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Fast Food: Do You Want Fries With That?


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Apart from the obvious heavy hitters (McD, BK, KFC, JitB, Wendy's etc.) does anyone have opinions on the following:

Sonic
Nation's
Wienerschnitzel
The Habit*

 

I'm only familiar with Sonic on the list, but I go there every once in a while (like maybe once every month or so), usually to get their foot-long chili cheese dog, tater tots and a drink.  I don't do it very often, because it's probably about 3,000 calories.  I've tried their regular cheeseburgers, which are okay, but taste a lot like Whataburger cheeseburgers to me (which I find don't have a lot of 'meat' taste.  You taste mainly lettuce, onion and mustard).  I also like Sonic's frozen lemonade or limeade.  

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I love Sonic tater tots. I like the cheeseburgers, but @BooksRule is right. The flavor is mainly onion and mustard. Sometimes that's what I want, though. The chili dogs with cheese and onions are good. I rarely get the footlong because it is too much food for me. The blast is good (like a DQ blizzard), and the strawberry limeades are the best.

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I tried Wendy's Bacon and Ranch fries this weekend and they were pretty awful.  The ranch was chalky and the bacon just skittered around on the plate.

Wendy's used to be my favorite fast food place (kind of like being the tallest dwarf), but now it's sunk to the level of the rest.

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42 minutes ago, larapu2000 said:

Nooooooooo, cherry Limeades are the best! 

Their burgers are decent, but I only go there when I want tater tots.  You eat them all the time as a kid, but as an adult, it just feels like such a treat and indulgence.

I like the cherry limeades and always had them until I tried the strawberry limeade.

Wendy's is my son's favorite fast food place because their toys are creative things you can make.

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17 hours ago, BooksRule said:

I also like Sonic's frozen lemonade or limeade.  

 

1 hour ago, larapu2000 said:

Nooooooooo, cherry Limeades are the best! 

 

42 minutes ago, auntlada said:

I like the cherry limeades and always had them until I tried the strawberry limeade.

No way!!! Cherry!Vanilla!Dr!Pepper! (in High School we would put vodka in that ;)) Also I only get to go to Sonic like once a year because I don't live close to one, but when I do, I get chili cheese tater tots. They're so gross but I love them. Plus Sonic's ice is the best fast food ice ever. Second is Chick-fil-A, third is Dairy Queen. 

I may have issues. 

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You're right. Cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper is really good if it is from a place that uses actual cherry and vanilla syrup, not the premade cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper. Unfortunately, as I get older, I can't drink as much Dr. Pepper. It tends to upset my stomach. It's sad, I know.

We no longer have a DQ. I miss it. When I was growing up, we had a walk-up DQ. It was only open in the summer. It still seems wrong to me to eat an ice cream cone while sitting at a booth inside. Now I want a dipped cone.

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Sonic does have great ice, but I might be from an area where almost every joint (other than chains) have the tiny balls of ice like them, so they're not particularly special in my neck of the woods.  They're popular at many local ice cream and burger stands in Indiana.

My mom always says Chick-fil-A's ice cream tastes like her grandma's homemade ice cream.  

Edited by larapu2000
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I have never been to Chik-fil-A but they are opening one near me on Thursday.  After the initial crush dies down, what should I try?

I've only had the basic chicken sandwich and the nuggets and they were good, but I've had a couple of people recommend the Frosted Lemonade (lemonade blended with their vanilla 'icedream'--whatever that is).  They've said it is tasty.

Edited by BooksRule
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16 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I have never been to Chik-fil-A but they are opening one near me on Thursday.  After the initial crush dies down, what should I try?

Like @BooksRule says their chicken sandwich/nuggets/strips are good, and yes the Frosted Lemonade is also really good, so is the Frosted Coffee... They literally just have chicken though, (unless you're there for breakfast) so if you like a chicken dish from them you'd like anything else they have, it's all just different variations on chicken nuggets/strips/sandwiches. Though I generally get the wrap which is fresh and has decent veggies. I also like their side salad because instead of croutons they have these yummy fried red pepper things for toppings. There's one right next to my office so it's where I go to grab a quick lunch sometimes. 

