"We don't have a button on the register for that request " is not good customer service At Subway

I hope no one else has though of this, but this reminds me of a Mitch
Hedberg bit (from wikipedia.com):

"I was in downtown Boise, Idaho, and I saw a duck, and I knew the duck
was lost, 'cause ducks ain't s'posed to be downtown. There's nothin'
for 'em there. So I went to a Subway sandwich shop, I said, 'Let me
have a bun.' But she wouldn't sell me just the bun, she said that I
had to have something on it. She told me it's against regulations for
Subway to sell just the bun. I guess the two halves ain't supposed to
touch. So I said, 'Alright, well, put some lettuce on it,' which she
did. She said, 'That'll be $1.75.' I said, 'It's for a duck.' And they
said, 'All right, well, then it's free.' See, I did not know that.
Ducks eat for free at Subway! Had I known that, I would have ordered a
much larger sandwich. 'Let me have the Steak Fajita Sub - but don't
bother ringing it up, it's for a duck! There are six ducks out there,
and they all want Sun Chips!'"

Sorry, that is a long one but it just fit so well with this letter.
Subway is nutters.

This is a great letter! I had a similar (ie STUPID) experience in Taco
Bell. Needless to say, I have not returned. Taco bell, evidently,
doesn't have a button for "no beans" in a taco salad!! I thought for
sure they would call up the president on this issue!! Everyone was
soooo perplexed at the audacity of someone not wanting beans!

I hope this letter, with such a simple request, brings light upon what
good customer service is really all about!

Couldn't the employees have at least offered an alternative that
worked? For example, you have to pay for a sandwhich, for inventory
purposes, but perhaps we can put the insides in a baggie for you to
take home? A little explanation, atleast, would have been much nicer
than "No".

When I worked at Subway, we gave our friends free food, and we sat in
the back and ate frozen cookie dough. Not that this was okay, it was
stealing, but the point is that we never got caught, so unless this
stores inventory policies were much different, it sounds like the
employees just wanted to be a pain!

I work at Subway. If a customer came to me with such a request, I'd
have suggested a 50 cent charge, and sold her the bread, (or, if a
regular customer, I'd have given her the bread), smiled, and said
"Enjoy your meal". Good customer service and repeat customers are
what makes any business thrive. Yes, we inventory the bread, but
loaf would certainly not bankrupt the company, lol. There are days
when 200 loaves are written off because they were baked incorrectly.
You were treated shabbily,and I'd certainly contact the district
managerin your area and relay your experience. Czenne

Just order the sandwich in parts, keeping the bread separate and take
the inside home for some Wonder bread or something!

Although I, too, would love some Subway bread to dip in soup (and
admittidly, that was a dumb answer they gave you), I really do get why
they turned you down. I work at a small ice cream store. Obviously, we
have hot fudge there for use on sundaes. Numerous times I have had
people ask me if they could buy a can of fudge. I have to tell them
no. Although we have the fudge, we arent a distributer. We dont buy
the fudge to sell it to other people. Most customers are very
understanding about this.

Arg. people.

If the letter poster wanted bread with her soup, why didn't she go
somewhere that actually offered it?

It is true inventory checks are really strict in fast food nowadays.

The complaint here shouldn't be for customer service, but rather a
suggestion to the company.


If you want individualized service, nxt time go somewhere that isn't a
chain.

I am an assistant manager of a Subway, where I have been for 4 years.
It's simple, really. We don't offer bread to anyone for any reason, so
why make an acception for the one person who happens to ask? YES- If
the woman was willing to pay for a small veggie sub, we would happily
give her a 6" bread roll. But it is impossible for us to just hand her
bread, of any size. We keep an extremely close watch on all of our
products- bread, wraps, cucumbers, turkey, napkins, you name it.
Handing out a piece of bread would put an inaccurate count on the
bread. While yes, the customer is always right, we cannot put the
store in harm for a person wanting some bread for their soup. It's not
something we offer. I agree though, that the manager should have
explained to the woman a little more why they couldnt give her bread,
instead of just saying "we don't have a button for that".

I recently wanted just a burger at a local Wendy's and the cashier
asked what kind of drink i wanted with the combo. I told her i didnt
want any drink or fries. She said, "You want the combo without any
drink or fries?"

