Stupid Jack in the Box

[LilyWDW]

I think even a fast-food employee should know if there's chicken in a specific dish sold by their employer. It's not some impossible-to-pronounce, twelfth-on-a-list ingredient. It's chicken for heaven's sake, and the employee was obviously wrong and mislead the customer.

I'm an omnivore with several friends and family members who are vegetarians or vegans, and I'm often surprised that other omnivores seem to have a lot of animosity toward those who choose not to eat meat or animal products.

No animosity here. One of my best friends is vegan, my cousin is vegan, and I have a few vegetarian friends. And they would all be the first to tell someone that it is up to them to verify what is in the product... and they don't mean asking someone. They ALL will ask to see the actual ingredient list unless it is certified vegetarian/vegan or they made it themselves. They are not going to trust an employee who may or may not understand what it is they exactly want. You would be shocked at the number of people who don't realize what vegetarian/vegan is. Part of that is the idea that there are so many "levels" of vegetarian so one person who calls themselves "vegetarian" will eat eggs while another won't (for example).

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I think even a fast-food employee should know if there's chicken in a specific dish sold by their employer. It's not some impossible-to-pronounce, twelfth-on-a-list ingredient. It's chicken for heaven's sake, and the employee was obviously wrong and mislead the customer.

I'm an omnivore with several friends and family members who are vegetarians or vegans, and I'm often surprised that other omnivores seem to have a lot of animosity toward those who choose not to eat meat or animal products.

heck, I am just surprise that they can get my order right. let alone knowing the contents of each and every item served.

lets face it, they hire people to simply push a button on a pre-programed register. And they want them to do it quickly.

Like other posters have said over and over. If you have food allergies and/or aversions, such as being a vegetarian, then it is incumbent on YOU to determine if a food item(s) fit your dietary needs.

The good thing is that a LOT of fast food places are annotating their menu with the vegetarian, kosher, and other symbols.

but in the end, it is really the consumer that needs to make the decisions.

stop blaming some poor minimum wage high school kid. (or in this job market, college graduate!)

 

[scrapquitler]

I called their corporate customer service number the next day and told the person there the whole story and she was totally apologetic and nice and took down a detailed report and said she would send me something in the mail to hopefully express how sorry they were. I got it today. A coupon for ONE Jack in the Box combo meal. The irony? There is not one single vegetarian combo meal at Jack in the Crack. The apology is heartwarming: "We're so sorry we tricked you into eating meat! Here. Here's a gift certificate for some meat.". Would you just drop it at this point?

I would just drop it. The cashier made a mistake. I wouldn't ever go into a fast food restaurant and assume anything to be vegetarian other than a salad.

For future reference, you should ask for the nutritional information literature at any fast food restaurant if you are unsure of the ingredients, then you can read it for yourself instead of needing to rely on a perhaps not well trained cashier.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

The irony? There is not one single vegetarian combo meal at Jack in the Crack. The apology is heartwarming: "We're so sorry we tricked you into eating meat! Here. Here's a gift certificate for some meat.". Would you just drop it at this point?

Do you know my DH, because he calls it Jack In The Crack too.

 

[brittsmum1998]

heck, I am just surprise that they can get my order right. let alone knowing the contents of each and every item served.

lets face it, they hire people to simply push a button on a pre-programed register. And they want them to do it quickly.

Like other posters have said over and over. If you have food allergies and/or aversions, such as being a vegetarian, then it is incumbent on YOU to determine if a food item(s) fit your dietary needs.

The good thing is that a LOT of fast food places are annotating their menu with the vegetarian, kosher, and other symbols.

but in the end, it is really the consumer that needs to make the decisions.

stop blaming some poor minimum wage high school kid. (or in this job market, college graduate!)

I totally agree w/ your above statement (bolded by me)

Not sure about where you live, but here Massachusetts, anywhere that serves any kind of food, (even Dunkin Donuts) now has an official (read engraved) sign by the menu that says PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY FOOD ALLERGIES.

I wonder if this is to keep the liability off of them if their employees don't know the exact ingredients.

 

[nathalee81]

I think even a fast-food employee should know if there's chicken in a specific dish sold by their employer. It's not some impossible-to-pronounce, twelfth-on-a-list ingredient. It's chicken for heaven's sake, and the employee was obviously wrong and mislead the customer.

I'm an omnivore with several friends and family members who are vegetarians or vegans, and I'm often surprised that other omnivores seem to have a lot of animosity toward those who choose not to eat meat or animal products.

No animosity here either.

I have friends and family that are vegan or vegetarian.

In fact, this past Easter we had a guest that was a vegan come to our family gathering. I knew he was a vegan from previous conversations and I scoured Whole Foods looking for foods and desserts. I didn't want him to come to our home and not be able to eat anything.

I got him three or four things that were specifically for him. I even had a little fun with it and put a little "flag" in everything that he could eat.

He was beyond happy and so grateful.

However, he didn't expect me to do this for him. He had actually brought a sad little salad with him to eat. (p.s-he didn't even eat the salad because we had so much other good stuff for him to eat!).

He took some personal responsibility and brought his own food because he didn't know if he would be able to eat anything we provided him.

I think that is what everyone is saying-if this is so important to you take some personal responsibility.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

You know quite a few of these Minimum wage McDonalds workers have this as a side job like I do so we can have other luxuries in life. That came off mega insulting. Alot of us who work there part time have degrees and some just wanted extra money considering how the economy is.

