Drive through at Hungry Jack’s. (This is ththe Australian company name for Burger King.) I ordered two cheeseburgers but they misheard and gave me two veggie burgers. I didn’t realise until I was several kilometres away on my way home. They were so bad I didn’t finish the first one and tossed the second. No exaggeration, they were the worst thing I can recall ever eating.,

We've had a goofup in the last three times we’ve ordered in, after many months of always being just right. One sent the wrong (and much less expensive) foil wrapped item, one didn't notice that it was two of an appetizer that was going to be the whole dinner for one of us (he filled up with rice), and one delivered to a house down the street. The labor shortage is real! None of these screwups spoiled the meals, partly because I'm generous ordering and plan leftovers, partly because the neighbor had our phone number, and my first name was on the bag. No staring bugs—the mistake was just chicken and perfectly edible. And we weren't stuck at work. That's awful! I hope you find something edible...and the cats enjoy ithe shrimp!

Today. I have been wanting chicken and dressing, but I didn't want to cook. Cracker Barrel had turkey and dressing. I used to eat chicken and dressing at a Cracker Barrel before I moved up here, and it was good. This was awful. The turkey was dry. I brought it home for the cats. The dressing tasted like the kind you make out if a box.

I think I will make some and freeze it in portions.

What's the matterw ith shrimp??

I do not like any sort of fish or seafood. Yuck yuck yuckity yuck.

The cats liked it though, so maybe I just have bad taste..........

STARING at you????????? Bet the rice was good and shrimp are pretty easy to avoid. But to your question, never but take out isn't a thing in my life and if I got a wrong order I have it fixed.

We hardly ever do take-out, but if we did, I have heard so many horror stories about messed up orders that I would definitely check before I left the restaurant! Our take out is usually either pizza or the chicken teriyaki place at the mall which we watch make the meal and put it in the bag ourselves. I suppose we should open the pizza box too, just to make sure it's the right pizza!

Arcy there was no rice. All there was was shrimp covered in melted cheese. That's it. Shrimp and cheese.Nothing close to what I ordered, and as it was the only thing there,no way to avoid it if I ate it. Ick. By the time I got around to eating it the place was closed. I was very busy. Like I said these things happen and I am not going to make a fuss with them about it. I go there a lot and never had this problem before....

We rarely eat fast food unless we're traveling. And it's been years and years since we chose McDonald's. But yesterday DH wanted to try their new chicken sandwich. We both ordered Spicy Crispy Deluxe* chicken sandwiches. He got a deluxe crispy but not spicy. I got spicy crispy but not deluxe. Not a disaster but it was a pretty simple order to mess up. The spicy is actually quite hot. But overall not worth the fat, sodium, or calories.

*'deluxe' adds lettuce and tomato.

Amylou, I wonder if the person who got your order was any more pleased.

If I think I could be in a situation of being hungry with no other options, I carry a protein bar or a small bag of nuts with me.

Amylou, to avoid the scavengers could you make up a stash in your vehicle? It would not be as tasty as fresh takeout, but it would save you from the crabbies.

I love shrimp, and even have gotten things sometimes with whole head on unpeeled shrimp, but I too would be a bit put off if I opened a food carton and saw head on unpeeled shrimp when I wasn't expecting it. Especially at the office, cleaning heads and shells off shrimp is not something I would want to do on my lunch hour at the office. Or at least I'm assuming head and shell on since they were staring.

I was always a bring lunch to work person, rarely did the order in. Healthier and cheaper that way. But a trick you can use for scavangers is to leave food marked as yours in the freezer or fridge- and make sure it's truly horrible food. A few times of your coworkers encountering truly horrible food every time they see your name on it, they tend to leave it alone and not even look at it after a few times. I've known of a couple of folks that have done it, usually with loads of hot sauce or hot peppers, or disgusting food combos.

Colleen reminds me of Leo Getz. ”They #%*@ you at the drive-thru!”

Re the vultures, I’d be tempted to taint the food. Nothing dangerous of course, perhaps a few drops of insane hot sauce injected into the middle so it’s not discovered until it’s burning.

So sorry. We have been pretty lucky but when ordering Chinese takenout, they have messed up my DD by not giving her the vegetarian option.