I had to explain in super slow motion, "I just want the burger."

After a few seconds it finally registered.

Im not going to say anything else.

Eh, I agree this is stupid. As if it is so unheard of to have bread
with soup. I peronally love to dip a crusty french roll in my hot
soup and consider it to be one of life's great and simple pleasures.
And Subway DOES have smaller, round sandwhich rolls. And most cash
registers have a generic key on them somewhere.

But one thing you have to take into condideration is that the manager
is responsible for the stock of the store and if he or she does this
often then their stock will be unbalanced and they may get in trouble
for not maintaining their stock correctly.

I think this is a failure on Subway's part for not taking into
consideration that people may want to have bread with their soup (very
common actually). And Subway does heavily promote the fact that they
have fresh bread.

You have a legitimate beef with Subway but it is on the part of the
planners in the corporte officers, not with the front line employees.

Yes, that's the problem with numerous businesses these days. People
can't think for themselves. They ARE in the business of selling bread
(and meat, cheese, veggies, etc). They all have a price, and at the
very least, they could ring up the least-expensive sandwich and not
put anything on it (assumedly a veggie sandwich).
However, if they won't do that, then the solution is very simple:
Don't go back. Vote with your dollars.

Next week the lady would just want to buy a pound of ham, or a block
of cheese. Who cares how they said it, I am assuming that the buttons
are pre-programmed with the 50 different things they offer and ring up
automatically. The message was that they do not sell just bread, plain
and simple. After that the lady needs to say, thank you and walk away.
In the customer service arena someone asks for something to be done
that is against policy everyday and adds the line, "I was always able
to do that before". Reps know this is b.s. everytime. If someone had
done it before they were wrong because it was not store policy, but
these people think they are grandfathered in. If you asked for an oil
change at Subway and they said they did not do that, would you stay
there and try to get other customers on your side and rile them up?
No- Because that is not something they offer, like bread for their
soup. If they do start offering it, someone will complain they should
have rolls and butter, bread sticks for better dipping... Give me a
break. I like oyster crackers with my soup but I am not going to try
to tell Subway how to run a business because I would look foolish.

As it stands now, they obviously don't sell bread buy itself.

That's not only Subway's policy, but basically every fast food
establishment's as well. I do recall way back (25 years ago...ugh) I
worked briefly for McDonalds. Everything was counted, even every
slice of cheese. It's the only way they can control inventory and
seriously cut down on employee theft. I found out the hard way:
While working behind the grill when I first started, I grabbed a slice
of cheese and ate it. I was thoroughly chewed out by my manager, in
the usually kind and professional McDonald's way (rolls eyes).

Anyway, back to Subway, as someone else posted, the bread is merely
Subway's selling point. Sure, it might not cost them much, but the
whole point is to get you into the store to buy a much more expensive
sub on that bread. I doubt they'll start selling it seperately
though, since, as someone else pointed out, it would have people
coming in just for the bread, and take it home and put whatever meats
they want on it, and cheaply too.

More of a suggestion then a complaint. They should offer bread with
soup - Wawa does.

Most all Subways operate this way. They don't sell the bread
separately. She could have charged the woman for a 6" veggie sub maybe
but that's the only way. The bread is counted on a daily basis, it's
the only way of knowing if your employee's are stealing or giving away
food. Sure she could have made an exception, but then the manager
would have heard "Well you did for it so and so". The bread has to be
accounted for, bread is missing, food costs go up & owners get mad,
the manager gets chewed.

Most people come into Subway because of the bread. Bread is not listed
on the menu, if it were, people would just buy the bread and go home
and make their own subs thus losing money for Subway as they couldn't
charge as much for just the bread as they do the subs.
I wouldn't have the nerve to go into a restaurant and ask them to
change their menu or ask for special treatment anyway.

Deb

This is quite a bit after the fact, but this complaint reminds me of a
comedy routine by the late, great Mitch Hedberg. I'll share it with
you now, because I think it might have the solution that you're
looking for.

