T.G.I Fridays now promising UNLIMITED food for only $10

[warpus]

Well, that's a relief. I feared you'd be responding from a prison cell. But how do know it's against the rules exactly?

I have vague memories of inquiring about this sort of thing many years ago.. So I suppose things could have changed, but I didn't think they did. And I do remember one place in particular offering free refills, but I can't remember which one it was. I do remember it was an exception rather than the rule.

Are people really that miserable to cashiers outside the polite belt of the Midwest? I usually aim for a lower spittle quotient in my food.

The rudest fast food employees I ever encountered were on a ride from Port Huron, Michigan, to Chicago. As soon as we crossed the border, the first place we went to.. rudeness all around. No smiles, no "thank you"s, no "you're welcome".. just grumpy faces and "uh huh"s. Incredibly rude. This continued all the way to Chicago, where employees were once again friendly.

I guess people are dicks to fast food employees in the U.S.? That's one explanation I could think of. There's no way the answer is "Canadians are just nicer than Americans".. I think the wages are somewhat similar as well, so you can't say that the American employees have crappier jobs.. Although I suppose they could for another reason.

 

[cybrxkhan]

I guess people are dicks to fast food employees in the U.S.? That's one explanation I could think of. There's no way the answer is "Canadians are just nicer than Americans".. I think the wages are somewhat similar as well, so you can't say that the American employees have crappier jobs.. Although I suppose they could for another reason.

That might be the case, might not be, but I've seen my fair share of customers who are jerks. Like one time this woman made a huge scene at a Burger King or McDonalds I was at, because they added tomatoes to her burger even though she explicitly told them not to, and was demanding they make the burgers again when, you know, I would've just taken those tomatoes out if I were her. I don't think it would've been that difficult.

Rather self-entitled attitude, I think, at least in that case.

 

[Farm Boy]

Maybe Michigan and Indiana fall outside the polite belt. Dunno!

 

[Arakhor]

Come on now, do you eat a perfectly healthy diet?

Well, I probably eat more biscuits than are good for me, but I don't consume copious amounts of alcohol and I rarely eat fast food. Then again, I do have a 28-inch waist and a BMI of 16 or so.

 

[warpus]

Maybe Michigan and Indiana fall outside the polite belt. Dunno!

People threw around theories last time I posted about this. I think somebody said smiling isn't really that common for people behind the counter - which is a completely alien concept to me.. but then again, I could very well be misremembering. Somebody also said that an unfriendly and grunt-like "uh huh" is what passes for a smile and "you're welcome" in some parts of the U.S. But I have no idea if that was said in jest or not..

I think the top theory was that.. well, those people just hate their jobs.. and don't care much about them. But then I wonder why fast food employees are nice to me here in Canada. I always get smiles, thank yous, you're welcomes, etc.

And uhm, the only other thing I can think of that was different between the Canadian and American fast food experiences was that the employees in the U.S. who were rude to me were always black. But I'm not about to turn this into some racist theory. I draw no conclusions here - I report the facts, you decide.

 

[Goodfella]

I've generally had positive experiences with food workers in Los Angeles. Compared to workers on the East coast, in Los Angeles they seem less depressed. Fast food workers will ask me how my day has been and waiters and waitresses are more likely to initiate conversation.

And uhm, the only other thing I can think of that was different between the Canadian and American fast food experiences was that the employees in the U.S. who were rude to me were always black. But I'm not about to turn this into some racist theory. I draw no conclusions here - I report the facts, you decide.

I think because they're more likely to be marginalized they're less likely to feel like putting up with anything. If you put a white person in their circumstances they'll probably act the same way. The interesting thing is that even though the food service workers in LA are predominantly black and hispanic, not only do they seem friendlier, but they are far less likely to speak with accents.

 

[Quackers]

The rudest fast food employees I ever encountered were on a ride from Port Huron, Michigan, to Chicago. As soon as we crossed the border, the first place we went to.. rudeness all around. No smiles, no "thank you"s, no "you're welcome".. just grumpy faces and "uh huh"s. Incredibly rude. This continued all the way to Chicago, where employees were once again friendly.

Does this faze you friendly north americans?
Sounds par the course for my neck of the woods.

Well, I probably eat more biscuits than are good for me, but I don't consume copious amounts of alcohol and I rarely eat fast food. Then again, I do have a 28-inch waist and a BMI of 16 or so.

You're a stick by the sounds of it! Get lifting bro.

 

[Arakhor]

I'm very definitely a stick, so my ideas of what constitutes gastronomic excess probably differ from many other people's.

 

[bhsup]

The smiling behind the counter is, imho, very much a city vs rural thing. You get much more polite "service with a smile" when your out in the boonies than you do in the suburbs or urban core. I think the same is also true, by and large, for the courtesy of the customers.

 

[warpus]

I spent 2 weeks in California 4 years ago and visited a whole bunch of places. I don't remember one instance of anyone being rude to me, especially not fast food employees, or any other type of employee.

A gangsta looking latino guy on the street in Los Angeles I ran into actually even gave me directions. He looked tough, and yet he was so nice. We spent 10 minutes just chatting about this and that.