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Their wrap sucks.  They give you the dressing on the side, so you either have to awkwardly dip the wrap and all the stuff falls out, or unroll the wrap and add the sauce and somehow get it to go back the same way (it never does), or just pour it on a bite at a time.  

Edited to add:  Lisin, how do you work the wrap?  Do you add the sauce?  It's so frustrating!  I love a wrap.

They have breakfast chicken & biscuit sandwiches at my airport Chick-Fil-A, and they're pretty tasty.

Edited by larapu2000
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19 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I have never been to Chik-fil-A but they are opening one near me on Thursday.  After the initial crush dies down, what should I try?

Before you go there, you might want to Google Chik-fil-A's  corporate beliefs.

Edited by ariel
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20 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I have never been to Chik-fil-A but they are opening one near me on Thursday.  After the initial crush dies down, what should I try?

I am always partial to their spicy chicken sandwich.  Don't forget to ask for the Chick Fil A sauce.  It is simply the best sauce for fried/grilled chicken.

3 hours ago, larapu2000 said:

Edited to add:  Lisin, how do you work the wrap?  Do you add the sauce?  It's so frustrating!  I love a wrap.

I dip the waffle fries to the sauce and eat them together with the wrap :D :D :D

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Before you go there, you might want to Google Chik-fil-A's  corporate beliefs.

Once I read all about them, I stopped buying their food.  I get a coupon for a free sandwich once a year on my birthday from my insurance agent, so I go by just to redeem it.  That way, I get a tasty sandwich and they don't get my money.

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11 minutes ago, BooksRule said:

Once I read all about them, I stopped buying their food.  I get a coupon for a free sandwich once a year on my birthday from my insurance agent, so I go by just to redeem it.  That way, I get a tasty sandwich and they don't get my money.

Similar here :) The owner of the franchise near my office rents an office below us and gives us free coupons constantly. Also they'll just give you a cup of ice for free! I like going there and knowing they're "losing" money one me. 

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On 2/6/2017 at 10:29 AM, Qoass said:

I tried Wendy's Bacon and Ranch fries this weekend and they were pretty awful.  The ranch was chalky and the bacon just skittered around on the plate.

Wendy's used to be my favorite fast food place (kind of like being the tallest dwarf), but now it's sunk to the level of the rest.

I got Wendy's recently after not having it for almost a couple of years. Decided on a combo since I had a $1 off coupon for one and brought it home. I was getting down to the bottom of my drink getting ready to eat the ice and I could see little black specks at the bottom of the cup which freaked me out. I called up the Wendy's and asked for the manager and a young sounding snotty girl came to the phone. I told her that they might want to dump their current ice batch for a new one because I found those specks at the bottom of my cup. She started barking at me asking what I wanted. Like I called just to get something free from her.

I told her I didn't want anything except to let her know about what I found so other customers wouldn't have to experience the same thing. That's when she assured me that those specs weren't in the ice but were probably from caked up nozzles on the coke dispenser. How is it better to admit that they obviously let the fountain drink nozzles cake up then to say the ice probably needs to be changed out? Either is bad but it doesn't take much to keep nozzles clean. I was in such shock I told her alrighty then, hung up, and  filled out a health report online with the local health department that does inspections. 

That Wendy's was supposed to be the nicer and cleaner one north of the interstate whereas the other one in the immediate area which is older isn't far but is south of the interstate near the exit so more out of town people go there. They always claim to run out of stuff at 8pm frequently too. They are supposedly owned by two different franchises. That experience has put me off Wendy's for awhile. I also called their national customer service and never heard back from them at all. Which also happened with Hardee's last year too which is another place that's off my list of places I'll go.

