great frustration for me.

[dcbc 14,573]

20 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

I’ve raised my kids to eat things as is. Don’t make substitutions or deletions. Don’t like it as is? Order something else.

Really, it was just to make sure they’re not picky eaters but it has a bunch of side benefits.

It was a banner day in my late childhood when I decided pickles on a burger were amazing and I could start ordering them with "everything on it."

[Prepuce of Doom 21,138]

2 minutes ago, dcbc said:

It was a banner day in my late childhood when I decided pickles on a burger were amazing and I could start ordering them with "everything on it."

It's funny - I had a similar epiphany with both pickles and tomatoes, but when it comes to something that I've eaten many times before (like a Wendy's double cheeseburger), I'll still order it without pickles or tomatoes just because it doesn't taste "right" to me with everything. But if I'm ordering at a place where I don't have any hardwired pre-existing expectations, I will order my burger with everything. 

[Brisketexan 105,692]

12 minutes ago, dcbc said:

It was a banner day in my late childhood when I decided pickles on a burger were amazing and I could start ordering them with "everything on it."

I always liked pickles, but when I did the math of "wait, while the burger may not be great for me, at least the tomatoes have some value, so it's actually better for me to leave them on," it made everything easier.  "Cheeseburger, everything on it" eliminates all confusion and errors.

[dcbc 14,573]

6 minutes ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

It's funny - I had a similar epiphany with both pickles and tomatoes, but when it comes to something that I've eaten many times before (like a Wendy's double cheeseburger), I'll still order it without pickles or tomatoes just because it doesn't taste "right" to me with everything. But if I'm ordering at a place where I don't have any hardwired pre-existing expectations, I will order my burger with everything. 

Since you mentioned Wendy's, that goes to my "everything on it" point.  At Wendy's, which seems like a shadow of its former self, I'd just order whatever burger all the way.  That includes ketchup, mustard, mayo.  Where I complicate matters is at Whataburger, inasmuch as it's a mustard only joint. 

 

Now I'm going off on a tangent, but the shredded cheddar, especially if it's mixed in with shredded lettuce on the bottom bun, is not only delicious, but it keeps that lower bun from getting soggy because it creates a grease barrier. 

[dcbc 14,573]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I always liked pickles, but when I did the math of "wait, while the burger may not be great for me, at least the tomatoes have some value, so it's actually better for me to leave them on," it made everything easier.  "Cheeseburger, everything on it" eliminates all confusion and errors.

For the mayo tolerant out there, the burger grease, tomato, mayo combined attribution to the overall burger flavor should not be undersold. 

[Anastasis 23,517]

I go out of my way to not make a big deal of screws up when eating out, and try to manage the kids (who are more picky about certain things) when stuff comes out wrong.  Service expectations just have to be set much lower across the board for the near term and I am not sure that things ever correct back to pre covid. I just happy when places are open and staffed these days. The only thing that really gets under my skin is hitting resorts and all the fucking amenities are closed up.  Bitch I am paying a premium to stay here and it is not too much to fucking ask to have the poolside bar open, and if your management can't swing that get your pricing model in check. OTOH, I just drag a cooler out with no fucks given so maybe that is a net plus. 

[Celery Man 21,036]

Back when I was in my twenties and still ate fast food I switched to using Spanish for substitutions at Taco Cabana. There are things I don’t like beans on. “No beans” always meant no beef. Menos frijoles worked every time.

[hornian 5,253]

5 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Chick-fil-a won't fuck up your order.  You should go there.

Wrong. They mess up my order more than anyone. 

[Chewbacca 7,807]

1 minute ago, hornian said:

Wrong. They mess up my order more than anyone. 

The ones near me are fantastic.  Fastest drive thrus ever and they never fuck up an order.  It's unreal.

[WBT 20,775]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

If you say "tea," you'll get sweet tea.  Because reasons.

and we've chosen to join a conference with those reasons

[Anastasis 23,517]

40 minutes ago, hornian said:

Wrong. They mess up my order more than anyone. 

How hard can it be putting two pickle slices on a bun and then putting a piece of fried chicken on it. 

[RDCanecutter 26,570]

5 hours ago, utee94 said:

I don't think I've ever had a pizza order that was wrong.

 

I mean, no matter what, you're still getting pizza.

But you and me ain't as delicate as some I bet.

[jimmyjazz 46,524]

1 hour ago, dcbc said:

Since you mentioned Wendy's, that goes to my "everything on it" point.  At Wendy's, which seems like a shadow of its former self, I'd just order whatever burger all the way.  That includes ketchup, mustard, mayo. 

I worked at Wendy's my JR and SR year of high school.  We never fucked up, at least unintentionally.  (More on that next.)  The gal (always female) taking the order would recite the ingredients over the mic in the following order, eliminating what wasn't wanted (except "all the way" if the customer wanted it all):  mayo, ketchup, pickles, onion, tomato, lettuce, mustard.  I can still hear it in my head all these years later.  By keeping the order fixed, it was easy to prep (for instance) "pickles, onion, mustard" (which by the way was the most popular burger).

And then there were those times where we accidentally served barely-kissed raw burgers to assholes we went to school with, always leading to the return of a burger with a giant bite out of it and clearly raw beef disturbing said asshole.  Hey, don't be an asshole. "Sorry".

[dcbc 14,573]

6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I worked at Wendy's my JR and SR year of high school.  We never fucked up, at least unintentionally.  (More on that next.)  The gal (always female) taking the order would recite the ingredients over the mic in the following order, eliminating what wasn't wanted (except "all the way" if the customer wanted it all):  mayo, ketchup, pickles, onion, tomato, lettuce, mustard.  I can still hear it in my head all these years later.  By keeping the order fixed, it was easy to prep (for instance) "pickles, onion, mustard" (which by the way was the most popular burger).

And then there were those times where we accidentally served barely-kissed raw burgers to assholes we went to school with, always leading to the return of a burger with a giant bite out of it and clearly raw beef disturbing said asshole.  Hey, don't be an asshole. "Sorry".

Old school Wendy's was solid, if you weren't an asshole.

[Sam Lin 3,567]

3 hours ago, hookemATL said:

 you should be able to ... shit in your hand and rub it in their face.

Why the hell would you want to be able to do this?? You still wind up with a hand covered in shit!

[hookemATL 12,006]

48 minutes ago, Sam Lin said:

Why the hell would you want to be able to do this?? You still wind up with a hand covered in shit!

That’s how serious people should take this issue. Fecal touchings come into play in very few situations, and this is one of them. 

[billfromlaketravis 11,639]

I kind of wonder if it’s custom order fatigue in the service industry. Watch some of these dumb ass TikTok Starbucks orders. 
 

Food service industry “employees” make shit money, don’t have very good benefits, and work long hours in hot/chaotic/loud environments. Many have multiple jobs. 
 

The best solution might be to scrap off what you don’t like or eat around it.  

[Covri 6,273]

I order iced tea and wait for them to ask sweet or unsweet and if they do then I say unsweet.  Never had it be an issue. Texas was an iced tea place for a long time before the diabetic East Texas wannabe deep south people took more hold across the state imo. I prefer sun tea served over ice, no sweetener, with lemon.

 

Heres an article for those more interested:

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018/08/29/how-do-texans-make-the-perfect-glass-of-iced-tea/?outputType=amp

 

[jimmyjazz 46,524]

I've never been a big tea guy, so it surprised me when I realized how dogmatic my born-and-bred Austin wife is about unsweetened tea.  For her, any hint of sugar is absolutely off limits.  I think more Texans are repulsed by sugar in tea than beans in chili.