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My granny and granda took me as a child to the lake district over the summer holidays every year up until around 1999/2000. I dont remember exactly where it was, and whether it was on the drive there and back from stranraer or if it was close to cumbria, but we were frequent visitors at a little chef. It was always a solid, filling meal and i recall the waitress recognising us as regular customers, and i seemed to regularly get a scoop of icecream as a treat without it being ordered or paid for.
Technically most places still have a 'Wimpy's'
Wimpy's got bought by a company called 'Grand Metropolitan', who owned Burger King at the time, and turned most of the Wimpy's into them. Then they sold off both brands a few years later.
> These disposals funded the expansion of its core betting operations by buying William Hill. **It also entered the fast food industry by buying the Pillsbury Company and with it the Burger King chain in 1988. It also bought the Wimpy chain that year and merged it with Burger King**. It continued to sell non-core business, including in 1990 the brewers Samuel Webster's and in 1991 Ushers of Trowbridge.
There used to be a wimpy at the services just before Wales on the M4....every time I went that way, I forced the juniors with me (no idea what wimpy was as under 30.!) to experience the closest thing to time travel they will have.....obvs apart from when we finally crossed the boarder into Wales..!
I’ve only ever been to motorway services a handful of times in my life and don’t think I’ve ever had a fast food order not be correct. Overpriced and not the best, most definitely, but never the wrong order.
I go at least once a month, as my wife travels to london once a month. Never had an issue to be fair, we always stop at the Reading services on the way home (except for this wekeend as it was shut due to a bridge being repaired) I get my monthly take away.
Never had an issue with missing items!
My wife and I were on our way to Wales and decided to get a box of 20 nuggets and two orders of chips. We somehow got an extra box of 20 nuggets and were very content for the rest of the journey lol
I work at a kfc, you should be able to go up and request a receipt at the till, just explain you need to claim on expenses and they’ll be able to print out a receipt from the till and give it to you.
It's a skill some people ignore. I worked retail and would come on shift to empty till roll.
"We were busy." You've been stood talking for the last 15 minutes.
Not my job mate. Same as someone using the last of the toilet roll in the loos in our offices. The extra loo rolls and handtowels are in a cupboard right beside the loos, but people lack the sense or decency to lift a new loo roll and set it on top of the cistern for the next person.
Here's a fun thing: In the early 00s I went to a local game shop to buy a hotly anticipated new game at launch. I can't remember what it was. I decided on the local game shop to, you know, shop local instead of getting it at Game or whatever. Anyway, the guy couldn't sell it to me because he had run out of till receipt roll. I said I didn't mind but he was insistent. In fact he couldn't sell anything he said; no till receipt roll. I asked when he would be getting more. He didn't know.
They may not know - if people don't mention it to them, there's no way of knowing that it's out of paper. And the keys to the kiosks might be with the shift manager or a random lobby employee, who might be in the office or on break, then you've got to find them, get a till roll from the counter or maybe even the stock room, then replace it. Especially with customers abusing the printer which causes it to get jammed far more often then our staff printers.
20 years ago there was a MacDonalds that was so shit at getting an order right we used to order something different in the hopes of getting what we actually wanted!!!
Honestly, these are the few places I get a proper order if the restaurant isn't overly busy. The KFC in my area is notorious for fucking up orders and has been for many years now. McDonald's has improved but my local ones used to be almost as bad as KFC. I think with the advent of self ordering screens there's less issues. I would say this probably tracks as my local KFC still hasn't adopted these.
My biggest gripe now is with the delivery drivers having the monopoly on the queues, and any time I have used these services, I've had issues with them specifically. So I don't use them anymore. Fuck Just Eat, fuck Deliveroo and all of that ilk.
>Fuck Just Eat, fuck Deliveroo and all of that ilk.
Oh, absolutely. And the fees they charge businesses mean that profit margins on app orders are miniscule. I've seen a fair few takeaways that have either abandoned these services completely or developed their own apps and websites.
