Okay people read the menu! The most annoying customers are those that ask the lamest questions and when you work that type of job you really cant tell them to go fuck themselves while shoving a sandwich up their ass.
Here for your enjoyment are 3 of the lamest questions ever.
Q. - What comes on a BLT?
Q. - Does cheese come on a cheese steak sub?
Q. - What price is that tukey sub? while pointing at the menu that clearly has the price listed
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Publix Ham and Swiss review
I had to go grocery shopping anyway and I thought why not kill two birds with one stone. I have had a publix sub before, they use boars head meat which is portioned out ahead of time, and your choice of a few cheeses and toppings. For this I chose mayo, lettuce, tomato, green pepper and banana pepper. seasoned with pepper and oil and vinegar.
No salt, the meat has enough salt in it and it doesn;t need anymore.
I knew before hand that I liked publix subs. They provide you will good quality ingredients. Boarshead meat, and an outstanding bread with just the right texture. I've had okay sandwiches there put together by the unknowing or a few not so good ones.
Publix is a good example of a template sub place, meaning that you are always assured decent ingredients but it is who puts them together that makes the different.
I was greated by a very extroverted fellow who was more than pleasent. He made note of my MIT shirt. Yes I was bumming it this sunday in a pair of old jeans and an oversized M.I.T. shirt. He striked up some good conversation out of that, picking my brain and being quite likable. Mike was so likable that I almost didn't care how he was making my sub.
He effortlessly put it together, only within conversation asking me what I wanted. I was pulling for him to put it together well , as Mike was very likable and easy going. I didn't want to have to report bad things about him. He just made it seem so damn easy. I did notice that he did the knife trick. That is a trick known by sandwich chefs as "packing it in". you take the knife and press it in so that the toppings get compacted and don't fall out.
I wasn't conviced until I ate it. I have to say hands down best publix sub I've ever eaten. The ingredients where evenly spread, and it was just the right amount of toppings. The oil and vinegar was just enough to wet the sandwich without making it soggy.
It was more than I thought it would be. Mike had done a great job combining customer service with sandwich sculpure expertise.
This sandwich gets a rating of 4.0 out of a possible 5.2.
Monthly Challenge
I had a recent thought which I really hate but it would make for some great writing. A challenge for myself. A monthly challenge to put into play some theories that need to be tested. The reason I hate this thought is because I want to be nothing my nice to the workers and be the easiest customer of the day, but the challenges may mean that I can't be that way. I will start off easy and get harder. So far my ideas are.
1. Tackling the subway cheese issue. Task level: Easy. Challenge is all about getting the sandwich artist to alternate my cheese so that it makes 2 squares instead of 4 triangles.
2. Bringing in my own cheese. Task level: Easy to low medium. Challenge involves going to 3 different sandwich shops with my own cheese and seeing if they will put my own cheese on my sandwich.
3. The picky eater challenge. Task level: medium. Challenge involves 2 shops to see if being a picky eater is problematic. Each shop will see a easy goinging person and each shop will see a picky person asking for special care to determine who each is handled.
4. The bitch. Task level: Hard. Challenge takes 2 subshops and on first occasion is nice, and on second is a complete bitch from start to finish.
I really do hate these challenges but I said I wanted a good sandwich blog so here we go. Challenge once starts April 1st.
1. Tackling the subway cheese issue. Task level: Easy. Challenge is all about getting the sandwich artist to alternate my cheese so that it makes 2 squares instead of 4 triangles.
2. Bringing in my own cheese. Task level: Easy to low medium. Challenge involves going to 3 different sandwich shops with my own cheese and seeing if they will put my own cheese on my sandwich.
3. The picky eater challenge. Task level: medium. Challenge involves 2 shops to see if being a picky eater is problematic. Each shop will see a easy goinging person and each shop will see a picky person asking for special care to determine who each is handled.
4. The bitch. Task level: Hard. Challenge takes 2 subshops and on first occasion is nice, and on second is a complete bitch from start to finish.
