Subway may seem like a place where anything goes, but that's only true for the customers. You may be able to order a footlong double mayo on white bread with salt and pepper (Don't believe us? Just watch the video!) with no one batting an eye, but corporate actually has very strict rules for the Sandwich Artists. From rigid scheduling hours to rules about speech, the Subway rules cover just about every aspect of the job you could think of. There's even rules about how many olives the Artists can place on a sandwich! Sure, there's some variation in enforcement depending on location, but nonetheless, these are bizarre rules that Subway employees are forced to follow.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Subway employees must be proficient at every position in the restaurant. But do you know
00:05all the rules staff must follow, including a very specific number of olives they have
00:09to put on a sandwich? Keep watching to learn all the deets.
00:13All of the prepared meats offered to a customer at a Subway restaurant must be cooked before they
00:17are served. And that's true even if a customer doesn't want a hot sandwich, according to a
00:22post shared on Reddit. If you request, say, a rotisserie chicken sandwich but don't want it
00:26toasted, the employee will then have to microwave the meat instead, and only then put it on your
00:31sandwich. This required cooking is performed even though all of the meat is pre-cooked.
00:36The secondary heating can kill off the bacteria E. coli, hence the requirement
00:41that employees heat the meat even if they're not zapping the entire sandwich. For reference,
00:45temperatures above 160 degrees Fahrenheit will kill E. coli, according to Science of Cooking.
00:51Per the Cleveland Clinic, you definitely want all of that bacteria dead as it can
00:55lead to severe stomach pain, cramping, diarrhea, internal bleeding, and in extreme cases,
01:00even kidney failure. So cut the Subway folks a break on this one,
01:04or just get the sandwich toasted. It tastes better that way anyway.
01:08According to self-proclaimed former Subway employees sounding off on Reddit,
01:12the staff at Subway restaurants are only supposed to give you six olives per sandwich.
01:16It's even worse news if you're ordering a six-inch sandwich,
01:19because then you are only supposed to get three olives. This is because the black olives are
01:23apparently considered high-end vegetables, meaning they cost more money. Tomato and
01:27cucumber slices also fall under this definition, so you may be able to watch as a Subway worker
01:32carefully limits the amount of these foods added to each sandwich.
01:36"...hungry?"
01:36"...starving!"
01:39"...silly question."
01:40Then again, at other locations, olives are added as generously as any other veggie.
01:44Subways are all franchise-based operations,
01:46so different stores will be more or less stringent about different policies.
01:50By the way, there are indeed non-high-end veggies. Lettuce,
01:53spinach, and onions, for example, will be heaped on by the handful. Also, here's the catch. While
01:58Subway employees are told to limit the volume of high-end veggies they add to each sandwich,
02:03they are also obliged to add more if a customer asks. So watch closely as your sandwich is
02:08assembled, and feel free to ask for more olives or tomatoes or cucumber, and so on.
02:13Subway's policy is that anyone getting a Veggie Delight sandwich is entitled to double the amount
02:18of cheese that comes on a sandwich with meat or with a vegetarian patty. That amount of cheese
02:23is four slices for a foot-long sandwich or two slices for a six-inch sandwich, for the record.
02:27But here's the thing. At almost every Subway,
02:30the customer ordering the Veggie Delight has to ask for the extra cheese. To be clear,
02:34you are entitled to double cheese with a Veggie Delight, and Subway workers know that.
02:38You just have to ask for it before you will get it. When you do,
02:41never fear, because you will not be charged extra.
02:44For those of you who order sandwiches with meat but still yearn for more than two or
02:48four slices of cheese, you can pay for double cheese and only lay out an additional 30 cents
02:52for extra cheese on a six-inch, or 60 cents for double the cheese on a foot-long sub,
02:57according to Real Menu Prices.
02:59So picture this. Sandwiches without the bread.
03:05Interesting.
03:06Okay.
03:07If you have ever seen someone walk into a Subway and request myriad different ingredients packaged
03:12up and handed over separately, this was not a one-time fluke, and it was not an occurrence
03:17that you will only see at that one specific Subway location. It happens all the time,
03:21according to this poster on Quora. A customer may order a sandwich and then, for example,
03:25request the tomatoes and the cucumber packed up separately, which would make sense if they
03:29were going to eat it later and didn't want it getting soggy. Or they may ask for the ham,
03:33cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, black olives, and all the rest of it packaged up separately,
03:38and the worker will hand over the effectively disassembled, or yet-to-be-assembled,
03:42sandwich. Even the dressing can be taken to go in a little souffle cup.