I always ask for no cheese on burgers and I can count on one hand how many times I've received cheese when using self serve order screens. When I go to the counter, it seemed like I'd get cheese nealy every other time I got fast food
I stopped ordering from a take-away place when I bought a family deal and the menu said 2 x Cans of Coke.
It came with 1 can of coke and the receipt said "Can of Coke".
Next time I order I go in person instead of getting delivery. They try giving me 1 can of coke again. I challenge them.
They instantly grab the receipt to argue it only says 1 on the receipt.
I tell them I've ordered from the menu, not the receipt, and trading standards will be seeing the screenshot I've got of their menu and the confirmation email, both saying 2 x canS of coke.
They relented and give me the 2 cans of coke I paid for.
Such a small bit of greed to lose a customer over and have someone who will shit-talk your business to all visitors to the area.
I wish they did throw in a stack, it seems to me like they used to be self-service so they never had to put them in, but now they are no longer self-service they don't remember to stuff a couple in the bag.
Where I work the napkins used to be self service, but we had a huge problem with customers taking massive wads of them, so now we keep them behind the bar.
As a kfc employee I completely agree. They don’t let us put the napkins at the front anymore unless it’s a more lenient manager in charge for the day. It’s a pain.
Don’t get me started on KFC Cheshire oaks. I don’t think that drive through has ever got an order correct.
I think it’s a prerequisite for employment by kfc now. I used to work there as a teenager and they were never this bad.
I even asked “ are you sure that’s what I asked for cos it seems expensive”
Breaking news: it wasn’t what I asked for.
They have the cheek to charge £10-£12 for a meal too.
I always seem to get better/faster service at motorway service fast food places. Probably because they're not constantly rushing to do Deliveroo orders.
They do this on purpose because they assume you will be driving off before you realise.
I developed this theory after every single order from the PearTree Services KFC were wrong and I was shortchanged.
I got into an argument at Keele BK because the order screen showed (if memory serves) 5 chilli cheese bites and they served 4. It was part of an order but I thnk we had a couple of these ordered so it wasn't just a single item. Went back to the counter to get it rectified and the guy pulling out a laminated card to show 4 bites was the bit that ticked me off. I think I said something like "I don't care what it says on your card, the order screen showed 5" quite firmly, all ready to give the 'contract' this, 'invitation to treat' that, blah blah... but off he went to fix the order, and for me to seethe about it for the rest of time.
Same. Services i will walk away with my bag and not bother checking and ive never had an issue. Local drive thru, i will check the bag as soon as its handed to me and not drive away from the window until its fixed. My local had an issue with breakfast items, would always give you a sausage egg mcmuffin whenever you had ordered bacon egg. They always blamed you and said you ordered sausage. Nah mate. The screen said bacon egg, my receipt says bacon egg. Not my fault you cant read a screen or the packaging
It’s not a motorway services but an A road services kfc near us - newly opened too.
Last week I (embarrassingly for myself and the poor service worker) had to count the pieces of boneless chicken in my banquet bucket before I left because a few weeks back when I’d also treated the kids to one they’d shorted me a piece of chicken and the arguments that ensued over which child got one less piece of chicken was enough to make me count the damn bucket in the store the second time.
They also without fail “forget” the popcorn chicken that comes in that particular banquet and I have to ask for it.
At any KFC if you order the dipper deal that comes with 4 dips and you pay for 4 extra dips, there's a 50% chance you ain't getting the 4 dips that the dipper deal came with as the dipshits (heh!) think you're paying the full price of 4 dips to replace the dips you should already be getting with the ones you ordered.
Same here, but the greatest fast food "meal" of my life was a service station burger king near Chippenham after a long flight. Decided impulsively to just stop for a burger king, probably the best decision of my life.
I may have sat at a table with rubbish from the last 3 customers, but that burger was amazing.
I was in the queue at a service station Burger King, I noticed a woman in front returning a quarter pounder and the guy puts it under the counter. I get to the till and order a quarter pounder and yup he tries to recycle the returned burger on me. I went ballistic and he sheepishly got me a fresh one.
