SUBWAY
This morning I read an article that stated that a very large scientific study clearly shows that processed foods increase the likelihood of all kinds of maladies and that 60% of the food consumed in the United States is processed food which has generally cheap Ingrediens with added chemicals for prolonging freshness and added ingredients that are stimulating and addictive while at the same time being low in nutrition. Since all I’ve eaten since I got back from traveling is processed food from Trader Joe I decided to use the coupon that came in the mail while I was gone to get a Subway sandwich which has a number of raw vegetables and unprocessed meat. I would feel better about myself.
I don’t go often to the nearby Subway but I’ve never encountered the same workers behind the counter twice. They must have a very high turnover rate. And it is a routine boring job. Yet the guy in his twenties who took my order and toasted it half way through was particularly friendly, asking me how I was and answering my question back to him that he was doing well, thank you. He seemed pleased with every choice I made, white bread or wheat bread? Wheat, great choice. I was still trying to be healthy. Would I like onions? My wanting double onions seemed a very wise choice to him. He agreed with my choice of cheese and peppers and an additional sauce. I asked him if being so nice was tiring. He said it was very tiring.
I was only there because Subway was trying to lure me in with a bunch of discount coupons of different combinations which had arrived in the mail. Most of the options included a fountain drink, which I knew was how restaurants make most of their money, so I’m not using those coupons. Subway knows what they are doing, finding ways to draw me in and addict me, I was trying to outwit them.
Finally I paid and, sure enough, got outwitted. $4 when I paid with a credit card and just a couple of questions to answer. How much tip did I want to leave, 10, 15, 20%? Suddenly I sensed what was going on. This poor guy was forced into being super agreable just to get that tip. I gave the minimum, 10% and he thanked me for my order. But why was I paying a tip at all? I was already paying them to assemble my sandwich and all they were doing was handing it to me? Yet, I was getting the sandwich at 1/3 off, so why not, but the Subway workers shouldn’t have to grovel, they should be paid a fair wage without having to ingratiate themselves hour after hour for the tip. They were being used by Subway to present a smiling face and lure me back.
But on second thought, if they were paid a fair wage and I hadn’t had a discount voucher the cost of the sandwich would have been $8 instead of $4 and I, cheap as I am, I probably would have stayed home. In addition, it was the sweet onion sauce that made me like Subway, not their fresh condiments. And that sweet onion sauce was the addictive feature that wasn’t good for me but that Subway counted on to bring me back once they had lured me in. In addition, the only way that Subway could reduce costs was to chop up all those vegetable ingredients in come huge machine in some distant place and truck them in. They were probably 12 hours from chopping to serving, they weren’t that fresh at all.
So it turns out that I had been outwitted and hadn’t myself outwitted anyone.
But the Sweet onion terriyaki whole wheat sandwich with extra onions and peppers and pepper jack cheese toasted did taste good when I got home and ate it with a glass of water. And it gave me something to write about.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 