Thursday, July 24, 2008

When Condiments Become The New Currency - A story of thievery amongst us!!




I don't know if you have been to McDonald's, or any other fast food joint lately, but the unthinkable has happened......they are charging for extra sauce. 

This is an outrage and I don't think we, as a country, can afford to sit by and watch this happen. Now I admit,  I am more of a sauce guy than a ketchup guy and I know that puts me in the minority. I have a friend Adam who eats the the food prepared merely as a side dish to the ketchup he actually eats for every meal, like its the fifth food group. Luckily for Adam's sake, and many others, these corporate giants have not hit us where it could hurt the most......ketchup. These beautiful condiment packets are still given in handfuls to any soul who cares to approach the counter or the "2nd window, please pull around."  However, this does not mean that we can afford to be lackadaisical.

Sweet and Sour, Barbeque, Honey Mustard, Polynesian Sauce...........now these are my fast food drugs of choice. How do you think I felt when I ordered my 10-piece nugget meal (which includes a large fry and drink), pull around to the counter to ask for extra sauce and was told that it would be an additional 35 cents per packet.   This is outrageous. I have never worked at a McDonald's but so far it seems the policy is to give 1 sauce for the six piece, 2 for the ten piece, and an amazing three sauce packets if you go for the twenty-piece (maybe back during my wrestling days).

Now let's break it down financially.....   I can not rememeber the full price of the combo meal but for argument's sake lets say it was an even $5.  So for my ten nuggets and and large fries I am given, included in the price, a mere two packets of sweet and sour sauce. This is not even close to enough. Have you seen the size of the dipping packet?? It is one nugget deep and two nuggets wide......so basically enough for two nuggets.  That means I should be getting at least FIVE packets and this doesn't even include the fries (oh no they never consider the fries). Now I admit, I am a very liberal dipper.  I eat sweet and sour sauce like Adam eats ketchup, but that should be my right as a consumer.  If I choose to purchase the amount of sauce that I require......an additional 4-5 packets.....we are talking an additional $1.40 - $1.75.  Thats about 30% of what I paid for the meal alone!!!

I would continue my diatribe with some solution as to how to hit these corporate giants where it hurts, but the truth is that right now they have the power. Any logical solutions, such as buying some sweet and sour sauce from the supermarket, would be in complete contradiction to the convenience and primary reason why so many of us eat at a fast food restaurant. I am going to work on this.......find some way to take back the power......and I will let you know!

1 comment:

Brownman said...

Yea dude, it's freaking ridiculous. Luckily I keep a giant tub of ketchup at the apt to store my ketchuo