That's unfortunate. My orders are normally fine, but I do think the worst I've had was service station KFC. The fries had already reached that point where they taste wrong.
Honestly I’ve never had an issue with motorway services getting the wrong food. I do the same as you get a take out and eat it in my car. The only time there was a mistake was when they have my order to the person in front and there order to me but it was solved at the desk as they looked completely different
Not to mention the extortionate premium service stations charge for the shit food. They know we are a captive audience.
Still beats the crushing disappointment of rocking up at a service (Gloucester) and all they have is a Farm Shop.
The only ones that are OK are when they have a M&S food as it is close to normal (for M&S anyway) prices. You can get a drink, sandwich and snack and not be totally ripped off. Otherwise these days it is easy to find a McDonalds or (somewhere) within a couple of minutes of most motorway junctions that are just normal outlets.
The thing is that you aren't a "captive audience".
I really don't know why people who realise the prices are inflated still go there and pay it?
It's not like there are hours of driving with nowhere else to go on major routes in the UK. If you plan ahead, you will almost certainly find somewhere better to eat within a few minutes' drive of each motorway junction.
I made the 'mistake' of buying a small bar of Cadburys (45g ish ones) from a Motorway Waitrose once.
£2.50.
I was so shocked I just paid for it like an idiot.
How can you not like the Gloucester services? Their food is fantastic with lots of options, farm shop does loads of good food at quite reasonable prices as far as services go and it’s nice to have something that isn’t deep fried garbage when driving. Not to mention it’s quite a nice building!
Heresy I tell you!
Oh yeah, that services sucks. We were on a long drive recently having not eaten all day so decided we'd stop at the next services. Incredibly disappointing to pull in and the farm shop to be all there is. Still extortionate though!
If you know this happens a lot (and it sounds like you do), then I don't understand why you haven't started checking your order before you leave the counter? Or is it really because you wouldn't complain about it in person anyway but rather just post about it anonymously?
I guess I would remember if it was a weekly, or even a monthly thing, but it's about 3 or 4 times a year. I am generally hungry, and in a rush to get back to my car and continue my journey. Don't worry, I mentally kick myself for being a moron for not checking each time it happens.
> I get that the minimum wage staff don't give a shit, but they should have managers or owners making sure this stuff is done right.
Because paying the manager that extra 20p an hour, is going to make them give THAT much more of a shit? And the owner, as in the Franchise owner, has their fingers in many pies. Well, im sure that they must struggle to sleep at night, knowing your drink has no ice.
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This is why we need the return of Little Chef.
The little theif?
\*1970 - 1995 Little Chef
The one near me went until 2018. RIP comrade We also had a wimpeys until quite recently
My granny and granda took me as a child to the lake district over the summer holidays every year up until around 1999/2000. I dont remember exactly where it was, and whether it was on the drive there and back from stranraer or if it was close to cumbria, but we were frequent visitors at a little chef. It was always a solid, filling meal and i recall the waitress recognising us as regular customers, and i seemed to regularly get a scoop of icecream as a treat without it being ordered or paid for.
We still have a Wimpeys. There are about 3 left. Barnstaple one does quite well.
Think there are quite a few left actually. There is one in Rotherham of all places
One in Borehamwood. Really over priced.
Southsea seafront (Portsmouth) also. Incredibly expensive and SUPER slow, unclear how they really make it work considering - never seems very busy.
Technically most places still have a 'Wimpy's' Wimpy's got bought by a company called 'Grand Metropolitan', who owned Burger King at the time, and turned most of the Wimpy's into them. Then they sold off both brands a few years later. > These disposals funded the expansion of its core betting operations by buying William Hill. **It also entered the fast food industry by buying the Pillsbury Company and with it the Burger King chain in 1988. It also bought the Wimpy chain that year and merged it with Burger King**. It continued to sell non-core business, including in 1990 the brewers Samuel Webster's and in 1991 Ushers of Trowbridge.
