The great sandwich struggle

I am not sure what is happening to the service industry of this country, but I am getting mighty tired of having to accept substandard service.  It's as if I am lucky just to give people my money, like it's some kind of privilege.  Well I am freaking sick of it, especially since my lunch seems to be the thing most impacted upon by bad service.  Just to make my point, I have documented this true tale.

It was lunch time.  My tummy was distinctly rumbling.  I made a mad dash to the deli across the street.  It was not the best, but it was the closest.  My excitement mounted as I anticipated the pastrami sandwich that awaited me.

Luckily, the line was short.  I looked at the menu and there was my pastrami sandwich listed.  My turn arrived and I placed my order.  "One pastrami sandwich on rye bread with brown mustard please."    The person behind the counter stared at me blankly."  I figured that I just must not have been heard.  "May I please have a pastrami sandwich on rye please?"  The person behind the counter just shrugged and continued to look at me blankly.

Finally, after a few moments of vacuous blinking, the employee walked up to what must have been a supervisor and said something in a non-English language.

After this interchange concluded, the supervisor turned to me and explained that they did not have any rye bread today, and that they only had Dijon mustard.   My hopes were dashed. So I ordered another sandwich on the menu.  Still the employee stared blankly.  Luckily the supervisor was still standing there and translated the order.  The supervisor then walked away.  That's when the condiment battle began.  You see, I didn't want anything on the sandwich.  This was incomprehensible to the blank staring Nobel prize winner behind the counter.

This person kept harassing me and trying to force me to add stuff to my sandwich that didn't remotely go.  It was like someone trying to put pickles and sauerkraut on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  And this person went down every condiment on the list.  I was like "No, just give it to me the way it is.  No I want nothing on it.  No do not put anything else on there."  It was not much of a deterrent.  I ended up leaving with extras on my sandwich that I found myself picking out before it was close to being edible. 

This was not a single incident. This was just an example of how it is to go into this place every single time.  It is so bad that I sent a letter to their corporate headquarters:

Not only is your selection pretty thin, but your staff
is completely incompetent.  They do not know what is
on the menu.  When you place an order they look at you
blankly until they go get another person to tell them
what you mean.  I can only assume that this is due to
a lack of comprehension of the English language.
However, that is not my concern.  My concern is that
they know the menu, so when I place an order I do not
have to spend 20 minutes with a translator to get a
pastrami sandwich on rye.   Your staff is unfriendly,
unresponsive and unhelpful.  I have been to fast food
restaurants with better quality staff.

My other complaint is that you seem to have an issue
with having things in stock.  Frequently I order
something and it just isn’t available.   Why put
things on the menu if they are not available?  Maybe
you do have it in stock, but the above staffing issue
is the cause of items being “unavailable.”

Finally, this is the reason why I do not intend to do
business with your company any longer; you ruined your
salad bar.  The one thing that made your deli
tolerable was the flat priced salad bar.  My coworkers
and I enjoyed that fact that we could get a good lunch
at the salad bar and not have to worry about how much
it weighed.  The price was fair and there simply was
no way to really “get over” and get more then we were
paying for.  Imagine my surprise when I stepped into
your business last week and found the price went up to
$4.99/lb.  We calculated that out, and discovered that
the only way to even come close to having a full lunch
was to either fill oneself with lettuce or pay over
$10 to have the chicken or meatballs that are
frequently offered at the salad bar. 

This turn of events has made it so none of us are
really driven to eat at your deli.  I have made a
point of avoiding it altogether. 

I personally know several people who never intend to
set foot in your facility again.  For your sake, you
should consider addressing these issues, because to be
frank, I can drive a few miles to a deli that has much
better food and lower prices with phenomenal service.
You have some stiff competition out there, you may
want to give that some thought.
 

I doubt this will accomplish anything, but at least I put it out there for corporate duffeses to read.  Dammit!  I want good service, and if I have to drive a few miles to get a sandwich made the way I want, I'm going to drive those extra few miles.  Maybe then these companies will stop cutting corners with their staff and actually hire trainable people, and even maybe train them.  People, follow my lead!  Do not allow people to screw up your sandwiches anymore!  We need to stand up for something we all believe in!  We all have a right to get the sandwich that we ordered!  So the next time someone asks you if you want cheese on that, and you say no, do not accept the cheese they try to force upon you.  Fight for your right to choose....  choose your sandwich that is! 

And I choose pastrami on rye with brown mustard and no other crap, than you very much!