14 Fast Food and Restaurant Employees Confess the One Item You Should Never Order

The following question was posed on Reddit:

“Fast food workers of Reddit, what should we NOT order at your restaurant? Why not?”

While it’s important to know that none of these claims have been verified, we do recommend bookmarking this thread. Just in case. Tons of answers were submitted, we picked the most curious below.

Anything McCafé at McDonald’s

“I work for Mcdonald’s and make sure everyone that matters to me never orders anything that comes out of the ‘McCafe’ machine as these are routinely neglected, in practically all the McDonalds. Not only are staff not properly trained in its cleaning and maintenance, at almost every McDonalds I’ve had experience with, the managers in charge of training them don’t know fuck all either…All McCafe beverages run through a horrifically dirty machine – we’re talking 5+ inches of uncleaned, liquid bullshit making up its inside parts”

Do. Not. Order. Hot Dogs. At. Baseball. Games. Period.

“I used to work in a baseball park concession stand. The short answer is not to order anything, but if you absolutely have to buy something, don’t buy the hotdogs.

Do not. Buy. The Hot Dogs.

They made it out of the package okay, and might even have been edible after we finished grilling them – and then they went into the water. We kept three pans of water at the back of the grill that held the hot dogs. Any hot dogs left at the end of the day went back into the fridge, and came out again the next day. Me and the other cook put our feet down on throwing out the water and old hotdogs after two full days, but the management didn’t want to let us.”

On steak and beans at Taco Bell

“I worked at taco bell a little bit ago and I warn everyone to stay away from both the beans, and the steak. The beans start out looking like cat food, and the directions are, ‘Add water and stir until you can’t see white anymore.’ The steak was just the worst on dish duty. If it would sit too long it would become like hair gel. It was the worst.”

On Wendy’s chili

“I used to work at Wendy’s. The meat used in the chili, yeah that comes from the meat on the grill top that expires and dries up that’s put in to a warming drawer until you have enough for a batch of chili, which we first freeze and then thaw the next day. Also if the chili sitting in the warmer doesn’t sell fast enough we just added hot water to it to mix it up.”

For the love of God, don’t order anything off the Starbucks “Secret Menu”

“Former starbucks worker here. Please don’t order anything off the ‘Secret Menu’. It doesn’t exist. If you want a snickerdoodle, nuttella, or captain crunch frappuchino (or whatever other overly sugery thing someone has since come out with), know the base drink and the modifications, and order that. If you just say the name, it’s up to the barista to come up with what’s in the drink, and it may not be what the last barista you ordered from put in there.”

On movie theatre popcorn

“I worked at a theater, don’t get popcorn for the first showing- that’s all just last night’s popcorn put into giant garbage bags and then reheated in the warmers in the morning.

Oh yeah and remember that sticky floor in the aisle of the theater? Well what do you think would happen if you had that at your house. YES THAT’S HOW YOU GET ANTS… and cockroaches, and everything else. Plus it’s in the dark most of the time. It’s like a bug buffet once the lights go out and the movie starts.”

Skip the pasta at Panera, stick to the sandwiches

“Panera- pasta; it’s all microwaved, this includes Mac and cheese. Smoothies/frozen drinks- nasty base crap that smells and it’s sticky. Cupcakes/coffee cakes- all come frozen. Best items are the real sandwhich/ salads. Real ingredients and usually fresh.”

Always ask for “fresh” chicken nuggets at McDonald’s

“I used to work at McDonalds. If you order, especially chicken nuggets, just ask for them fresh. Otherwise they’ve been just sitting in their container in the heat. They have a timer, but 9/10 times when that timer goes off, people just reset the timer instead of making new ones. This could go on until all the nuggets are sold.”

Steer clear of beans at Taco Johns

“Taco Johns reporting for all you midwesterners. I would steer clear of the beans, at least outside of peak hours, because they sit on the hot table for a long long time and when they dry out, just add water. Everything else is pretty solid though. Worked there a couple years back in 2007-2009 and still love going back to get my fix.”

BBQ Sandwiches at KFC

“Worked at KFC for ~4 years. The BBQ sandwich is actually made from chicken too old and stale to give to the homeless shelters, so they soak it in BBQ sauce until it can be pulled and then they keep it on the heater for a month.

I still order it through”

The quesarito at Chipotle. Mostly because everyone will hate you.

“It backs up the line like no other. If it’s not busy, you’re fine but PLEASE do not order a quesorito during our peak hours. Employees will hate you. The people behind you in line will hate you. Everyone will hate you. There’s nothing wrong with it health/sanitation wise, but too few people order it for our damned managers to rearrange and optimize our food line for quesorito production.”

The eggs at Einstein’s

“I worked at Einstein’s bagel place which is basically fast food. Don’t order anything with eggs, they aren’t real eggs and if business is slow they could have been sitting in a container for hours after they are microwaved.”

On gas station Slurpees

“Gas station slurpee’s. The amount of mold in those machines would crush your childhood to a pulp.”

The doughnuts at Dunkin (Warning: this will break your heart)

“Currently employed at Dunkin doughnuts and it’s sad but true all the doughnuts and baked goods there come to us frozen.”

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