Monday, August 27, 2007

The many pitfalls of food outlets...

Is it my imagination, or are all being duped by food outlets...? Has anyone else ever thought, my-oh-my this salad is rather large - I'll never finish it. What a waste. Well, I have, and I'm sick of it.

My current salad place seems to only offer the one size. I assume this because there appear to be no other containers floating around their outlet, and I've never been asked 'would you like a small or a large?' Additionally, I'm a little perturbed as to the restrictions on salad 'packages'. I will discuss both these issues at length.

Firstly, the package restrictions: I usually opt for a 'make your own' salad, whereby you choose a certain amount of ingredients to be added to your salad. However, after much trial and error, I've discovered that the allotted amount of 8 salad choices leave far too much room for error, and, quite frankly, places a bit too much pressure on your average lunch goer. Every time I choose this option, I'm informed 'you've got 4 left', which is shockingly distressing knowing full well that there's no way artichoke hearts will go with my previously chosen tandoori chicken, and I sure as hell aint putting any beetroot in with my feta.

So, I propose that salad vendors think more carefully about their instructions vs. the number of ingredients available. If you're going to enforce a choice of 8 extra salad options, make sure that there are at least 4 different possible combinations of salad ingredients for the customer, so as to prevent any mishaps, such as capers with anchovies. Now, after I go and drink a gallon of water to wash away the saltiest salad I've ever eaten, I'd like to talk portion sizes...

Some of you may be familiar with my email of complaint to 'Boost Juices'... why do you offer customers a size called 'original' that is the largest size available and by no means adheres to the common preset that 'original' size is in fact 'medium'? ... I'm now wondering what stance I should take with a salad place that only offers one size? Not just that though - this one size is possibly the largest size ever created. In fact, I'd like to challenge anyone to eat a whole salad from this place. I don't think it's possible! Even my gutsiest fans (Mason and Destro) couldn't handle the sheer enormity of this salad - a clear sign that there's something wrong with the world.

I'd appreciate your feedback on these issues. Alternatively, please someone indicate just how far along the overreactionometer this post goes.

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