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On 2/5/2017 at 4:55 PM, BooksRule said:

Whataburger cheeseburgers to me (which I find don't have a lot of 'meat' taste.  You taste mainly lettuce, onion and mustard).

I think Whataburger puts too much mustard on their burgers.  I found out you can specify "easy mustard" and it's just right, and I do get much more of a "meat" taste when I do that.  I also usually knock off about half the onions, but then my fingers smell like onions no matter how much I wash them.  I guess I could use a pickle to sweep them, but I'm already using my french fries to stir the mayonnaise into the ketchup.  Eating is a lot of work.

I had one just yesterday, and I like a lot of lettuce and was pleased to see a pretty plump burger, but it turned out to be a big hunk of lettuce, and upon closer examination not just a hunk, but the actual core, with the flat end and all.  WTF?  They just stuck the core in there and balanced the top bun on the lump.

 

On 2/5/2017 at 5:46 PM, auntlada said:

I love Sonic tater tots.

I once had a slush and an order of tater tots at Sonic.  I got tonsil freeze with the slush, and tried to warm it back up by wolfing down the hot tots in quick succession.   Didn't work.  So order the tots if you enjoy them, but don't count on them as a medical intervention.

 

On 2/6/2017 at 9:55 AM, auntlada said:

I like the cherry limeades and always had them until I tried the strawberry limeade.

I used to love their cherry limeades, but found out that they're just Slice with flavors and fruit added, not like the ones you used to get at the drug store where they'd make it from scratch.  Took some of the shine off for me.

 

On 2/5/2017 at 2:12 PM, spiderpig said:

Wienerschnitzel

The Habit

I'm confident that my ardor for Wienerschnitzel comes from eating there all. the. time. in high school, where our only entertainment was driving around.  One thing I like these days is that a lot of them open at like 8:00, and you can get "real" food well before society's mandated lunch time.

As a teenager, I perfected a technique for unwrapping and eating a chili cheese dog while driving.  You have to use your knee to steer, but even then, it's more than a two-handed job for most people, and in the car you don't have the safety net of a table between the chili and your lap.  I still use my technique to this day, and if Mr. Outlier and I are eating in the car for some reason and I'm driving, I'll unwrap his and hand it to him.  It's something to behold.  Although I'm kind of cheating by not being drunk.

Some boys we had crushes on liked ketchup dogs, so we started getting those, and I still like them even though I'm not a huge fan of ketchup.  You want enough ketchup so there's extra for dragging your fries through.  The thing that Wienerdog (or Peter Palace, if you're 16) does right is the buns--they are soft, which makes a huge difference.  (Like the buns on the gone-but-never-forgotten Bell Beefer at Taco Bell--they kept them in the steamer with the tortillas.)

My friend Lisa liked a mustard dog with cheese, which isn't a menu item.  We were driving around in my mother's gigantic convertible and Lisa was in the back, and when we were doling out the food, it was discovered that her mustard dog didn't have cheese on it.  I can still see her curled up sadly in the back, saying, "Oh, that's all right."  

The Habit (which Mr. Outlier and I call "Habitat for Hamburgers"; admittedly not as clever as calling Taco Cabana "Taco del Baño") has charcoal grilled hamburgers.  I've never been able to decide whether I love charcoal grilled hamburgers or not.  I know a lot of people do, so I probably should, but I'm not quite convinced.  But I don't avoid them.  Their fries are pretty thick but still somewhat crispy--I definitely like those.  And Mr. Outlier likes the shakes.

 

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Wendy's is my son's favorite fast food place because their toys are creative things you can make.

The people at Wendy's HQ are high-fiving each other:  Mission accomplished.

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16 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

Do Hardee's or Rax still exist anywhere?   I noticed the last area Hardee's disappeared sometime in the last few years.  I loved Rax, they were so much better than Arby's.  I think they've been gone for 20+ years.