As far as the scavengers, you need really good hiding places. Behind shelves etc. For the refrigerated food? Disguise it in something else?

Dh brings canned items to work for when he is in a bind. Keeps them in his desk. Just need to reheat and eat.

The last time I remember being disappointed was from a Chinese food place. I ordered a seafood dish with rice, scallops, crab and lobster. The only seafood it had was fake crab, which I suspected would be in the dish. It was expensive for just fake crab and no scallops or lobster. I haven't gone back there and won't ever again.

The last time I remember having to take food back was a few years ago at a pizza place in town. A huge blond curl of long hair was right on top of my to-go ham and cheese sandwich. No way someone didn't see that s___ before they closed that box. Never went back there again either and now there is a new pizza place, at least in name there and I won't eat there either because I don't know if the same people own it or work there.

During the shutdown, I experimented with restaurant delivery. They delivered the meal to the house next door. I have my house number on a pillar by the steps to the front door, plus painted on the curb. I don't know how a delivery person can mess it up. Luckily, I was tracking it and was able to go get it from the neighbor's porch quickly.

I agree, @amylou321, you need to have some sort of stash in your vehicle, even if it's just some granola/protein bars to get you through an emergency.

I think this is more about a rant than a solution....and that's cool.

A cross post with the 'cooking' forum that is most often about solutions to problems....

Purchase a half dozen frozen meals you like. Take them out of their cardboard packages, wrap in foil, then saran wrap. Label them with "Amy's new diet....leftover liver and onion goulash with peas and extra kale...doc wants me to have more iron in my diet".

My office fridge is respectful so no issues here if all is labeled. Have not purchased in years but the Kashi meals are great if caught out of town working long hours....20 yrs ago that brand saved me getting home late midnight....up at 6 am.

(Annie said her mother when she was young would hide sweets in the freezer labeled 'liver and onions', lol). My mother would hide things but not so clever....we always found them.

Well, at least you saved someone from eating shrimp with cheese on it. I love shrimp, but yuck!

I would take what you'd like for the freezer, put in opaque containers and label it 'Cat Food for Amy's Cats.' Don't let anyone see you eating it!

Oooo, yes yes, cat food disguise. But of course Amy has to be careful that no one sees her opening the containers.

Another recommendation for emergencies is the packaged tuna. It has a long shelf life and would not require heating.

Ha - I'm almost always disappointed with takeout. I'm not a big fan of most restaurant food, fast or not.

Only in San Juan Puerto Rico @ a Burger King. I ordered 2 fries, 2 burgers and they told me they would only give me a combo meal. :0) The taxi driver got the wrong order and several other people around us also got "junk".

The second time I went to Mexico City (and before I knew much Spanish), I ordered lengua at a small restaurant, not knowing what it was. It was tough, and I could not eat it, but then it was probably prepared incorrectly. I've not had it since, but I did take a Spanish conversation class after that and concentrated on my vocabulary. I knew lengua meant language, but I did not know at that time that it also meant tongue. Street food in Mexico City was generally better than what I found in random restaurants.

We dont get take out often, but I can definitely relate. it seems to happen more and more lately.

Occasionally we stop and get a small Blizzard at DQ. We almost always get the same thing, Butterfinger, so DH distinctly orders 2 small and we drive around. This was during the time when driveup was the only option, so we would pull around and sit in the parking lot and enjoy our treat. We got cookie dough, not butterfinger. ick! My least favorite of all.

“Hot” depends on whom you're messing with. I like hot. When I was young, I got tired of one of my flarmates devouring all the stew I'd made before I got home from work, so I make ”chili”. What one observer called ”distillate of fire”. Said flatmate wasn’t reared on Mexican food, but I guess appetite won out over sabotage, but at least it was only half gone...

Definitely a rant. When I went walking later it was so hot and sticky it completely killed my appetite anyway. I could have walked across to the main office building and got some junk out of the vending machine, but I didn't. One night with no food won't kill me after all, but I was crabby.

