It doesn't look like the picture! (AKA, McCook's revenge)

[Acolyte]

I was working the closing shift at the local McDonalds, and, as such, was running the kitchen myself. (Unless it's really busy, we only have one person from 11 to 12.)
Anyways, I was closing down the Toasted Deli sammich station early, and was returning from the fridge to hear some SC berating the cashier, who was also the swing manager.

Me: Yours truly
SC: Duh.
SM: Swing Manager

SC: *Something angry, I didn't catch it*
SM: Ok, I'll look into it. *Walks into the kitchen* Acolyte!
Me: Yeah?
SM: They say their sammich isn't right.
Me: What, did the grill slip not come up?
SM: It wasn't grilled, just regular.
Me: *Looks at sammich, a Big Mac* Looks right to me.
SM: That's what I thought. *Takes it up front* It's made right. We can make you a fresh one, if you want.
SC: Ok, and make sure it looks like the picture!
...wait, what?
SM relays this to me.
Me: Uh...
SM: Yeah, I know.
So, In walked up to the front and looked at the picture.
Me: Ok, in order for that to work...ah, you'll have to charge him for leaf lettuce, extra Mac sauce and quarter pounder patties.
SM: *Relays this to customer*
SC: What?! I just want to look like the picture!
Me: Well, since Corporate makes the pictures look a lot better then the sandwich is, you'll need to pay extra for what's in the picture.
SC: Screw you! I'm leaving.

Seriously, who expects fast food to look exactly like the picture?

[Becks]

Seriously, who expects fast food to look exactly like the picture?


I NEVER expect my fast food to look EXACTLY like the picture. Enough to resemble the picture, sure. Anything more than that, GREAT. Never EXACTLY, though.

What an idiot that customer is/was/forever shall be.

[chainedbarista]

if it looked exactly like the picture, the dumb ass couldn't eat it...geez.

after all the treatments they use on 'photo food,' the food is inedible.

[South Texan]

Me: Ok, in order for that to work...ah, you'll have to charge him for leaf lettuce, extra Mac sauce and quarter pounder patties.

Uh oh! That is a BIG problem. The advertised look of the sandwich can have the ingredients arranged to make it look nicer, but it cannot show the sandwich to have different and better ingredients than what actually will be delivered once it is ordered. To do so would be false advertising.

If that is what the customer was complaining about, he/she had a point. If it only was that the product served did not look as pretty as the picture (assuming the served sandwich had not been slopped together) then I agree the customer was acting irrationally.

[Rapscallion]

Trades Description Act over here would have something to say about it, therefore we get a huge amount of close-ups to make stuff appear big.

There are days when eating the picture would be more satisfying, but I think we've all fallen foul of that one :p

Rapscallion

[Acolyte]

I'm not totally sure that it's got those condiments, and, it's still essentially the same-still lettuce and 'hamburger', just slightly different amounts.
But, no, they were complaining that it didn't look like the picture.

In retrospect, they would have also needed us to buy a toaster that doesn't squish the buns.

[Tanasi]

Several years ago before most youse guys were hatched out, McDs got into trouble with their Cherry Pies. The pie container showed way over 50 cherries but the pie inside was luckly to have 5 cherries. I think the FTC or some such agency decided it was false advertising and made them change the packaging, and that why boys and girls McD pie packaging is very generic.
Then again I've not see cherry pies on their menu for several years, now their Thanksgiving Pumpkin pies are worth killing for.:devil:

[HappyCthulhu]

I'd be happy if my burger wasn't smushed when I get home.:rolleyes:

[Kogarashi]

Dude, I've heard what goes into "photo food" to make it look good for TV and magazine ads and the like. Yeccch! Stuff like glue in the milk to make the cereal sit just right.

[Imogene]

Pins in the burger to prop up the bun...
"Really, sir, exactly like the photo?"
*temple fingers, giggle evilly*
"Sure, hold on a moment."

[Acolyte]

Heh, never thought of that. I shoulda broken out a can of spray-glue and asked how much they wanted.

[gundam40]

So, how can one actually tell if the sandwich really is the same ingredients? I mean, if we compare the size of the beef patties in relation to the buns in the pics, it's always much larger than what we actually get :P

[Hotelboy]

Plus, since meat shrinks when you cook it, you could make your patties look just like in the picture. Just scorch the outside and leave the inside full of Salmonella goodness! Hmmmm hmmm! "Can I get an order of McDiarrhea please?"