I really do hate these challenges but I said I wanted a good sandwich blog so here we go. Challenge once starts April 1st.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Default Cheese
I thought I would tackle the subject of cheese today. Demistify 2 of the myths. Subway would like you to believe that they put the triangles of cheese all in the same postion because of what they call sub artistry. They actually want you to believe that it "taste better this way". They have a whole manual on how to make the sandwich step by step and how certain ingredients go on. I always thought it was for aesthetic reasons. When I worked there I questioned this. Why would I get in trouble if I put onions on before the tomato? I said it must be for aesthetics. The corporate trainer said "no, it's because it taste better that way". Actually the only thing that matters is what topping goes on first and last, all others are interchangable.
What Subway doesn't want you to know is that there is a reason behind the layout of their cheese and it's not for looks or for taste but for money. A loyal regular pointed out the benefits of making two squares out of the 4 triangles. Here he illustrates why it makes the most sense. He's right, it would give you the most coverage. You wouldn't be left with bites of sandwich without cheese if they did it his way. So it isn't for taste after all. What if a pizza company decided that they were only going to cover half the pie with cheese and you'd just have less crust on one side but no cheese on the other. You would obviously pay to get extra cheese to cover the remainder of the pie right?
Well this is basically what Subway is doing and here now, for your enjoyment, is an actual subway manager to comfirm this.
Myth One Busted!
Next myth, that most sandwich shops would like you to believe is that the reason why american cheese is basically the default cheese is that it is the most popular cheese. This is not the case. It is the most popular for children but not for adults. Provolone actually ranks higher with adults. I will say one good thing about american cheese. It melts well. The american cheese that subshops buy isn't super high quality but it melts well and is decent for your average joe taste buds. If you get a meatball sub ask for half american and half provolone. It will keep your meatball sub from being too stringy. Provolone melts okay but it's very stringy. So the american cheese helps to combat that. This does not mean that I think american cheese belongs on a meatball sub. If I had it my way, subshops would serve fontina cheese with their meatball subs. It taste better and melts like a dream, but the reality is that fontina is too expensive and it isn't a cheese that is known to the masses like american or provolone. I'm really dreaming though because there aren't very many sandwich shops that would serve fontina so let me get back to american cheese.
I do not believe american cheese should be put on every sandwich. It's dull, and doesn't really stand out when paired with a cold turkey or ham sub the way swiss, or pepperjack does.
So if the reason isn't taste or popularity then what is it? Yes you are right it's money. It's easy to see sandwich shops motives. They really only have a few, which are: taste, money, aesthetics, customer service, and popularity.
American cheese is the cheapest cheese sold. Sorry Dad but I'm ratting you out on this one. While my dad is an excellent grill cook. He gave up smoking cigs after many years but decided that he liked smokey flavors so he took up grilling. My dad makes a great burger but I haven't been able to tell him that sticking kraft singles american cheese on the burger does not make it a cheese burger in my eyes. I think an american burger would be great with a smoked cheddar or a plain old sharp cheddar. I know why he uses the american especially for cooking at reunions. It's cheap and it melts well. I just wish I could get him on a different cheese. Perhaps I should bring the cheese next time he makes burgers, but again I'm rambling and must get back to talking about american cheese as the default.
I can't really fault subshops for making american the default cheese. It's good for their bottom line and it is a very popular cheese with children, and most adults don't mind it even if its not their favorite. The subshop knows most people just ride with it. If the menu says "cheese" chances are it is american. Also note that if the menu has a sandwich and it doesn't say it includes cheese then cheese cost extra in most cases.