"I was in Downtown Boise, Idaho, and I saw a duck, and I knew the duck
was lost, 'cuz ducks ain't s'posed to be downtown. There's nothin' for
'em there. So I went to a Subway sandwich shop, I said, "Let me have a
bun." But she wouldn't sell me just the bun, she said that I had to
have something on it. She told me it's against regulations for Subway
to sell just the bun. I guess the two halves ain't supposed to touch.
So I said, "Alright, well, put some lettuce on it," which she did. She
said, "That'll be $1.75." I said, "It's for a duck." And they said,
"Alright, well, that is free." See, I did not know that. Ducks eat for
free at Subway! Had I known that, I would have ordered a much larger
sandwich. "Let me have the Steak Fajita Sub - but don't bother ringing
it up, it's for a duck!"

So next time you're asking for some bread at Subway, just say it's for
a duck. Problem solved.

Subway stinks. And as long as Jared is on the commericals, I wont go
there anymore

Subway is a huge money making franchise...I have never heard of Pot
Belly and I am in N.Y. where we have everything.
Anyway.....They should have just cut a foot long into a 1/4 and given
it to you to.
They should have told you.."We don't have a button...but what the
heck."...if they valued you as a customer.
Did the person behing the counter speak English?

Call me the sandwich girl if you want, but while I was eating at
Potbelly in Cincinnati yesteday I decided to ask the controversial "B"
question: Do you sell bread to accompany soup?

Guess what, they quickly responded with, "Of course, it is $.99."

"Of course" sounded much better than "There is no button on the
register" in my book -- and they will forever benefit from my word of
mouth.

Erika "Go To Town" Brown

How do you expect that not having the button on the register is not
good customer service? It's not the managers fault, I'm sure if it
could be done, the manager would have been more than happy to sell the
bread to her. It's just the way some franchises are. If Subway does
not advertise or sell it that way, it's pretty much illegal to sell it
any other way. I work at an ice cream/fast food place called Foster's
Freeze, we make "Twisters" which are like Blizzards from Dairy Queen
or McFlurries from McDonalds. We used to carry Baby Ruth for a candy
topping, but not anymore. We can only sell the candies that Foster's
intends to sell. Peanut Butter cups, Oreo, Butterfinger, Snickers, and
m&m's. Some people come in with their own candy bar and say, "hey can
I give this to you to put in a Twister for me? I'll even pay full
price for the Twister" as much as we hate to say it, we can't do it.
Foster's doesn't sell Baby Ruth, Heath, Crunch or other candies, so it
would be illegal for us to do such a thing. If you want certain things
to be sold at the franchises, call them up and ask them yourself.
Don't get mad at the employees, for they certainly can't help it.

Well, you almost had me swayed on this. ALMOST.

I have to say that I was about to agree that they should have just
given her the bread for a price. I worked retail for a long time. I
know how to make customers happy even if I dont agree and even if it
means the company has to take a hit on it. Until I heard the rest of
the audio. You lost me again.

First off...I dont think that Subway would make more money selling
bread for their soups. I think that they would end up losing money
having to make extra bread just for soup and then, I dont think it
would be as popular as you seem to think. This is the FIRST and ONLY
request I have heard for this. Not saying no one else would buy it but
I dont think many people would. They sell the soup to go with the
sandwiches. That is what they are pushing. If they sell soup and plain
bread then no one will buy the sandwiches and eventually prices on
their soup and bread will go up or they will discontinue it
altogether.

That aside...it was the comment about how the two of you stood in line
talking to the other customers about how mistreated you felt. That
right there proved to me what kind of customers the two of you
actually are.

If you didnt like the service you were getting, even after talking to
the manager, then you should have walked out. You gave them your money
so you must have approved their treatment of you. Either way, I think
standing in line and talking to everyone else about it was wrong and
immature. I have seen it happen before. The customer who feels
slighted trying to rile up everyone else to their side. It's silly.
And of COURSE you arent going to get your way when you do something
like that. You might get asked to leave...but you arent going to get
your way.

There was a children's song on a kid's video that we taught our son
when he was younger. The title of the song is "No means No."

It's a simple song really. One everyone should know.

"No means no. No means no means no means no. No means no. No means no
means no means no."

It has a catchy little tune to it as well.

I think if we expect our children to follow this then we, as adults,
should as well.