[Gonzo]

Well not to hyjack the thread too much but in Morgan Spurlock's movie "Super Size Me" there is a scene where he buys a quarterpounder with cheese and notes that it is the first time he has ever gotten a sandwich which actually looked liked the picture.

[HYHYBT]

So, how can one actually tell if the sandwich really is the same ingredients? I mean, if we compare the size of the beef patties in relation to the buns in the pics, it's always much larger than what we actually get :P

Look again: they use the right ingredients, in the right amounts, but they're all pushed to the side of the bun towards the camera. If you took the sandwich in the photo and looked at it from the other side it'd just be bun, maybe with lettuce or something hanging out. But they make sure everything shows in the picture, including stuff like ketchup and pickle which normally would be inside. And of course they want the meat to look as large as possible :)

[Reyneth]

Dude, I've heard what goes into "photo food" to make it look good for TV and magazine ads and the like. Yeccch! Stuff like glue in the milk to make the cereal sit just right.

It's not glue *in* the milk, the "milk" is actually glue. Keeps the cereal from getting soggy, don't 'cha know? :p

[Knightmare]

Does anyone remember the movie Falling Down starring Michael Douglas?
A great movie, and still relevant, I feel.
Anyway, there was a great scene where the (anti-) hero is at a Whammy Burger restaurant, and orders a burger. The burger comes out looking nothing like the picture, and he goes off.
I tried to find a video of it, but I can't find anything.
I guess you'll have to rent it to see what I'm talking about.

[Arachne]

For me, the entire point of fast food is that it looks gross and squashed and barely edible and soooooo bad for me. When I'm feeling stressed out, that's just the thing, a little bit of low-key self harm to keep me from doing something stupid like slicing off all my hair or throwing half my belongings in a dumpster.

No, no one else gets it, either. When I'm stressed, I crave fast food, twinkies, and potato chips. Mmmmm, fat.

[Ackee]

Frankly, I am surprised that no one has complained that the burgers are not as big as in the picture yet. But I am sure someone somewhere will....:p

[Argabarga]

The reason the burgers look rounder and larger in the pics is because they don't thuroughly cook them, the just grill them enough to brown the outside, then then use heated rods to put fake grill marks on them, if you cut one of those prop burgers open, it's completely raw on the inside

As mentioned, they do this so it looks larger, rounder and less shriveled up than the real thing, as when you grill it, you cook out a lot of water.

Look closesly and there's legalease on most "quarter pound" burger ads advertizing that the 1/4 lb portion is prior to cooking for that reason.

[ringflinger]

The reason the burgers look rounder and larger in the pics is because they don't thuroughly cook them

These days, if a photograph is advertising food, it must show the food the customer can buy. It even has to be cooked the same way (albeit with more care, and then assembled to seem more appealing).

Food that isn't being advertised can be doctored as much as you like. Crisco "ice cream", anyone?

[wildcatgrrl]

And all those gorgeous depictions of families carving turkeys at Thanksgiving. They basically paint the outside of the turkey brown, and use a heat gun to cook only the portion of meat that shows when the actor carves it. I saw that on tv.

[CRXPanda]

These days, if a photograph is advertising food, it must show the food the customer can buy. It even has to be cooked the same way (albeit with more care, and then assembled to seem more appealing).

Food that isn't being advertised can be doctored as much as you like. Crisco "ice cream", anyone?

it doesn't *have* to be cooked, the veggies are often raw, sometimes blow-torched...read:
http://www.shutterbug.com/features/1204insider/

personally I thought most was fake anyway...now I know it is mainly real, but rather inedible.

it's 3 pages worth, I love the story "An Ice Cream Adventure"

[zzapp the witch]

Haven't had the stomach to eat at McD's in about 5 years.

When I worked as a butcher, my boss decided that since it was a nice day, and slow, that we'd have a small employee BBQ. But one of the cleaning guys (who is still an asshat after 10 years) pretty much said, "Ick, poo, I'm going to drive through McD's." Mike smiled evilly and told him to bring back his quarterpounder, he wanted to show us all something.

So while the kid was off getting his drive through heart attack, Mike had me on the scale with some hamburger, just regular burger, not lean or anything, just average stuff that we grind instore. He had me weigh out 1/4 lb balls to make the burgers with.

We had em going when the kid got back. Mike cooked em well done, and put em on a plate right next to the McD's burger. Guess which one was bigger? And also tasted better. Yep, the homemade ones. Better texture, more meat, I know for a fact no one spit on them....yeah, I'm anti-fast food. And mayo, ketchup, and horseradish make a spot-on special sauce.