03:46Okay, so remember how Subway employees have to give you all of your ingredients separately if
03:50you ask? They are also supposed to give you as much as you want when said ingredients are the
03:55lower-cost veggies. According to answers posted to a forum on Quora, there is technically no limit
04:00to the amount of vegetables a Subway employee can give a customer who has ordered a sandwich
04:04or wrap or salad. One former employee described how one enterprising and unscrupulous customer
04:09would come in daily and request so much lettuce that the staff would preemptively have two bags
04:14ready to accommodate it all, with more lettuce at the ready to replenish the supplies at the
04:18counter, according to BuzzFeed. So go ahead and ask for extra onions or green peppers or jalapenos,
04:24or even request more black olives and extra tomatoes. The workers may not be thrilled with
04:28you, but they will oblige, even if you ask for so much lettuce that they can't fit it on the bread
04:33and end up grabbing a bag.
04:35Subway workers are, within reason, obliged to make each and every change to a sandwich that
04:40a customer asks for. According to BuzzFeed, that has led to some truly horrific sandwiches.
04:45One former Subway employee said,
04:46"...we used to have a guy come in regularly to order a footlong on white,
04:50with just double mayo, salt, and pepper."
04:52Another recounted an awful-but-easy-to-make sandwich,
04:55saying the customer asked for a six-inch on honey wheat with every condiment.
04:59Surely the worst of all the sandwiches reported in the article was the meatball cookie sub.
05:04Yes, meatballs. And cookies. The employee said,
05:07"...this guy got a meatball sub, then he continued to ask for numerous veggies.
05:12Then he asked for two chocolate chip cookies crumbled onto it."
05:16Don't call them employees, or staff, or workers or chefs or cooks. Call them artists.
05:22Sandwich artists. That's right, the people who work at Subway restaurants are officially known
05:26as sandwich artists, and Subway has even registered the term, showing the company's
05:31commitment to that terminology. And what does a sandwich artist have to do? Quite a lot,
05:35according to Waterproof Menu. An excerpt shared there taken from an actual Subway job description
05:40reads, in part,
05:41"...a sandwich artist greets and serves guests, prepares food,
05:44maintains food safety and sanitation standards, and handles or processes light paperwork.
05:49Exceptional customer service is a major component of this position."
05:53As for the attributes an aspiring sandwich artist might have, the description also said,
05:58"...some high school or equivalent education. The ability to understand and implement written
06:03and verbal instructions. Must be able to work any area of the restaurant when needed,
06:07and to operate a computerized point-of-sale system slash cash register.
06:11Position requires bending, standing, and walking the entire workday."
06:15Those sandwich artist requirements we just discussed may not sound like the highest
06:19standards any job has ever demanded. But don't think you can just breeze your way into a job
06:24off the street and work your sandwich-making magic. There is a rigorous training period,
06:28and a lot of tests, as it turns out. According to a copy of an official Subway employee training
06:33manual, the training process begins with a pre-test. You will be given one pre-test before
06:37all five of your training shifts. Guess what happens after each of those five training days?
06:42That's right, another test. A later excerpt from the manual reads,
06:46At the end of every shift, you will receive a post-test related to everything you trained for
06:50that day. You are required to pass every post-test in order for you to pass the validation at the
06:55end of your training. During validation, you will be asked a few questions about the Subway process,
07:00and finally, if you proceed to answer these questions correctly, you will be awarded the job.
07:06Technically, Subway employees need only be on time for their shift, not early,
07:10but if they arrive merely on time, they must come ready and get straight to work.
07:14That's according to the employee handbook. So the suggestion is made that workers arrive
07:18at the restaurant about five minutes before their shift.
07:21When Subway open, they change the fast food game. But sometimes you gotta refresh
07:26to be fresh. Welcome to the Eat Fresh Refresh.
07:30When it comes to staying after your shift is over, that can be a non-negotiable issue when
07:34the circumstances warrant. The manual dictates, employees must be willing to stay past their
07:39scheduled time at times when the store does happen to get busy. And don't even think about
07:43an unexcused absence if you want to retain your sandwich artist role. If you happen to miss a
07:48shift and don't call and give the manager a reason as to why, you will be terminated.
07:53Sandwich artists have to greet all customers the same way, and that greeting is simply,
07:58Welcome to Subway, according to the official rules. This is true whether there isn't another
08:02customer in the shop or if there is a queue snarling around the whole place. Not only must
08:06customers be greeted in a certain way, but they also must be treated in a certain way.
08:10The guidance given is,
08:12Customers must be treated in a professional manner. Be patient with customers,
08:16even if they are giving you trouble. Last but not least, remember that the customer is always right.
08:21So as it happens, sandwich artists need to add thick skin
08:24and equanimity in with the other attributes required for success.