It might be unfortunate that they wouldnt allow her to buy bread. But
for whatever reason they choose not to. It isnt the end of the world
and it wasnt cause for all this drama.

I was going to reply to this letter, but my keyboard didn't have the
right button to express my feelings on the matter. If that doesn't sum
up my poor commentator services, I don't know what does.

In all seriousness, if it was me, I would've just rang up a veggie sub
without the veggies. But I don't work at Subway or fast food at all,
so my opinion is pretty much irrelevent. Which is why I'm going to
stop writing now.

Obviously not a lot of people are asking for just a slice of bread, so
you can't blame them for not being able to accomodate you. You can't
please everyone, take your soup home, and get your own bread.

Wow, I have to agree with the lady that said some of you are getting
all worked up. It's actually quite funny.
She wanted some bread with her soup...and? "No", is NOT a valid
answer. I worked at several "fast food" places and we always found
ways to make the customer happy (ringing up a different item at a
price equal to what they wanted).
You people are really making to much of it, "no key this"..."don't
tell us how to run a restaurant", "go somewhere else", If it was me,
and I was treated with the attitude some of you are coming off with, I
WOULD HAVE started something up in there.
It's not like she was asking for a handout.

click
here

First off, yes, it sucks that Subway won't just sell you their bread
on its own. It's good bread, and I really hope that they reconsider.
But to say that the honest answer you got from the manager was "bad
customer service?" Sorry, I'm not with you there. These people are
working hard for not all that much money, they are not paid to
innovate Subway's menu. If there's no button, it's a pretty good
indication that what the customer wants just can't be done. That's
why it is designed like that.
And was there really a scene at the store? Over some bread? I mean
come on, that's a little overboard for some bread, isn't it? I'm
trying to imagine a scenario where I would become involved in a
"scene" over Subway's bread, and it's just not coming to me.

I think I'll side with Subway on this one. Stop at Seven-Eleven and
ask for 3 Marlboro cigarettes. They'll say they cannot sell individual
cigarettes, just packs. Registers are not set up for that, nor do they
want to open a pack for that purpose. What if the writer merely wanted
"half a loaf". Would you expect Subway to sell her a half and throw
out the other half?
If she has an issue, it should be a suggestion, not complaint, such as
"Subway, let's add another item to your menu. How about one of your
delicious flavored sandwich breads as an add-on side to any soup
order?" Subway, are you listening?

I work for Subway. Managers do NOT make $8.25 an hour! The green
shirt "shift managers" do, but that is by NO means a store manager.
Shift manager is more an honorary title, and $8.25 is what it pays.
Store managers wear burgundy shirts, and make WELL more than $8.25 an
hour.

I'm home sick and have no life apparently, so I called the home
offices of Subway. This is what I learned:

I spoke to "lisa". Judging from her response, I was not the first
person to call and ask "can Subway just sell me bread when I purchase
soup"?

Her repsonse:

Our registers are not set up that way, just to sell bread; however, we
are getting interest in that so eventually maybe we will. A manager
can sell bread for now by ringing it up as a veggie sub but, we don't
have a register key that allows employees to ring it up just bread.

My impression from the call is that they eventually will sell "just
bread". And again, as she stated, a maanger can offer to sell bread
plus veggies to soup consuming customer or anyone just wanting some
plain ole' subway bread.

In conclusion: I imagine subway will eventually offer to sell just
plain bread. I think its a shame the option of "buying bread with
veggies" wasn't given to the letter writer. MAYBE (or maybe not) she
would still have complained, BUT, how who will Subway know what
consumers want unless they complaim and voice their opinions??? The
people here here who are annoyed by letter writers expressing
expecatations obviously don't have a head for business. Any company
worth its weight WANTS to hear from the consumer, good, bad and ugly.
They can seperate the wackos from the legitimate consumers too,
believe me, I've been there and done that.

