Fast Food Employees Share The One Thing They'll NEVER Order Off Their Menu

Worked at pizza hut (both delivery and restaurant) and honestly everything is pretty alright. But we are having a North Carolina pizza right now (which is fairly popular) and man that pulled pork smells like cat food and that drizzle is the most confusing taste ever (imagine cane sugar, honey, mustard, cayenne pepper, turmeric and else, 30g of sugar/100g) and BBQ base...

all3f0r1

Don’t get any of the asiago cheese or cinnamon sugar bagels from the Gunbarrel Road Panera Bread in Chattanooga, TN - they may contain skin flakes from the bakery manager’s leg. I personally witnessed her pinching the wet dough without gloves, scratch a rash on her leg, and go right back to pinching the bagels.

(Those varieties start with holes that are pinched closed and toppings are placed in the resulting divot - delicious when done to SOP.)

Also standing water, roaches, and ethical dubiousness.

Actually, I’d be shocked if she wasn’t fired years ago and it’s probably all fine now... but better safe than sorry.

dhoffnun

When I worked at 7-11 years ago one of the things we got was a nachos machine, which had a big glass bin full of chips and two heated cookers with spigots on the bottom, one for chili and one for cheese. It was pretty popular. I don't know if there was supposed to be some cleaning schedule, but we never had one. Cleaning it meant emptying the cookers, which wasted food (the boss said).

In any case, the cheese one wasn't so bad. When it was low we just dumped in another tub of cheese. Some oily separation, but it seemed ok. The chili, on the other hand, tended to mold, which crept up the insides of the cooker. When it got low we'd scoop the mold off the top and wipe the inside a bit, then just dump another batch of new chili in on top of the old. If I weren't young and stupid about things then I'd probably have said something, but all I did was avoid the stuff myself.

dxrey65

Dunkin donuts. Never get the coolattas. The machines at the one I worked were hardly cleaned. Also if you want fresh donuts go to one with a bakery and not one that gets them shipped from other locations(they change them out every 12 hours)

Edit: basically from the comments down below. It's a 50/50 chance. I found out I used to work at very last location. There might be locations that make them fresh, from what the comments say most might be made in a warehouse and shipped to the stores. :( on dunkin not being as fresh as they once were.

Zombikittie

Not fast food but I worked in a movie theater and found out only two of the inside metal trays of the popcorn machine were cleaned weekly. I took it upon myself to dismantle it and clean the rest of the machine. It was lined in the corners with mold probably dating back to when the machine was originally purchased. Not every machine out there is fully cleaned as places just clean the most used pieces.

Nautilus23

I've seen too many moldy ice containers for the soda fountain to ever order a soda. I make due do with what I have at home, get a 50c canned soda from the vending machine at work, or get a bottle of water if I'm eating on the run.

I've found it's actually a little cheaper most times. The combos/meals are cheaper than say a burger + fries + drink separately, but more than just burger + fries.

PM_YOUR_VEINY_TITS

I didn't work there but i went to a subway once and got a fountain drink with my sub. i thought i saw something tiny drop into my cup when i was pouring some sprite but didn't pay it much mind and put the lid on. later on, when i had almost finished drinking it, i remembered the thing i thought i'd seen. took the lid off, and behold, many tiny ants.

i was hanging out with a bunch of people i didn't really know during this. i just put the lid back on and stared at the wall in silence.

joicing

Subway, tuna is literal poison in a container. It is always several days older then expiration. I used to walk on shift and throw it out by look alone.

Edit: for those who want to know the Subways I worked at were generally good but I tended to be put in stores that had problems as a fixer so this was the kind of thing I was looking for. They tended to just cover the date label with a new one to avoid making more. Managers were horrified when they found out what there employees were doing.

Reaverx218

I never worked in fast food, but I did work in a grocery store that had one of those quick-service food bars that they would empty and sanitize every night after closing.

I didn't work in the food department, but in the produce section. One night just after closing (before they had emptied them), I was mopping the floor nearby and a mouse unearthed itself from inside the pasta salad tray, hopped down onto the floor and ran off.