And its just gelatin in the yogurt sheesh. Its not like there is bacon in the yogurt. So many foods have gelatin in them I know its from the skin and bones and is essentially collegen. Most vegetarians I know will still eat the Yogurt Parfaits. But then again I've been to a slaughter house and will still eat beef and pork. I know whats in all the stuff at McDs even know about the bacterial cultures. I'd edit your post insulting minimum wage workers. I have my masters , so what if I work at McDs for minimum wage so I can have a car, doesn't make me dumb.

I'm sorry you were mega insulted, but it certainly wasn't meant that way and I most assuredly didn't call anyone dumb... and that has nothing to do with having your Masters. I will not edit my post because I stand by it. I can't help it if someone wants to read something into it that wasn't there. And if anything, your response seems more insulting than my original comment. Not everyone working at McD's does so for the reason you do. I don't look down on those individuals, either, nor do I think they're dumb.

I don't expect a minimum wage fast worker to know the ins and outs of vegetarianism, period. And that's regardless of whether that person is a high school student trying to save for college, a mom who wants to pick up some hours while her kids are in school, a 30-yr-old who chooses to work there for any reason, or a former corporate executive who was laid off due to the economy. I think that anyone who has food restrictions needs to put the burden of choosing appropriate food on his-or-herself.

And your next comment, which I bolded, shows that I'm not too far off base. You posted that McDonald's yogurt was vegetarian. I don't think you're dumb for saying that and I even said that for some vegetarians that would be okay, but for others it wouldn't be... and others on this thread confirmed that. I think (which I clearly stated already) is that a vegetarian needs to be the one to make that decision, not the person serving it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I totally agree w/ your above statement (bolded by me)

Not sure about where you live, but here Massachusetts, anywhere that serves any kind of food, (even Dunkin Donuts) now has an official (read engraved) sign by the menu that says PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY FOOD ALLERGIES.

I wonder if this is to keep the liability off of them if their employees don't know the exact ingredients.

Actually, we now have a law requiring any food service location to have - and forgive me, I forget the exact title - a food allergy expert on duty. I was at the snack couner at Beverly Hospital a few weeks ago, and even they had that sign. Water, juice, some premade salads and sandwiches... I think they had some bakery cookies.

But, yeah - it's the law

 

[Leajess99]

My boyfriend and I stopped at a Jack in the Box on the highway between Houston and San Antonio. We are strict vegetarians and have been for over 20 years. I told the bf to get the stuffed jalapenos and mozzarella sticks (gross, I know, but we were desperate). I stayed with the dog outside while he ordered. He noticed a sampler trio thing that also included egg rolls so he asked the cashier what was in the eggrolls. She said she didn't know. He asked her if there was MEAT in them and she said "Oh, no.". He said "So they are vegetarian?" and she confirmed. Well, guess what. I bit into one and it was disgusting mushy meat. Barf. I instantly called the restaurant (we were back on the road by then) and spoke to a manager who just kept telling me that the eggrolls have pork and chicken in them. Whatever. I called their corporate customer service number the next day and told the person there the whole story and she was totally apologetic and nice and took down a detailed report and said she would send me something in the mail to hopefully express how sorry they were. I got it today. A coupon for ONE Jack in the Box combo meal. The irony? There is not one single vegetarian combo meal at Jack in the Crack. The apology is heartwarming: "We're so sorry we tricked you into eating meat! Here. Here's a gift certificate for some meat.". Would you just drop it at this point?

Sorry but your boyfriend should take responsibility for this mess up as well. The clerk already stated she did not know what was in the egg roll so why would he think that she would know there was no meat in it?? Seriously, common sense to me is that if she says she does not know what is in it than she would not know whether or not meat was in it regardless of her answer.

Drop it as you could use the coupon to order a vegetarian burger just ask for no meat. I used to deal with this when I worked for Hardees in high school.

 

[Leajess99]

Why, THANK YOU, bumbershoot. My faith in the intelligence of humanity has been restored!

Bumbershoot addressed several of the idiotic comments made that I might have responded to, and I thank her/him.

However:

To Brittsmum1998 who said: "You really think they "tricked" you into eating meat? Are you the Dahli Lama or something?" Why, yes. Yes I am the Dalai Lama. Are you Forrest Gump?

Did you really think that was a sincere, horrified, paranoid concern of mine? Clearly you do not understand irony, which was the whole point of the post. We asked about MEAT. THREE TIMES. We unknowingly bought meat. We were grossed out. We called and complained. They gave us free meat to apologize. God. The pretend response to corporate over the gift certificate was sarcasm.

Everybody calm the hell down. I did email Jack about the ridiculous attempt they made to right a wrong, and I expect nothing further from them.

Thank you.

Bolding is mine but how could it be "we asked" or "we bought" when you were not in the restaurant?? Seriously, get over it already. Stuff happens and your boyfriend should have listened when the worker originally said she did not know what was in the egg rolls. YOUR BOYFRIEND and yourself need to take responsibility for your own actions. If you are unsure about what is in an item why would you bite into it without even looking at what is inside??

 

[brittsmum1998]

Bolding is mine but how could it be "we asked" or "we bought" when you were not in the restaurant?? Seriously, get over it already. Stuff happens and your boyfriend should have listened when the worker originally said she did not know what was in the egg rolls. YOUR BOYFRIEND and yourself need to take responsibility for your own actions. If you are unsure about what is in an item why would you bite into it without even looking at what is inside??

Thank you Lea for quoting her post. Somehow, I missed her response to me. I didn't say "thank you for tricking me into eating meat" you did. The dahli Lama reference was my try at "irony" oops.

Oh yeah, I'm terribly allergic to shrimp and have not eaten eggroll in years, anywhere. I found out years ago that Chinese restaurants (at that time not sure about now) that put shrimp in the eggroll. I wouldn't order it today even if they tell me there is no shrimp.