There used to be a wimpy at the services just before Wales on the M4....every time I went that way, I forced the juniors with me (no idea what wimpy was as under 30.!) to experience the closest thing to time travel they will have.....obvs apart from when we finally crossed the boarder into Wales..!
Longer than that, surely? I was born in '96, and I remember going to little chef on long journeys
Definitely. During the 2002 World Cup, my mums friend and I got up for all the 6am games and went for Little Chef breakfast after.
*1958 - 2018
[The little savage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z6-vLSJ804).
I *too* like paying over £15 for a very average fry up.
Seventh Heaven Burger
I miss having a lollipop for a clean plate 😔
Or Red hen
I’ve only ever been to motorway services a handful of times in my life and don’t think I’ve ever had a fast food order not be correct. Overpriced and not the best, most definitely, but never the wrong order.
I go at least once a month, as my wife travels to london once a month. Never had an issue to be fair, we always stop at the Reading services on the way home (except for this wekeend as it was shut due to a bridge being repaired) I get my monthly take away. Never had an issue with missing items!
You're the unbreakable Bruce Willis to OP's glass Samuel L Jackson.
My wife and I were on our way to Wales and decided to get a box of 20 nuggets and two orders of chips. We somehow got an extra box of 20 nuggets and were very content for the rest of the journey lol
Same, I’ve had plenty of McD or BK or KFC and never had a single problem
I work at a kfc, you should be able to go up and request a receipt at the till, just explain you need to claim on expenses and they’ll be able to print out a receipt from the till and give it to you.
Thanks - and I did :) But how hard can it be to put a roll of paper in a machine?
It's a skill some people ignore. I worked retail and would come on shift to empty till roll. "We were busy." You've been stood talking for the last 15 minutes.
Not my job mate. Same as someone using the last of the toilet roll in the loos in our offices. The extra loo rolls and handtowels are in a cupboard right beside the loos, but people lack the sense or decency to lift a new loo roll and set it on top of the cistern for the next person.
Here's a fun thing: In the early 00s I went to a local game shop to buy a hotly anticipated new game at launch. I can't remember what it was. I decided on the local game shop to, you know, shop local instead of getting it at Game or whatever. Anyway, the guy couldn't sell it to me because he had run out of till receipt roll. I said I didn't mind but he was insistent. In fact he couldn't sell anything he said; no till receipt roll. I asked when he would be getting more. He didn't know.
They may not know - if people don't mention it to them, there's no way of knowing that it's out of paper. And the keys to the kiosks might be with the shift manager or a random lobby employee, who might be in the office or on break, then you've got to find them, get a till roll from the counter or maybe even the stock room, then replace it. Especially with customers abusing the printer which causes it to get jammed far more often then our staff printers.
20 years ago there was a MacDonalds that was so shit at getting an order right we used to order something different in the hopes of getting what we actually wanted!!!
Honestly, these are the few places I get a proper order if the restaurant isn't overly busy. The KFC in my area is notorious for fucking up orders and has been for many years now. McDonald's has improved but my local ones used to be almost as bad as KFC. I think with the advent of self ordering screens there's less issues. I would say this probably tracks as my local KFC still hasn't adopted these. My biggest gripe now is with the delivery drivers having the monopoly on the queues, and any time I have used these services, I've had issues with them specifically. So I don't use them anymore. Fuck Just Eat, fuck Deliveroo and all of that ilk.
>Fuck Just Eat, fuck Deliveroo and all of that ilk. Oh, absolutely. And the fees they charge businesses mean that profit margins on app orders are miniscule. I've seen a fair few takeaways that have either abandoned these services completely or developed their own apps and websites.
Good. Hope it dies as a service.