[Kusanagi]

Does anyone else go into the non-chain restaraunts where they take actual pictures of the food for display, and although it looks messy, makes you drool more than anything that's ever shown at a fast food restaraunt?

[Argabarga]

Does anyone else go into the non-chain restaraunts where they take actual pictures of the food for display, and although it looks messy, makes you drool more than anything that's ever shown at a fast food restaraunt?

I have a little hidden appreciation for places that do that, if one of the fries in the pile is visibly burnt, or a bit soggy-looking, I know it was REAL FOOD and that they've got the guts to tell it as it is. :lol:

[ahanix1989]

I always lived in fear that someone would demand food at Fazoli's to be picture-perfect.
"James, how the hell do I make this little piece of lasagna look like it has 20 layers, and have an undersized breadstick conveniently Photoshopped onto the plate at an impossible angle?"

[FemmeAnime]

This "lord" is having dinner with his "family" (I personally think he has to pay people to be with him) After getting his food he reams back up to the counter tosses the fries supreme at us and starts his ranting....
"My son (spawn of satan) didn't get his toy in his meal (we're not McDonalds Ass-hat, never have their been toys in our meals) and these fries supreme don't look like the picture."
My IC (In-Charge) educates him on how everything is measure when it's put on and thats handed down from coperate who like to confuse ass-hats like yourself.
Guy gets even more irrite and says "I can't believe I paid $3 for that!" Continues to pick up fries and toss it down. Careful it might bite! "I want at least a snacker or something, this is riducluous!" Shoves the fries at us. So during the whole conversation I had been eavesdropping and his precious snacker was ready and waiting for him as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
The sad thing is, is that the fries supreme were in a meal which means he paid less than a $1 to make them supremed. He arraived near closing too....and they stayed forever and left a gaint mess. I guess he was finished with Ass-hat school with his son for the day....:roll:

[draggar]

Why am I thinking of the movie 'Falling Down' right about now? :)

[BusyBee]

Food goes in mah belly.
So long as it doesn't look vomit-inducing before then, I'm happy to at least try it. It's not like it'll keep looking nice after I've taken a bite or two ;)

Oh and the day I get a burger/BLT/toasted sandwich/salad/steak that looks like the picture, I'm saving that thing. That thing will go on my wall. :D

[draggar]

I used to taste test fast food (I need to get back into that, $20 to eat a burger? Sign me up!).

I've seen the difference between what I've tested and what was actually served to me when it came out. :)

HUGE difference.

[Dreamstalker]

if it looked exactly like the picture, the dumb ass couldn't eat it...geez.

after all the treatments they use on 'photo food,' the food is inedible.
I hear that there's an area in Tokyo where the shops sell nothing but plastic food for restaurant photos.

[Knightmare]

Why am I thinking of the movie 'Falling Down' right about now? :)

Because you read my reply about that movie that I posted about 2 pages back? :D

[Auto]

Uh oh! That is a BIG problem. The advertised look of the sandwich can have the ingredients arranged to make it look nicer, but it cannot show the sandwich to have different and better ingredients than what actually will be delivered once it is ordered. To do so would be false advertising.

If that is what the customer was complaining about, he/she had a point. If it only was that the product served did not look as pretty as the picture (assuming the served sandwich had not been slopped together) then I agree the customer was acting irrationally.

i agree.

If the picture shows one thing but the actual burger clocks in at a smaller size, with less dressing and all the rest, then it's a misleading picture and the customer has a legitimate beef (haha!).

mcd's has got to know this. management can't be so stupid as to advertise portions that are larger than the actual food.

[Noelegy]

Look again: they use the right ingredients, in the right amounts, but they're all pushed to the side of the bun towards the camera. If you took the sandwich in the photo and looked at it from the other side it'd just be bun, maybe with lettuce or something hanging out. But they make sure everything shows in the picture, including stuff like ketchup and pickle which normally would be inside. And of course they want the meat to look as large as possible :)

Reminds me of those catalogs I get before Christmas, for companies like Figis and Swiss Colony, that sell the big baskets and assortments of cheese, sausage, cakes, etc. They always show the basket with the food IN it, and then if you look carefully, the same exact assortment out of the basket and arranged around it, so you're actually seeing the contents of TWO baskets displayed in the photo, and you get the impression that you're getting a lot more food than you do.