So... the pasta salad.

caninehere

Don't get lava cakes for delivery. They are really great but they are damn near impossible to keep intact in the insulative bags that are used for delivery. They are small and therefore easily crushed by inexperienced drivers and also the sauce melts through the cake because the main dishes(e.g pizza) are hotter than it.

willpoulterbrows

I worked at a grocery store where the salad bar (including mayo items and proteins) regularly sat at/around 57 degrees. When the health inspector was in the store, we would just throw the stuff in the freezer to quickly chill it so when he temped it, it came out okay. Between that, and the people who would just stick their hands in the salad bar items, I never ate off it. Still won’t.

PlasticPaulBunyan

I worked at a Chick-Fil-A and everything there is usually great quality however I would not recommend getting egg on a salad that is legitimately the grossest egg I’ve ever eaten.

On a more positive note not a lot of people get strips which are in my opinion the best tasting chicken.

P.S. get a Chick-fil-A sandwich with American cheese and replace the filet with strips. Trust Me.

Edit: American cheese is not my favorite CFA only has American, Colby, and Pepper-jack. I like Pepper-jack for spicy, Colby for grilled and American for the rest.

evan0609

I worked at a popular midwestern pizza chain for a while. The pizza was really good and the ingredients were fresh, with the sauce and dough being made fresh every morning and the veggies delivered whole and sliced and diced by hand, along with whole blocks of mozeralla being shredded throughout the day. Good food, felt good about making it and serving it. Literally the only thing we got that was consistently gross was the lettuce we would use for sandwiches and salads. It would come pre-shredded in a plastic bag that was who-knows-how-old and would turn brown and slimy seemingly within the first hour or two. And I think that's par for the course.

When our store opened on Chicago's north side, we took the fucking neighborhood by storm. People instantly became downright addicted to the pizza. But at least once a week people would call in or walk in angry about how disgusting the salad was.

tl;dr, Every fastfood place has terrible salad, no matter how much quality there is in other ingredients

duh_metrius

I worked at McDonald’s. Don’t get breakfast after lunch starts up. It sucks for the employees, but also, if we can, we are just gonna microwave your food. Biscuits, griddles, muffins, folded eggs. It’s all gonna get nuked. Especially if we are real busy.

I also don’t recommend bacon. We let it sit out for a good while sometimes..

Sexybtch554

I worked at McDonald's for a couple years and once they ran out of clean bags for the sweet tea so they kept rinsing out the old one but it had so many creases you couldn't really get it clean. They kept using it and using it and stuff started growing in it. Disgusting.

toolazytobecreative1

I have a personal vendetta against Animal fries from in n out. Not that they’re bad or the ingredients aren’t fresh but they’re such a rip off you could literally get a cheese fry and ask for a side of spread and grilled onions and put it in yourself for half the price! Animal fries are almost the same price as a double double like ??? Anyways thanks for coming to my TED Talk

dankdogs

Back when Taco Bell sold limeades, we actually used whole limes and cut them up when we needed them. Kept a case of them in the walk in cooler. I went to grab some to prep for the day and almost all of them were moldy. I told the manager about it and she told me to cut them anyway. I refused and threw the case out. In other words, any kind of fruit item should be examined thoroughly before consumption. If they ever brought limeades back, I would never drink one.

Frostgnaw

Jimmy John's here. There is a group of sandwiches called slims that are only meat or meat and cheese that are popular for those with kids and I've tried them all except the Slim 6. The Slim 6 is just 2 pieces of provolone cheese on bread. It might not be the grossest thing ever but since JJ's doesn't have a way to toast sandwiches, it doesn't sound good to me since it's just 2 pieces of cold, bland cheese on bread.

spencerschmudde

It's pretty well known how Wendy's Chili is made and although I know it's healthy and fine and possibly even tasty, after having to prepare the meat hundreds of times, there is no way it's ever going in my mouth.

RIPGeorgeHarrison

I worked at McDonalds’s for five years. Never order the milkshakes! The machine often breaks and when it does the milk base stays inside until it is fix, usually causing to go bad. The machine is kind of cleaned but never as good as it should be. Every time there is a limited time shake (I.e. Shamrock, or eggnog) the syrup pipes get all gunked up and the only way to fix that is to shove something in the pipe like a broken fork or chopstick to dislodge the gunk.

BokeOhime