I feel Erika has a very valid complaint. The way the situation was
handled was very poor. The lady whom she is writing on behalf stated
to her "I come here every day...why won't they sell me bread for my
soup" Did it ever ocur to anyone who wrote negative comments that
they lady has every right to ask for some bread to purchse? She was
not asking for a freebie. The manager who said "No, b/c there is no
button on the register for this" was out of line for stating this to
a customer. The manager could have simply offered the bread, and
charged her a min price for this. I'm pretty sure there is a MISC
button the register (as almost every register) that could have been
used. I hope this lady decides to go to another establishement like
Panera Bread where they will be more than happy to provide a piece of
bread with their soup. No one deserves to be treated the way this
lady was for simply asking for a piece of bread to go with their meal.

I once worked in an amusement park cafe over the summer, and our
registers were set up the same way. Each meal/dish had it's own
button. People would frequently want to order only part of a meal,
and would not understand that it was not possible. I mean, we could
GIVE you only part of the meal, but you still had to pay full price.
I don't know why that is so hard to understand. People would stand
there and argue, but look - there isn't anything the employees can do
about it. If there is no button for it, then you can't ring it up.
So all you could do I guess is pay the price of a sandwich and just
take the bread.

Maybe instead of complaining like a child about not getting bread you
can use the suggestion section on Planet Feedback and suggest that
they start adding a side order of bread for soup. And if that lady
was upset about the bread why are you complaining, you are not her
mother. Let her put the complaint herself. I also seriously doubt
all the customers felt the same way you did. Did you ask how each and
every customer felt after they had eaten their subway food. Unless
you asked them how they felt how woul you know that they had a bad
feeling in their stomach's and not the happy full kind of feeling.

I agree that this is a good suggestion to the powers that be at
Subway. The letter probably would have been received better had it
been written as such.

The manager should have done the following:

1. Asked the woman what kind of bread she'd like.

2. Offered her a loaf for free and explained that in the future, it
would only cost her X amount for a loaf of bread with her soup.

3. Send a note to his boss asking for a menu key to do this.

4. While waiting for his boss to respond, inform the crew both orally
and via a memo that anyone who wanted bread with their soup could get
it for the price of a side of cookies. Such orders would be rung up
as a side of cookies (that certainly solves the issue of not having a
menu key).

The cost of giving that woman a loaf of bread on that day: no more
than thirty cents

The goodwill generated not only for that woman BUT also for every
other customer who watched this display take place: priceless

The writer doesn't come off as rude or as a "greedy demanding
customer". Some people who responded here seem to be really worked up.


The suggestion that bread should be offered with soup is a good one!
Corporate should take that idea into consideration. The letter
writer's suggestion, to me, is akin to someone suggesting a place that
sells cheeseburgers might want to consider serving french fries as
well. I think its a logical and good idea. Corporate as a right to
decline but this letter writer still has the right to suggest. And by
the folks, companies DO like to get feedback from consumers! Its how
they can gauge their performance and understand what consumers want.

"-- and all customers left with a bad feeling in their stomachs (not
the happy, full feeling you are going for)."

Did you take a poll?

How do you know how everyone was feeling when they left.

Maybe they were thinking you were putting your nose where it didnt
belong.

Either way...if they say no the answer is...NO! Not hard to figure
out.

Someone PLEASE tell me when did we start letting customers run our
businesses?!?!

If she wanted soup and a piece of bread she should have gone somewhere
that sold soup and bread. Not a place that is known for it
sandwiches!

And if she wanted to complain about the situation then SHE should
have. Not you.

Its so sad that everytime a customer doesnt get there way its a
customer service issue. Its never a greedy demanding customer problem
its ALWAYS poor employees, management, ect.

This woman could simply order a cheese sub or something simple with no
condiments and then take the stuff off the bread and she would have
bread to dip into her soup! Oh yeah, she would have to pay for tht
right?!?

If this didn't happen to you, it is really not your concern. For all
you kmow, she is trying to get free food from them and does this all
the time. Trust me we have customers that come in and every time they
come in they try to get something for free.

Now that is downright disgusting! Just like the last time I went to
Long John Silver and ordered a Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes.
The fools said no.

For whatever reason Subway will not sell their bread in any form other
than a sandwich - - that's just the way it is and that is why there is
not a button on the register for this item. Subway is a franchise
operation and must operate under corporate guidelines therefore this
policy has nothing to do with empowering their "front line". If
someone wants to dip bread in their soup they need to dine elsewhere.