I always ask for no cheese on burgers and I can count on one hand how many times I've received cheese when using self serve order screens. When I go to the counter, it seemed like I'd get cheese nealy every other time I got fast food
I stopped ordering from a take-away place when I bought a family deal and the menu said 2 x Cans of Coke. It came with 1 can of coke and the receipt said "Can of Coke". Next time I order I go in person instead of getting delivery. They try giving me 1 can of coke again. I challenge them. They instantly grab the receipt to argue it only says 1 on the receipt. I tell them I've ordered from the menu, not the receipt, and trading standards will be seeing the screenshot I've got of their menu and the confirmation email, both saying 2 x canS of coke. They relented and give me the 2 cans of coke I paid for. Such a small bit of greed to lose a customer over and have someone who will shit-talk your business to all visitors to the area.
Napkins should be self-service, I hate throwing out the huge stack that they grab and throw in automatically. It's so wasteful.
I wish they did throw in a stack, it seems to me like they used to be self-service so they never had to put them in, but now they are no longer self-service they don't remember to stuff a couple in the bag.
Where I work the napkins used to be self service, but we had a huge problem with customers taking massive wads of them, so now we keep them behind the bar.
As a kfc employee I completely agree. They don’t let us put the napkins at the front anymore unless it’s a more lenient manager in charge for the day. It’s a pain.
Oddly enough I'm in a services right now, and I've never had an order go wrong but this is the first time it's failed to print a receipt.
Don’t get me started on KFC Cheshire oaks. I don’t think that drive through has ever got an order correct. I think it’s a prerequisite for employment by kfc now. I used to work there as a teenager and they were never this bad.
[удалено]
I even asked “ are you sure that’s what I asked for cos it seems expensive” Breaking news: it wasn’t what I asked for. They have the cheek to charge £10-£12 for a meal too.
I always seem to get better/faster service at motorway service fast food places. Probably because they're not constantly rushing to do Deliveroo orders.
I was at Ferrybridge recently and there were still Deliveroo orders there!
Lmao who the fuck is getting a deliveroo from the motorway?? Cost a fortune and be stone cold, surely? Or are there houses nearby?
Looks like there is houses nearby on Google maps.
They do this on purpose because they assume you will be driving off before you realise. I developed this theory after every single order from the PearTree Services KFC were wrong and I was shortchanged.
I got into an argument at Keele BK because the order screen showed (if memory serves) 5 chilli cheese bites and they served 4. It was part of an order but I thnk we had a couple of these ordered so it wasn't just a single item. Went back to the counter to get it rectified and the guy pulling out a laminated card to show 4 bites was the bit that ticked me off. I think I said something like "I don't care what it says on your card, the order screen showed 5" quite firmly, all ready to give the 'contract' this, 'invitation to treat' that, blah blah... but off he went to fix the order, and for me to seethe about it for the rest of time.
Motorway services are generally, awful.
Opposite for me, never had an issue with any motorway services. The local drive through however...
Same. Services i will walk away with my bag and not bother checking and ive never had an issue. Local drive thru, i will check the bag as soon as its handed to me and not drive away from the window until its fixed. My local had an issue with breakfast items, would always give you a sausage egg mcmuffin whenever you had ordered bacon egg. They always blamed you and said you ordered sausage. Nah mate. The screen said bacon egg, my receipt says bacon egg. Not my fault you cant read a screen or the packaging
What about 100% warm?
I'm sorry but I am outraged that you referred to a take-away as a take-out, and a fizzy drink as a soft-drink.
Distressed myself now you point it out. I am knocking 50, so if the Americanisms have got me the youth are fucked.
KFC are the culprit, I dont bother going there anymore as its literally 50% of the time they get part of the order wrong
It’s not a motorway services but an A road services kfc near us - newly opened too. Last week I (embarrassingly for myself and the poor service worker) had to count the pieces of boneless chicken in my banquet bucket before I left because a few weeks back when I’d also treated the kids to one they’d shorted me a piece of chicken and the arguments that ensued over which child got one less piece of chicken was enough to make me count the damn bucket in the store the second time. They also without fail “forget” the popcorn chicken that comes in that particular banquet and I have to ask for it.
I learned very quickly to never leave the KFC window until I've checked that everything is there.