 

[Farm Boy]

The smiling behind the counter is, imho, very much a city vs rural thing. You get much more polite "service with a smile" when your out in the boonies than you do in the suburbs or urban core. I think the same is also true, by and large, for the courtesy of the customers.

If I'm an ass to the staff at the local gas station I'm going to see my neighbors(the same people) again, and again, and again. I'd probably have to put stores out on the interstates into the urban block instead of the boonies one.

 

[cybrxkhan]

I spent 2 weeks in California 4 years ago and visited a whole bunch of places. I don't remember one instance of anyone being rude to me, especially not fast food employees, or any other type of employee.

A gangsta looking latino guy on the street in Los Angeles I ran into actually even gave me directions. He looked tough, and yet he was so nice. We spent 10 minutes just chatting about this and that.

Might be a cultural thing. What I mean is from my personal experience, people on the west coast of the US tend to be friendlier, albeit in a somewhat superficial way, while people on the east coast tend to be more stuck up and serious but less superficial when they are friendly.


I think some of the variety between customer-employee interactions might be due to cultural differences. One example I'm thinking of right now was the constant miscommunication between Korean-American shop owners and African-American customers in LA prior to the Rodney King riots - the Korean-Americans felt that African-Americans were aggressive and annoying, while the African-Americans thought the Korean-Americans were antisocial and cold; both thought the other side were being rude.

I'm not saying the differences have to be due to race, of course, it could be due to rural vs. suburban vs. urban differences (as mentioned earlier), region, socio-economic status, and so on.

 

[Goodfella]

Left coast = best coast

I've been on the CA side of Lake Tahoe for the last few weeks and same story here. For them it's obvious though; they live next to a cool lake and the weather's nice.

 

[Traitorfish]

The smiling behind the counter is, imho, very much a city vs rural thing. You get much more polite "service with a smile" when your out in the boonies than you do in the suburbs or urban core. I think the same is also true, by and large, for the courtesy of the customers.

That might be partly cultural, but it's also worth remembering that both cities and retail outlets are pits of anxiety, and the combination of them tends to bring out the worst in people. Actively aggressive customers are just unpleasant people, I'm sure, but if they're just short or snippy, on either side of the counter, it's probably because they're inhabiting an environment almost deliberately constructed to make people unhappy.

 

[civvver]

McDonald's puts together a surprisingly good salad. It also brews good coffee. The menu is much broader in terms of quality and selection these days. Plus, the ones around here put the calories for everything right on the menu next to the price.

I agree, love their coffee and the new bacon clubhouse is a surprisingly tasty burger. I'd put it up to any sitdown type of place like tgif or red robin. It's not as good as a specialty burger place like five guys or bagger daves though.

Also I think the reason restaurants in other countries don't have free refills is they don't use soda fountains. Are they more popular now? Cus the last few times I traveled to Europe all the pop came in bottles, sometimes cans. That packaging and transportation costs a ton more than soda fountain pop. A fountain uses a tap water line and adds co2 to syrup, a tiny box of syrup can make gobs of pop. Resteraunts make huge profits on pop, especially when sitdown places charge well over $2 now. $2.79 is not unusual anymore and quite sad.

USA is also the only place I know of where restaurants serve tap water and it's free.

 

[Traitorfish]

British restaurants usually use soda fountains for cola and lemonade, although they might also have bottles and cans of, e.g. Fanta or whatever. Tap water is also free in bars and pubs- it's actually a legal obligation- and I think the same applies to restaurants.

 

[Quackers]

Also I think the reason restaurants in other countries don't have free refills is they don't use soda fountains. Are they more popular now? Cus the last few times I traveled to Europe all the pop came in bottles, sometimes cans. That packaging and transportation costs a ton more than soda fountain pop. A fountain uses a tap water line and adds co2 to syrup, a tiny box of syrup can make gobs of pop. Resteraunts make huge profits on pop, especially when sitdown places charge well over $2 now. $2.79 is not unusual anymore and quite sad.

USA is also the only place I know of where restaurants serve tap water and it's free.

Briton here, encountered a few soda fountains in the customer area at a Subway and McDonalds in the UK. I never knew whether i was allowed to refill...i just took Nandos have it in every resteraunt.

 

[civvver]

I haven't been to the isles, only to germany, france, belgium, japan. Only remember seeing fountains at mcdonalds in those places, every other restaurant served bottled cokes and waters. Oh it was also funny mcdonalds there makes you pay for extra ketchups!

 

[Goodfella]

Why do you guys have to pay to use some of the public restrooms?

 

[Zelig]

Most of the American "sit down" restaurants (as opposed to fast food like McDonalds or Wendy's) don't do very well in southern Ontario for some reason. I've only ever seen one Denny's, for example, and the Outback Steakhouse chain (which I'm embarrassed to admit I was slightly fond of) seems to have abandoned the market entirely.

There are quite a lot of Denny's out west, and I like the concept, but everything on the menu is salt explosion and basically inedible.

Well... yeah! What's the point of going out to eat of the place you go to doesn't deep fry food?

Deep frying is terribly misunderstood. From wiki:

"If performed properly, deep-frying does not make food excessively greasy, because the moisture in the food repels the oil. The hot oil heats the water within the food, steaming it; oil cannot go against the direction of this powerful flow because (due to its high temperature) the water vapor pushes the bubbles toward the surface."