Never ever heard of Rax, either. But we had Hardee's. But it disappeared a good 20 years ago or so. No clue if it is still in operation elsewhere in the US.

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I haven't seen a Rax in years, I think they're gone.  If you're ever in the Missouri area, I've heard that Lion's Choice is a good roast beef regional chain.  Lots of folks there prefer them to Arby's.  

Ugh, I think Hardee's is the grossest fast food menu ever created.  Take all the gross things you can do with food, and that's what Hardee's puts on their menu.

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58 minutes ago, DeLurker said:

 I though Hardee's and Carl Jr's were the same, just named different depending on what part of the country you were in.

That's what Hardee's turned into after Carl's Jr purchased them. There are still a few Rax around. I'm in a FB group with a couple guys that like to go eat at them and take pictures to prove they still exist.

 

2136 West Jefferson Street
Joliet, Illinois 60436

758 East State Street
Georgetown, Ohio 43311

11306 State Route 41
West Union, Ohio 45693

2250 South 3rd Street
Ironton, Ohio 45638

1007 East Main Street
Chillicothe Ohio, 43113

24585 US Highway 23
Circleville, Ohio 43113

800 East Main Street
Lancaster, Ohio 43130

3189 South US Highway 421
Harlan, Kentucky 40831

 

http://www.raxroastbeef.com/locations.html

Edited by Jaded
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Thanks to Super Size Me, I have stopped eating at McDonald's & BK for many years now.  Yes, I know the movie was an extreme way to prove a point, but watching someone ate Value Meals over and over and over again somehow switched off the "craving for McD" part of my brain. :P

I still eat at Chick Fil A from time to time because I like their food.  Also, the fact that the mere mention of its name irritates a few co-workers is an added bonus :D :D :D

Edited by DarkRaichu
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We have this place near office: Sweet Lorraine's Fabulous Mac n' Cheez!

OH! EM! GEEE!

it's soo freaking good. Lobster mac, bacon & cheese mac, truffle mushroom mac. They also will make any mac and cheese into grilled cheese. Haven't tried that. I'm afraid I will die of cheese and carb overload (which might be the death I'd choose when I'm ready lol)

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13 hours ago, DeLurker said:

 I though Hardee's and Carl Jr's were the same, just named different depending on what part of the country you were in.

They are. Some of the food items may have slightly different names, depending on if they're sold at Carl's Jr. or Hardee's, too. Carl's Jr. is in the west, Hardee's in the east. Rally's & Checker's are in the same situation, but I don't know how they're divided (east/west, north/south, or what). And Best Foods/Hellmann's mayonnaise is another example (Best Foods in the west, Hellmann's in the east).

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12 hours ago, DarkRaichu said:

 

I still eat at Chick Fil A from time to time because I like their food.  Also, the fact that the mere mention of its name irritates a few co-workers is an added bonus :D :D :D

You sound like a really fun person to work with.   ;)  

Edited by ariel
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2 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

Rally's & Checker's are in the same situation, but I don't know how they're divided (east/west, north/south, or what).

I loved Rally's burgers and shakes before they merged with Checkers. Now they both serve Checker's stuff.

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On 2/9/2017 at 3:19 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

The people at Wendy's HQ are high-fiving each other:  Mission accomplished.

We're going to get fast food anyway, and I'd rather him get something creative than a crappy plastic toy that's going to break within five times of using it or a toy that advertises a movie that I don't really want to take him to see. Anyway, I like Wendy's, so I'm happy that he likes Wendy's toys and doesn't want to go to McDonald's, which I hate.

We talked so much about Sonic that when I was out today, I had to stop and get a strawberry limeade. I don't care what they are made of. I like the way they taste.

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This is tangential if just for a post, but this whole east/west different restaurant names by region reminds me of a brand of ice cream with the same issue. Out west, the brand is called Dreyer's. However, since the east has a well-known brand of ice cream called Breyer's, Dreyer's is known as Edy's here.

Funny how that works...

