r/mildlyinfuriating • u/50calTaco • 21d ago

I'm slightly vexed Grown man gets mad because he doesn’t know what ordering a “plain” burger means

So I work at Five Guys and for those who don’t know, when you order a burger there you get to fully customize the toppings on it (helps justify the price tag a tiny bit i guess). And you choose between a little (single) or regular (double) burger.

I had a pleasant enough exchange with a customer while ringing up his food… and when it came to his cheeseburger I asked what toppings he wanted on it. He looked at me and said, “Oh you know… just a plain, regular cheeseburger.” Ok great, a cheeseburger with nothing on it, easy enough.

Well we make the food, and a minute after he gets it he comes back up to me, visibly annoyed and holding the burger.

“You made my food wrong. There’s nothing on it.”

“Oh I’m sorry sir, I thought you’d ordered a plain cheeseburger.”

“I did. Do you not know what that means? Like a McDonald’s burger.”

Ok first of all, “McDonald’s” is not a standard for how someone orders burger toppings and second of all, this guys in his late 40s to early 50s and has never once run into this issue ordering a plain burger?

“Ok I’m sorry about that sir, we’ll remake that for you. What exactly did you want on it?”

I shit you not, with an annoyed voice he ordered:
Ketchup. Lettuce. Pickles.
So notably NOT a McDonald’s cheeseburger???

He got what he wanted in the end and I apologized because customer service but like?? I’m in awe at the sheer level of misunderstanding and audacity.

29.9k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

4.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

85

u/MidnaQueenofCalicos 21d ago

That would be correct. I was 9 or 10. There wasn't anything I could really do. It just made me feel small and humiliated. I didn't talk to him for a decade when I got older. I only came back because I chose empathy as a life path. Not being a pushover, I just chose to let the hurt go.

15

u/TheUrbaneSage 21d ago

I get it, and that's good to hear. Having come from similar circumstances, I chose empathy too and I think it's always the right choice.

15

u/MidnaQueenofCalicos 21d ago

The hate and hurt will poison you otherwise, imo.

10

u/TheUrbaneSage 21d ago

I agree, it does exactly that.

0

u/Aegi 21d ago

But people can call each other out without it being "hate".

Like I would joking bring it up every single time that I went to eat with him.

But since it would be me just making sure his brain remembers that he was like that, it would not be out of hate, but out of love for him, and the species.

4

u/MidnaQueenofCalicos 21d ago

I tried. With some people it just confuses them.

9

u/red__dragon 21d ago

With mine, he would only ever remember how he felt in a past moment. Not too much mental effort was spent on remembering what he said or did, mostly how others made him feel. And when details were presented, they were reconstructed to fit that feeling (which isn't to say they were outright lies, just half truths and omissions to magnify what emotional outcome he'd chosen to remember about that moment).

4

u/morenfin 21d ago

Classic missing missing reasons.

3

u/red__dragon 21d ago

Yep, context is king. If I overcorrect on that in my life, that's probably why.

2

u/MidnaQueenofCalicos 21d ago

Correct. Their brains were broken from the start.

4

u/red__dragon 21d ago

Coupled with bad behaviors, definitely. Memory based on feelings isn't broken in itself, but if the mind is only remembering self-justified constructs of what caused the bad behavior, then self-awareness will be pretty difficult to coax out as the commenter above you suggested.

-1

u/Aegi 21d ago

Yeah, sorry you even had to experience that. I'm guessing he was also kind of a scary dad?

So this is not to ride your ass, just making an observation:

With some people it just confuses them.

IMO, that means the teacher/communicator with the greater skills and/or intelligence is the one failing as we see adults teach even animals and toddlers all the time haha.

6

u/Parthian__Shot 21d ago

Na, some people are just straight up deficient in some important areas.

6

u/MidnaQueenofCalicos 21d ago

He was not scary, no. Just confused and neurodivergent. My mother was scary, but eventually I stopped letting her overpower me.

I'm a senisitve and loving person. If I dnapped on my dad and started crying and wigging out he did actually back off. It may have been why I eventually came back.

3

u/Cazy243 21d ago

Yeah, so I guess suggesting jokingly bringing it up every single time might not be the best approach, right Mr. Teacher?

1

u/Aegi 21d ago

Yeah, it definitely will not be for some.

I would definitely have to take it as a case-by-case basis with whoever was the one initially acting that way to an employee.

We have to adjust our approach depending on the audience.