Just wanted to complain/tell a story for the sake of telling a story.
A while back Subway had their anniversary coming up, and their subs were half-priced for that day (I don’t know the extent of their advertisement with this, since I don’t have a T.V.). Either way, I generally like Subway, it’s fast and I’ve become a regular.
Now, a friend of mine used to work at Subway, and he warns the world far and wide about the quality of their sandwiches. He tells these grim horror stories of hygeine with regards to their restaurants (spitting in the lunch meat, not cleaning item X for so many days, etc.). However, from what I’ve seen of the place, it’s clean enough for me; and, frankly, I like Subway enough that I’m not sure that this knowledge would really affect me.
Either way, on the half-price day, as could be expected, there was a long line. However, the restaurant duly forecasted this and had a large staff. I was particularly amazed with their assembly-line like efficiency of these 5 people buzzing around and switching roles as need be, catering various items in and out. And after analyzing their rate, I calculated that it probably wouldn’t be that long of a wait for me. I was lucky, for the moment I got my sandwich and was going to a table, an FDA inspector comes in and announces his presence. At first, I thought it was such an amazingly jerk thing to do that it had to be a practical joke, or a prank. However, he was quite serious. The line slowed up considerably as the inspector took his time, taking pains to make sure he could cause as much of a scene as possible.
But from my perspective, I already came in there full-knowing the health-risks, and deciding to purchase their sandwich anyways. Yet, this individual could decide, “No, you shouldn’t eat here, because I know what’s better for you,” and shut down the store on the day they’re obviously performing below average. This is what riled my chain.
And yet, the Subway store survived his assault with ease, and the store remains open and passed its inspection with flying colors as usual. The private sector continues to amaze me that it even works at all.