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3 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

This is tangential if just for a post, but this whole east/west different restaurant names by region reminds me of a brand of ice cream with the same issue. Out west, the brand is called Dreyer's. However, since the east has a well-known brand of ice cream called Breyer's, Dreyer's is known as Edy's here.

Weird, because we have both Dreyer's and Breyers here in Los Angeles.

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3 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

This is tangential if just for a post, but this whole east/west different restaurant names by region reminds me of a brand of ice cream with the same issue. Out west, the brand is called Dreyer's. However, since the east has a well-known brand of ice cream called Breyer's, Dreyer's is known as Edy's here.

Funny how that works...

Slightly off topic 2hen I first moved to SF, I got a month long temp job at Dreyers corporate in Oakland. It was when Ben and Jerry's still had a deal with them and you could go into the corporate store (that was also a training store) and get free ice cream anytime you wanted during the day and take a certain number of pints home a week. It was amazing but it was probably for the best it didn't last longer.

@Bastet yes, Dreyers and Breyers both exist on the west coast. Dreyers started in Oakland, Breyers in Philly when Dreyers moved east they switched to Edy's the name of the other cofounder because Breyers was strong out east, when Breyer moved west they didn't care so kept the name nationally. I had to learn this info on my first day for the temp job!

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3 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Slightly off topic 2hen I first moved to SF, I got a month long temp job at Dreyers corporate in Oakland. It was when Ben and Jerry's still had a deal with them and you could go into the corporate store (that was also a training store) and get free ice cream anytime you wanted during the day and take a certain number of pints home a week.

Sounds like my kind of temp job! But, seriously, thanks for this. I had no idea that Breyer's went west and am sort of surprised they didn't alter their name as Dreyer's did! Makes me curious as to why Dreyer's didn't follow suit and just stop the Edy's branding and do the same in the east with Dreyer's/Breyer's.

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On 2/7/2017 at 0:53 PM, larapu2000 said:

Their wrap sucks.  They give you the dressing on the side, so you either have to awkwardly dip the wrap and all the stuff falls out, or unroll the wrap and add the sauce and somehow get it to go back the same way (it never does), or just pour it on a bite at a time.  

Edited to add:  Lisin, how do you work the wrap?  Do you add the sauce?  It's so frustrating!  I love a wrap.

They have breakfast chicken & biscuit sandwiches at my airport Chick-Fil-A, and they're pretty tasty.

Hee! I just saw this for some reason. I do the "bit at a time" for the sauce on the wrap. It's super awkward though. You're totally right. And it's only "meh" without sauce. 

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On Sunday, February 05, 2017 at 5:55 PM, BooksRule said:

I'm only familiar with Sonic on the list, but I go there every once in a while (like maybe once every month or so), usually to get their foot-long chili cheese dog, tater tots and a drink.  I don't do it very often, because it's probably about 3,000 calories.  I've tried their regular cheeseburgers, which are okay, but taste a lot like Whataburger cheeseburgers to me (which I find don't have a lot of 'meat' taste.  You taste mainly lettuce, onion and mustard).  I also like Sonic's frozen lemonade or limeade.  

 

On Sunday, February 05, 2017 at 6:46 PM, auntlada said:

I love Sonic tater tots. I like the cheeseburgers, but @BooksRule is right. The flavor is mainly onion and mustard. Sometimes that's what I want, though. The chili dogs with cheese and onions are good. I rarely get the footlong because it is too much food for me. The blast is good (like a DQ blizzard), and the strawberry limeades are the best.

 

On Monday, February 06, 2017 at 10:11 AM, larapu2000 said:

Nooooooooo, cherry Limeades are the best! 

Their burgers are decent, but I only go there when I want tater tots.  You eat them all the time as a kid, but as an adult, it just feels like such a treat and indulgence.

 

On Monday, February 06, 2017 at 10:55 AM, auntlada said:

I like the cherry limeades and always had them until I tried the strawberry limeade.