Nickel, what I ordered was a marinated grilled chicken breast with grilled poblanos, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes with cheese. Whoever got it may or may not have been happy with it. I don't know. But I was not happy with their cheesy shrimp. Bleck,

I could for sure bring in things to keep here, but I stopped doing so about a year ago. When I am here I am alone unless I am filling in for one if the day people. My normal shift at night is alone. I stopped because the adults that I work with have zero problem helping themselves to whatever. And, I hate to admit, I did tamper with some of it before. It gave the other night minion such severe diarrhea that he had to call in sick. My boss at the time, who was a saint, told me that I better hope he did not find out I did that. I told her I did not care if he did. I did not tamper with HIS food, but with my own, which was clearly labelled with my name on it. I can do whatever I want to my own property. She agreed. It was a pack of lunchmeat. When he returned to work, he proceeded to finish the pack, thus sending him spiraling back to the toilet.

I bring A LOT of things to work for everyone to share. Paper plates, plastic cutlery, fancy hand soap, all the cookware and utensils up there was purchased by me. The space heater they all use, the fan they all use, bought by me. They light my candles and use my scented wax cubes that I make in the warmer I bought. They use my condiments, all marked with my initials. The salt and pepper is provided by me. All of that is A Okay with me. They help themselves to the Halloween and Christmas candy I put out for the drivers. I am okay with that to an extent. They always abuse it and I always get angry and haul my candy home, frustrated that I cannot expect grown people to act with SOME sort of civility and tact. They ate an entire jar of my pickles, of which I did not get even one. I was told by one of the truck drivers that one of the day girls was putting some of the dry cat food that I bring for the little ferals out here into a bag. I asked her about it and she said very nonchalantly that she was out of cat food and did not feel like stopping by the store, so she just took some of mine. No big deal to her, its just cat food. And her cat is certainly more important than some skinny little strays after all right???? I came in the other day to find that they have decided to use a purple table that I use in my Halloween display to put something on. It is a permanent thing, in that we use it daily, and the thing it was resting on before had been removed to make room for a giant fancy printer. I really came unglued then. No one asked me or even informed me. My boss was still here and said " there is no telling when that was used last." To which I said, um, October dummy. It a Halloween table. Then he indignantly declared that he spent something like 15 minutes cleaning off the dust and cobwebs. MY DUST AND COBWEBS THAT WERE PART OF THE HALLOWEEN DECORATION?!?!?!? Donkey. He assured me quite reluctantly that a solution would be found by the time I needed it. I assured him that if a solution was not found, that thing would be on the floor, period. So I guess that's another thing I am going to have to carry and store at home from now on. I brought in a ten pound bag of ice the other day, marked it with my name. They have ice tube trays, that I BOUGHT. They have been using those for years. I prefer smaller ice so I brought myself some. Lo and behold, they have been using my ice because they get tired of refilling the ice cube trays for their own ice. When confronted, they all looked at me like I was nuts because its just ice. I suppose I am the only one in the world who thinks that if I did not buy something then I am not automatically welcome to it. And I suppose I am just a spoiled brat because I feel like I share enough of my stuff with them that I refuse now to bring food up here to keep because I do not want them to help themselves to it. I SHARE ENOUGH. I sometimes bring ingredients to cook myself something here, but then take every thing home in the morning when I leave, unwilling now to even let them use a pat of MY butter. I am at that point. And I paid for that attitude last night true enough. But now I am fed and happy, and so i can carry on with my bratiness.

I cannot imagine working with people who would knowingly take other people's food, or anything for that matter. May I ask at what kind of a business you work, if that isn't too personal?

That's a little bit funny that you "tainted" your lunch meat. :)

I work at a refinery. In my department, there are only 5 employees, and that includes the supervisor. And they are all uncivilized, childish heathens.

I forgot to mention that one of the offenders wrote a very rude email to everyone recently because she took it upon herself to clean out the refrigerator, and she went into a 3 paragraph long lecture about how "adults" should be cleaning up after themselves. She chose to do that while I was on vacation. She clearly did not want me to respond to it. By the time I read it a week and a half later, it would have been too petty to write up a list to add to hers about what adults do and do not do. Its saved in my drafts though, just in case she pushes me too far again. Ugh. People.

Any, you're totally entitled to your rants. Lots of sympathetic ears here. But in between, it sounds like your problem is that you're too generous. They use your salt and you're okay with it, so they think why shouldn't they use your frozen water. You bring in the decorations and leave them, so why shouldn't they use them like they're part of the furniture? Just guessing.

