Things in your food that don't belong there.

First up, Wendy's in Ruther Glen, VA. I decided to try their salad that came with chili on it. Seemed like an odd combination to me but hey, maybe it works! When I was about 3/4ths of the way done with my salad, I bit into something that shouldn't have been there.

(please pardon the white ring on my thumb from where my thumb ring normally resides)

Yes, that was in fact a plastic bread tie in my salad. The only explanation I had for this was that I had ordered a small sandwich in addition to the salad, so when they were making my order, they started the salad first and then went to make the sandwich and by unfortunate luck, the bread tie for the buns fell into my salad. I can see that being an honest mistake, and I didn't cut my mouth open on it or get it wedged between my teeth so I was really understanding about how this could have accidentally happened.

I sent a message on Twitter to Wendy's and received a response within the hour. That, on it's own merit, was pretty impressive. They asked me to email them with the picture and they'll have someone take care of it. So I did just that. I emailed them and attached a picture for their records (if they needed it, I don't know). I told them I wasn't looking for a hefty cash settlement or free Frosty's for life because of it, I just wanted the employees there to be a little more mindful when they're working. I'm sure it's a fast-paced environment and trying to hustle to get food orders out, things happen.

The response I received was very polite and nice. It was actually from someone at the Flying J truck stop where this location is found, and in fact she was next to me in line that day and saw what I had ordered and it looked so good she decided to order one herself. While I again stressed I wasn't looking for any handouts or free stuff, the really nice lady was insistent that she'd like to send something out to apologize for my inconvenience. I included my mailing address but last I checked, I don't believe anything has arrived at home from Pilot or Wendy's. I'll check for sure myself next time I'm home, though.

Second instance was at Arby's in Nitro WV. I love Arby's, even if you need to take out a second mortgage to pay for lunch, their mozarella sticks are addicting! They have a new smokehouse sandwich that looked really enticing and appetizing. So much so that on this particular late night, I decided to give it a try.

A few bites into my sandwich, however, I found something that didn't belong there.

At first glance you'd think this was a piece of lettuce or something. Let me assure you, it was paper. And not just a piece of paper but a tightly folded up piece of paper. In this particular instance, I don't think this was accidental, just by the nature of what it was, and how it was found inside my sandwich. Could it have been an honest mistake? Maybe, but doubtful. Could it have been the result of two of the three employees working there being stupid kids? Possibly. It was late at night and I was the only customer so an accidental happening due to a long line of customer orders doesn't fly in this case. I think this was the result, like I said, of two young men being dumb, thinking it would be funny to do.

Like the Wendy's incident, I sent a picture of this to Arby's on Twitter and so far currently, I have yet to receive a response back about it. I'm extremely disappointed by this.