 

On Monday, February 06, 2017 at 11:41 AM, Lisin said:

No way!!! Cherry!Vanilla!Dr!Pepper! (in High School we would put vodka in that ;)) Also I only get to go to Sonic like once a year because I don't live close to one, but when I do, I get chili cheese tater tots. They're so gross but I love them. Plus Sonic's ice is the best fast food ice ever. Second is Chick-fil-A, third is Dairy Queen. 

I may have issues. 

Regarding Sonic chat, I just want to put in my vote for the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade. Second place is tied between the Strawberry Vanilla Sprite Zero and the Cherry Slush.

Also, I agree about their burgers being okay, but I usually only get them whenever they make them 1/2 price.

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Whenever I go to Sonic I keep saying I'll try their burgers (they llok good), and I end up with the same thing: chili cheese dog and chili cheese tater tots with an oceanwater. It used to be the frito pie but the stupid Sonic's here stopped carrying them. I am still angry about that!! 

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On 2/15/2017 at 6:04 PM, callie lee 29 said:

Whenever I go to Sonic I keep saying I'll try their burgers (they llok good), and I end up with the same thing: chili cheese dog and chili cheese tater tots with an oceanwater. It used to be the frito pie but the stupid Sonic's here stopped carrying them. I am still angry about that!! 

Sonic used to have something called a steak toaster sandwich, or something like that.  It was a chicken fried steak on buttered, toasted Texas Toast, with mayonnaise.  Otherwise known as heart attack on a plate.  It was heavenly.

I love ocean water, but can't remember why I would ever order something called "ocean water."  I don't like salt. 

OT:  Speaking of Texas Toast, those of you in Texas might be familiar with Mrs. Baird's Bread (I'm not sure how far they range).  When I was a kid, they had TV commercials featuring Vernon Baird, Mrs. Baird's son. 

I got in a pissing match with them over the nutrition information on their bread wrappers.  I wrote them a letter saying their calorie information for their white bread was wrong, and I cut the nutrition information box out of the wrapper and included it.  They wrote back saying I was actually referring to Texas Toast, and the nutrition information is correct.

I wrote back that I was sure it wasn't Texas Toast, because I was using this bread for cinnamon toast, and the bread is simply a delivery system for butter and cinnamon and sugar and I wouldn't use Texas Toast for that because it would just be unneeded calories.  And the only reason I noticed it was I was waiting for the toast to cook and was idly reading the nutrition information on the bread and about had a heart attack when I added up all the calories from the many pieces of bread I was using, never mind the butter and sugar.

Before I heard back, I was at the store and found another loaf with the same error, so I sent another letter, with the whole bag in it this time.  Next thing I know, one morning the phone rings pretty early, and an operator says, "I have a person-to-person call for StatisticalOutlier."  Um, I lived alone, but okay.  That's me.

The next thing I hear is, "Statistical?  This is Vernon Baird."  And he sounded EXACTLY like he did in the TV commercials.  I said, "Vernon! I'm glad to hear from you!"  He called to admit that I was right--they were indeed putting the nutrition information for Texas Toast on their bags for regular bread.  I told him I was getting frustrated that they wouldn't see it, and actually wondered if the next thing I should do is contact the FTC or something.  He said, "Oh, no, don't do anything like that!"  He didn't know how it had happened, but they were going to fix it, and he thanked me for letting them know.

Then he asked a little about me, like what I did for a living, and I said I was in law school.  He said that was a good place for me.

Then right after that, I got another letter--which I figured out was sent after my previous reply, but before they'd received the entire bag--basically telling me I was wrong and to bug off.  I think right after they sent that letter, they got the smoking-gun bag and said, "Uh oh."

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McDonald's is supposed to be test-marketing snow crab sandwiches at 4 locations in the Silicon Valley area, with the possibility of making them available at 250 Bay Area locations.  Cost:  $8.99!  

Anybody have a chance to check it out?

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