We had a cheese issue at Jersey Mike's as the owner of the franchise was getting bored with the same old cheeses. So he brought in a few specialty cheeses, such as havarti, a personal favorite of mine, and munster. The regular customers loved it, however corporate did not. Corporate came down and said that the owner could not deviate from the menu. That he didn't have the right to change the Jersey Mike's brand. So he had to get rid of it. This elicted a lot of response from the customers. They were upset, the cheese was more expensive and most customers who loved it said they would gladly pay a little extra if it was brought back. Some customers were upset with the owner about it but we assured them it was not his fault. There is a lesson learned in this. The only way a customer can change the operations of a franshised subshop is to write corporate. I'm sure that if enough peole for that location wrote in, they would allow us one not all but one specialty cheese which was the most popular to come back as an extra item and charge extra for it. Probably between 20 cents for half a sub and 40 for whole.
We have some people that really complain about extra charges, but seriously folks 20-40 cents to make your sandwich extra special. People who were not only willing to pay the extra but also had a good attitude were often rewarded with extra special care. I can't stress enough how much a good nice attitude reflects on your sandwich. You would be amazed.
Sub Manager spells out the reason for the composition of the cheese
Even in the sub business image and manipulation is everything.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
I can't tackle the Subway issue lightly. Yes, I worked there many years ago, yes I had some great times working there. The people I worked with were great, fun, and pretty outstanding people. The kind of people that would back you up in a bar fight, or help start a bar fight, or would kick the ass of anyone that opposed you, but mainly they were just friends fighting the same fight day in and day out as I did. They had your back because they were in the same struggle as you were, making minium wage busting ass at a sandwich shop.
I can assure you that at this point in time even the shift leader were only making $7.50 an hour. Only a mere 50, or 75 cents seperating them from new hires. History repeats itself and it's a dangerous lesson to learn in the restuarant business. If you don't pay your employees well enough, or treat them good enough then they just really don't care. Paying these people an extra dollar or two more an hour and you would have a tighter, more effecient crew that played by the rules.
But because the franchise owner treated them like slave rats, the only rules the employees followed were the 10 and 20 second rule, the idea that you deserve crap if you give them crap, and the idea that cutting corners made things easier. Yes, you could often here the same motto being shouted in the back prep stations. "You pay me $6.50 and hour and I'll give you $6.50 of work an hour. It was just that simple.
This is why some sub workers are rude to you when you make cocky or snides remarks. They aren't paid to deal with your shit. I can't even count on my hands how many times a customer has made me cry, and once on Easter of all days. You people can be down right mean, condesending, and inapproprate. So take note next time you order a sandwich, don't be the jackass in the line.
I plan on covering a lot of subway stories. These stories are not meant to chide the restuarant chain, well okay it sorta is. They deliever such a low quality sandwich with prices just as high as other chains and seem to have the lowest staff moral, probably due to bad working conditions, no holidays off not even christmas, and low pay. Subway is surely one of the ones at the bottom of the barrell.
I can assure you that at this point in time even the shift leader were only making $7.50 an hour. Only a mere 50, or 75 cents seperating them from new hires. History repeats itself and it's a dangerous lesson to learn in the restuarant business. If you don't pay your employees well enough, or treat them good enough then they just really don't care. Paying these people an extra dollar or two more an hour and you would have a tighter, more effecient crew that played by the rules.
But because the franchise owner treated them like slave rats, the only rules the employees followed were the 10 and 20 second rule, the idea that you deserve crap if you give them crap, and the idea that cutting corners made things easier. Yes, you could often here the same motto being shouted in the back prep stations. "You pay me $6.50 and hour and I'll give you $6.50 of work an hour. It was just that simple.
This is why some sub workers are rude to you when you make cocky or snides remarks. They aren't paid to deal with your shit. I can't even count on my hands how many times a customer has made me cry, and once on Easter of all days. You people can be down right mean, condesending, and inapproprate. So take note next time you order a sandwich, don't be the jackass in the line.
I plan on covering a lot of subway stories. These stories are not meant to chide the restuarant chain, well okay it sorta is. They deliever such a low quality sandwich with prices just as high as other chains and seem to have the lowest staff moral, probably due to bad working conditions, no holidays off not even christmas, and low pay. Subway is surely one of the ones at the bottom of the barrell.
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