Wendy vs. McDonald's, Round Two

A little over a year ago I posted about a crazy interaction I had at a McDonald's drive-through. I thought, at the time, that it couldn't get much weirder than that, but it turns out I was wrong.

Yesterday I went through the drive-through again to get a quick snack wrap before a meeting I had to attend. Just a little fat and protein (okay, well a LOT of fat) to keep my brain cells active so I didn't do something embarrassing like slide out of my chair in a sudden moment of blood-sugar narcolepsy.

I ordered a bacon and Angus beef wrap which is basically a tiny, overpriced tortilla with half a beef patty, a slice of bacon, some pickles and a piece of fake cheese that the dairy industry calls "American" cheese. I love pickles but not on a snack wrap so I asked if they would substitute lettuce for the pickles. She said it would be no problem at all and I drove around to the window.

While I waited for my food I looked at my receipt because I find that to be less disturbing than looking inside the restaurant to see what's going on in there. I noticed as I perused the list that there was a line item on there that read:

Lettuce                                         .20

Huh. My brow must have been all squinchy because when the girl handed my drink to me she said, "Something wrong?"

"I don't know. Did you really charge me 20 cents for lettuce?"

She nodded. "Yeah, they charge for lettuce."

"But I said I wanted to substitute lettuce for pickles. Wouldn't you think it would just be a wash?"

She shrugged. "It's weird. It sometimes depends on how you ring it up, too."

"Really?"

She nodded again. "Yeah, like mayonnaise. They charge if you add mayo to a sandwich but if you ask for it at the window we give it to you for free. Here's your order.  Is there anything else I can get you?"

"Yes, I'll take some free mayonnaise."

She paused and looked at me for a moment. I think she was trying to figure out if I was kidding or not.

I added, "And while you're at it, throw in some ketchup packets, too."

By gosh, I was getting my 20 cents worth back.

* * *

Just FYI, I was curious to know what cost more, lettuce or pickles.  I suspected the pickles but went online to see if I could find something more substantial than intuition. I found a very amusing sandwich price calculator. You should check it out.

Not only does this site prove that in bulk sales McDonald's is totally ripping you off by keeping your pickles at the same time as charging you for lettuce, but also proves that many people on the Internet have a lot of time on their hands.

Surgery #17

Just FYI, Julius is having his 17th procedure today. We'll be at the hospital and progress noted over at the "family update" blog. You're welcome to peek in there if you'd like to learn more.  You can learn the back story at:  this post.