At my one and only corporate job, I learned that they'd take my name brand can of sofa from the break room fridge, but wouldn't take the (better tasting) bargain brand. ;) Somewhere in there is a lesson about self-entitlement. ;)

Amy, if you feel cranky after going too long without eating you may have low blood sugar - safer to eat something and take care of yourself in that situation.

Hangry! I would bring my leftover meals either in a cooler where others can't get to them, buy micro meals that don't need to be refrigerated (yuk) or maybe frozen pre-cooked meals (they'll get busted trying to defrost them!)......Or eat out (which I almost never do!)

Happened all the time when I worked at the other hospital. People's meals would go missing, usually from other people who didn't work in our unit. When we had potlucks the people who brought the food in wouldn't even get to eat their food because other people would come from other floors when they heard we were having a potluck and make themselves a plate, and several for their friends. They never would bring food, mind you...just help themselves. Sometimes when you're working on a med-surg floor you don't get a chance to eat lunch till 2:00 or 3:00 so that was annoying for a lot of people.

I quit putting my food in the fridge when someone poured a coke on my lunchbox. It was on the top shelf so it wasn't by accident. Other people used to keep tv dinners in the freezer so they'd have something and then other people would just eat them so they would come back for a shift and have nothing to eat.

Then there was the coffee thing. So annoying to have only 2 people, me and another nurse bring the coffee, creamer and filters in for everyone to use. People from other units would come in and help themselves. I wasn't too irritated by that but one time when me and this other nurse were in the breakroom taking a much needed break, in walks a ward clerk, snatches the entire pile of the coffee filters I bought and walked out. The two of use just looked at each other and laughed, shaking our heads. No, "can I have a few", no "thanks", nothing, just utter rudeness. We both started keeping the coffee, filters and creamer locked in our lockers.

I don't have to worry about that in my new work place, thank goodness. I keep my snacks, instant coffee locked up when I'm not there. I don't use the fridge either. Old habits. Some people have noticed their freezer food missing and I think it's housekeeping coming in when they know we aren't working.

Don’t keep any food in your car- ask me how I know! Mice & chewed up airbag.

Before if I had this issue I could call SO to bring me food. But the place I work is a secure place and you need special clearance to get in, and he lost that clearance when he stopped coming through here for work. I cannot leave when I get here since I am the only person in this department for those 12 hours, and no deliveries are allowed. I just sucked it up.

Kathsgrdn your potluck tales make me giggle. Lots of times other departments will have some sort of party or special meal for themselves. Sometimes its not meals but just something special like cake or doughnuts. They always bring me something. Always. I never know when they are planning something and I am never asked to bring anything because as they put it I cannot actually join them for the party because I cannot leave my area for very long at all. But they always bring me something. There are 4 different shifts. I work with 2 sets of them regularly, because everyone else rotates from days to nights but we do not. I work with the other two when I am filling in for coworkers. All 4 shifts will bring me something from their parties. They do not do that with any of my coworkers or supervisor and it just grinds their gears. And they are annoyed to hear how happy the other workers are when they see that I am here instead of them. I think its funny that they do not understand why. Its very easy and much more pleasurable to be nice and friendly to people. It is so much easier to be easy to work with and helpful than standoffish and lazy. And its better to try to have a little fun an laugh a little bit when you are working for 12 hours than to grump and whine that you are there. And when you are that way to the people around you, especially ones you work with, and more especially when they are 99.9% men, you get free cake and unsolicited doughnuts and an occasional grilled steak and baked potato. (I feel like women feel more obligated to include everyone in order to not be perceived as witchy with a b, and men do not really care like that. They are going to reciprocate both kindness and rudeness) It probably helps that I do the decorating and treats for the holidays, which they all enjoy, while the others in my department kinda make snarky remarks about it. I enjoy sending my less fortunate coworkers pictures of the treats I get when I am here. :) I do not eat "potluck" food but I will for sure enjoy a steak I see them grilling fresh right across the road from me.....

You could get a bar fridge and have a lock put on it. I think it’s appalling that your co-workers feel free to snitch your stuff and not contribute anything.

::snicker:: And the real story comes out! They steal your stuff because they're jealous!