A positive Subway experience. Warning, you could be grossed out by this.

After heading back from a campaign meeting today, my buddy Denton and I stopped in at Subway in Robinson. I ordered the Chicken and Bacon Ranch 6 inch sub on Italian Herbs and Cheese. My stomach was growling so as soon as we got back on the road I immediately opened it up and started eating. It was during a pause in eating to have a conversation that I realized something was odd about my sandwich.

I had eaten almost half of it, and had tried to take a bite several times before stopping to respond to what at the time was an important conversation, but oddly enough I now cannot remember it. I noticed something odd sitting at the edge where I was about to bite into so I grabbed it with my fingers and started to examine it when all of a sudden we both realized what it was, a dead fly covered in some ranch dressing. Good thing we were having such a great conversation.

Denton looked at me and pretty much knew what was about to happen. We had just arrived at his house when I said I’m going back, so he grinned and hopped out of the truck, telling me he hoped that it went well, and perhaps I’ll even get a blog entry out of it. I still had the fly by its wing in between two of my fingers, so I turned around and drove back down the road to Subway.

I walked inside and up to the counter, there were a few customers in line, only one person working. I set down the unwrapped sandwich and bag and calmly waited to be acknowledged. Some of the other customers gave me a few peculiar looks, seemingly waiting for me to make a scene. When the girl working there looked up at me she asked if I had forgotten something, I told her no. She asked if there was something wrong with the sandwich, and I calmly replied, yes there is.

She finished the sandwich she was working on and then came over to me to inquire about what was wrong. I held the fly up and said that I had found it in the sandwich. She looked at it for a moment and I moved it closer to her face by a bit. She remarked that it was gross, and I agreed.

So what did they do to make the situation right? I had to wait a good 15 minutes while she finished a very large order that she was already working on and because no one else was there, but ultimately I walked out with my money back, which was $5.41 and a new foot long sub instead of the original 6 inch as well as a drink and bag of chips. She apologized and was very nice about the whole thing, I was thankful that she handled it so well.

I could have walked back in there angry, upset, and could have been extremely rude to her and made a scene, and I likely would have gotten the same result, only I would have been an asshole and would have made that girl’s day miserable. In fact, had someone acted in such a way, they would have deserved the minimum, a replacement sandwich or their money back. There’s two sides to this equation, both the customer and the business, and there’s no need for rudeness on either side. The person on the other side is just another person as well, and mistakes get made.

While Subway does at times rub me the wrong way with the somewhat lack of quantity of meat and cheese in their sandwiches, it’s good to know that a business can admit wrong doing and make things right without a hassle. I’ll be contacting Subway to commend Mary for the outstanding service she provided me today. In fact I encourage everyone to follow up when things like this happen, good or bad, and either hold people accountable or help those who helped you.