[42_42_42]

Reminds me of the Sucky Lady who was pissed that the icing writing on her cake didn't match the writing in the display picture. I tried to explain to her about people having different handwriting, but she still wanted her $25 cake for FREE, because the writing didn't match. I dunno what management finally did for her, cause we were busy and once the manager was speaking with her I went back to decorating other cakes. Grocery stores don't photograph those cakes in store. Those photos come from the companies that sell the little plastic toys that go on the cakes. Why she expected all cake decorators to have the same handwriting, I don't know. Stupid lady.

[Andara Bledin]

Subway cuts their sandwiches differently now because of that "it doesn't look like the picture" thing (or so I've heard). I liked how they used to cut them. *sigh*

If I ever ran into someone saying it "doesn't look like the picture" I'd happily inform them that the picture is composed of plastic polymers and resin and that the shakes in fast food pictures are made with paste.

I couldn't care what my food looks like as long as it's in the same neighborhood. It's how much I get and how it tastes that's important. I don't have time to nitpick something that totally pointless. That, and I'm not looking for a freebie.

^-.-^

[Bliss]

Many many times it's not real milk, or meat or anything edible at all, my dad worked as a photographer for a long while (commercial ad photographer) and for food and some products they had to use many different "substitutes" that were more photogenic.

And food is not the only victim, once for example he had to use lots of shaving cream for a kitchen cleaning ad, since the original cleaning foam was not "photogenic" at all.

Lots of fun stories there.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The consumerist had a really funny post about a Quizno's prime rib sandwich they got looking nothing like the sandwich pictured in their ads.

The description of the real sandwich was priceless--"A diseased bowel movement that tore away half the colon".

I'd post the actual excerpt but the search button on that site isn't working.

[Bliss]

i agree.

If the picture shows one thing but the actual burger clocks in at a smaller size, with less dressing and all the rest, then it's a misleading picture and the customer has a legitimate beef (haha!).


Problem with size is that by the own format of the overhead menues, for visibility and other reasons pictures are never 1:1 (I.e., real size), so how can you determine if it's "not the same size as in picture" ?? it's subjetive unless you find out the EXACT proportionality the picture was taken at (without counting photoshop alterations!) measure the picture, multiply by the factor, and then compare with the burger you got...... In short essence, since the picture tends to leave a large area of the image occupied only by the product, and the size of the picture in the menu is enlarged for visibility or other reasons, then the burger you get will always feel "smaller" than the picture whether it is or not in real life since you are doing a subjetive comparison on sheer visible size over real 1:1 sizes.

[Sofar]

Due to my artistic abilities, such not present in my boss or my coworker, I am now commissioned to draw all the pictures for our burgers. Seeing as I put them together, I can draw them pretty much how they really look, though granted we serve our burgers with neither cherubs nor a marching band and they don't really have a halo.

[Broomjockey]

Aww, but I wanted my Angel Burger! And I wanted it carried out to me on a red velvet pillow carried by cherubs! AND I DEMAND!!! DEMAND!!! That the marching band play background music while I eat! ;) :devil:

[Food Lady]

I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me why I can't sell them one of my display pretzels. I feel bad saying, "Uh, those aren't real." What I can't figure out is why they think those rubber pretzels are real when they thought the real ones we had in there before (shellaced, of course--and very old) were fake. I can tell the difference. We have one that has a cinnamon roll in it and cream cheese frosting. Now, don't they realize that the frosting would be melted and dripping all over if it were in a warmer? Nevermind that the display is on the counter and they stand over it and touch the glass. It's obvious it's not hot at all. But I have this conversation all the time. One guy actually got mad.

[greensinestro]

Did anyone see the film "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas? He terrorizes a fast food restaurant because he wanted a breakfast sandwich, and it was after breakfast hours. After he fires a machine gun, he then asks for a burger and complains when he says it's never like the picture shows, where it's plump, juicy and big. Not the squished down thing they hand him.

And, on another thought, wouldn't it be better to have the picture look like the actual sandwich as it is served to customers? Then there would be nothing to argue about.

[greensinestro]

One place I worked at served breakfast bagels and asked us to make a couple as neatly as we could to photograph. Once they were made, the photographers stuck pins in them to keep them together, then sprayed them all with a kind of spray shellack to make them shiny. Blechh.

I think Arby's does something like this. I sometimes will go into one and see displays of these sandwiches in a glass case. It makes me wonder if they are real, and if they are, what are they using to preserve them with? Do they have to be thrown out and have new ones made the next day? That seems like a waste of food to me. Aren't pictures better?