Subway - the KNIFE and other disgusting practices

I must have a GREAT Subway. Workers wash their hands before putting on a new pair of gloves for every order. Lots of times will change gloves between the meat and veggies, though not always. First you get your bread, and if you get a 6 inch it gets cut with the bread knife. That knife stays behind, and your sandwich is never touched by anything else but a gloved hand. Even the change...coins out of a machine and the worker never touches it. When they handle bills, they take off their gloves, deal with money, wash their hands then put on a new pair. The condiments come from squeeze bottles. The meats, cheeses and veggies are all in a case that has a large glass lid that's put down on top of it all when it's not in use. I have ZERO qualms about eating at Subway. I love how you can watch what they're doing and SEE the meat and all before it's on your sandwich, rather than when it comes out to you and you realize it's not so hot that day. I've picked turkey over ham many times because I didn't like the fattiness of the ham that day, or chose spinach over lettuce because the lettuce was wilted a bit.

Worst thing that happened to me in a subway was asking for pickle on my sandwich and getting jalepeno's instead! As they were next to each other on the veggie bit I understand how the mistake was made but it ruined my sandwich so i complained and got 4 free subs and drinks! :oD Never been in a subway in my city since that has pickles and jalepeno's next to each other lol!

Worst thing? Or BEST THING?

I was thinking this. Exactly.

At the end of the line - when they have all the glop on your sandwich (note here - I despise mayonnaise and most dressings) they need to fold the sandwich up so they reach for - the KNIFE. The knife that is dripping with mayo and other dressings from the last 50 sandwiches they've made that day. They lay it on your sandwich to hold the toppings in place, fold over the top, and extract the knife such that those remnants get scraped onto your pristine, veggie patty, pepperjack on wheat sub with everything but cucumbers and carrots and a touch of red salsa sub.

The other thing that disgusts me - the server standing there, waiting for the next sandwich on the assembly line. They are wearing those plastic gloves - for our protection I presume - and they proceed to wipe the counter and push leftover stuff into the trash hole using just the glove, then turn to you and ask what you'd like on your sandwich.

I'm sure much worse happens behind the scenes at a McDonalds, Hardees, etc. but it's 1) not where you can see it, and 2) I don't eat at those meat-factories.

What is more disgusting, the Knife or a " veggie patty, pepperjack on wheat sub with everything but cucumbers and carrots and a touch of red salsa sub"?

Lmao.

I don't really mind the knife thing.. I can never taste the remnants of other peoples' sandwiches..
But the fact that they use the gloves to both prepare your sandwich AND clean is kind of gross.

Can't you just ask them not to do that?

I mean, you're right there watching everything they do. When they start reaching for the knife just say NO.

Can't you just ask them not to do that?

I mean, you're right there watching everything they do. When they start reaching for the knife just say NO.

Better yet, dive across the counter and grab the knife away from him yelling NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO in slow motion.

lol

Put a gun to his head "you're gonna do exactly as I say"

Can't you just ask them not to do that?

I mean, you're right there watching everything they do. When they start reaching for the knife just say NO.

Better yet, dive across the counter and grab the knife away from him yelling NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO in slow motion.

YES! Do this! And have your friend record the whole thing.

I believe in a strong immune system.

When they ask me what toppings I want on my sandwich I always tell them I want all the remnants that got slid into the trough that runs along the counter where they make the sammiches. I'm into cleanliness though so as long as they wipe the knife on their pants leg I'm fine.

There is this one sandwich place in New Orleans on the Edge of the French Quarters called Mothers and actually does that, they use all the cut up leftover meat on the grill and was pushed into the Trough as a topping called Debris, and Boy oh Boy is it delicious, lol.

How do you uptight people live thru the day? By taking handfuls of anxiety pills, I guess. Trash hole? Do you think they are putting used diapers in there? They are pushing bread crumbs and spinach in there that hasn't been touched by human hands yet. And you want them to use a new knife on every sandwich? Really?

I love how people think this is how fast food gets made. THIS IS HOW ALL FOOD GETS MADE. Even in your own homes. Do you think your mom used a fresh knife on your PB&J sandwich after she cut your brother's? Good luck at Thanksgiving.

Can one of you alarmists please stop by your local ER and count how many people are there because of Subway, McDonalds or any other food place before you panic?

First of all, "Mom" is not serving the general public; thus, she does not have to adhere to the same laws of quality standards for food prep set forth by the FDA. Secondly, a mom would know her own children's allergies. Not so with restaurants.

Lastly, I used to work in an ER, and you'd be surprised at how many food allergy cases come in on a DAILY basis.

Just wanted to comment in this as my son has a serious allergy. Although I would LOVE it if I felt I could trust any restaurant/fast food outlet to serve their food in a way that doesn't endanger him, basically over the last few years I've come to accept that they don't really care much about that, to be honest. Mostly we eat the food which I cook at home. When we do go out, we take a 'calculated risk' by taking him to certain places (with epipens on hand) after first checking their websites and have to trust that what we don't see in the kitchen doesn't contaminate otherwise safe foods. Other people's houses are often just as bad! Otherwise we'd have to live in a bubble

To both of the last two comments:

It's not the responsibility of the restaurant to make sure customers avoid allergens. It's your responsibility as a parent and an individual to speak up. All they can do is try to reasonably accommodate you.

I agree. I said as much in my first post on this thread. Believe me, most parents with allergic children are VERRRRY diligent, but they also know that even with the best of care, it isn't always easy to keep on top of every single allergen. In Canada, for instance, we don't have strict labelling laws like they do in the USA, so sometimes, even the best of intentions on the part of parents, restaurants, and the allergic kids themselves go astray.

Howwever, it isn't asking too much to hold a restaurant acountable for standards they MUST legally adhere to, and speak up about it if/when you witness infractions. i.e, the Subway knife..

As long as the fork goes in the dishwasher lol why not

How do you uptight people live thru the day? By taking handfuls of anxiety pills, I guess. Trash hole? Do you think they are putting used diapers in there? They are pushing bread crumbs and spinach in there that hasn't been touched by human hands yet. And you want them to use a new knife on every sandwich? Really?

I love how people think this is how fast food gets made. THIS IS HOW ALL FOOD GETS MADE. Even in your own homes. Do you think your mom used a fresh knife on your PB&J sandwich after she cut your brother's? Good luck at Thanksgiving.

Can one of you alarmists please stop by your local ER and count how many people are there because of Subway, McDonalds or any other food place before you panic?

THIS

As long as the fork goes in the dishwasher lol why not

If you're talking about my dog I meant that we share the same fork.

I could go for some Subway right about now!

a) We had a lady in our cafeteria that would use her fingers to smear the butter off of the knife and then lick it off her fingers between toast orders.

b) In high school the same mop was used to mop the cafeteria tables as the floors everwhere, including the bathrooms.

c) When I worked at the stadium, the hotdogs were prepared by using the pail that was later used to mop the floors, and fillling it full of hot water from the coffee machine, and putting the frozen weiners in it till they were bendy, then serving them.

d) my dog is the pre wash cycle for our plates before they go in the dishwasher ( I love to freak people out who were just over for dinner and pretend to put them straight back in the cabinet when hes done LMAO!)

and Im still alive and well and the subway knife doesnt bother me even a tichy bit!

Ewwww I will now just ask...dont cut it unless you use a fresh plastic knife!!

JESUS! NOT PLASTIC! Plastic transmit dioxylethers to the food.

oh, in the uk, they have squeezy sauce bottles, the knife only gets used to cut the breads.....

Strange. I live in the US, and the local one has always used squeezable bottles. I haven't seen it done any differently in my county, at least.