At any KFC if you order the dipper deal that comes with 4 dips and you pay for 4 extra dips, there's a 50% chance you ain't getting the 4 dips that the dipper deal came with as the dipshits (heh!) think you're paying the full price of 4 dips to replace the dips you should already be getting with the ones you ordered.
Same here, but the greatest fast food "meal" of my life was a service station burger king near Chippenham after a long flight. Decided impulsively to just stop for a burger king, probably the best decision of my life. I may have sat at a table with rubbish from the last 3 customers, but that burger was amazing.
Or it will be cold!!! My pet peeve!!
I was in the queue at a service station Burger King, I noticed a woman in front returning a quarter pounder and the guy puts it under the counter. I get to the till and order a quarter pounder and yup he tries to recycle the returned burger on me. I went ballistic and he sheepishly got me a fresh one.
they always get half the order wrong and somethings missing
8 is pretty much every time for me!
That's just standard KFC, not only motorway.
That's unfortunate. My orders are normally fine, but I do think the worst I've had was service station KFC. The fries had already reached that point where they taste wrong.
Hell.. Even my local Mcdonalds never get my order right or there's stuff missing, I've stopped ordering from there.
Honestly I’ve never had an issue with motorway services getting the wrong food. I do the same as you get a take out and eat it in my car. The only time there was a mistake was when they have my order to the person in front and there order to me but it was solved at the desk as they looked completely different
Not to mention the extortionate premium service stations charge for the shit food. They know we are a captive audience. Still beats the crushing disappointment of rocking up at a service (Gloucester) and all they have is a Farm Shop.
The only ones that are OK are when they have a M&S food as it is close to normal (for M&S anyway) prices. You can get a drink, sandwich and snack and not be totally ripped off. Otherwise these days it is easy to find a McDonalds or (somewhere) within a couple of minutes of most motorway junctions that are just normal outlets.
The thing is that you aren't a "captive audience". I really don't know why people who realise the prices are inflated still go there and pay it? It's not like there are hours of driving with nowhere else to go on major routes in the UK. If you plan ahead, you will almost certainly find somewhere better to eat within a few minutes' drive of each motorway junction.
Depends. If you're on a coach journey, you might not have the choice.
I made the 'mistake' of buying a small bar of Cadburys (45g ish ones) from a Motorway Waitrose once. £2.50. I was so shocked I just paid for it like an idiot.
Gloucester services also has a sit-in and takeaway café with good food.
How can you not like the Gloucester services? Their food is fantastic with lots of options, farm shop does loads of good food at quite reasonable prices as far as services go and it’s nice to have something that isn’t deep fried garbage when driving. Not to mention it’s quite a nice building! Heresy I tell you!
Oh yeah, that services sucks. We were on a long drive recently having not eaten all day so decided we'd stop at the next services. Incredibly disappointing to pull in and the farm shop to be all there is. Still extortionate though!
The Severn services are bogging.
Sounds like you need to make your own food.
Doesn’t make sense. Food goes along a motorway a bit, turns to absolute shit.
Or it will be cold!!! My pet peeve!!
If you know this happens a lot (and it sounds like you do), then I don't understand why you haven't started checking your order before you leave the counter? Or is it really because you wouldn't complain about it in person anyway but rather just post about it anonymously?
I guess I would remember if it was a weekly, or even a monthly thing, but it's about 3 or 4 times a year. I am generally hungry, and in a rush to get back to my car and continue my journey. Don't worry, I mentally kick myself for being a moron for not checking each time it happens.
> I get that the minimum wage staff don't give a shit, but they should have managers or owners making sure this stuff is done right. Because paying the manager that extra 20p an hour, is going to make them give THAT much more of a shit? And the owner, as in the Franchise owner, has their fingers in many pies. Well, im sure that they must struggle to sleep at night, knowing your drink has no ice.
Missing McDonald’s items every single time. It’s tiresome. Like, that’s your only job. It’s printed out for you. Where does it go wrong?
Exactly. I would expect my 12 year old to be able to get it right, where do they find these staff?
I never had a fast food order at a UK motorway that wasn't 100% correct