It's hard not to love at least one fast-food restaurant, but many Canadians haven't had the experience of actually working at a fast food chain, and that means you don't always know what's going on behind closed doors.
So, to get an idea of what menu items you should avoid according to the people who would know, Narcity Canada asked for advice from former fast food workers.
We asked around the office first, because we've got a few people on staff who used to work in the industry. Then we asked our Facebook followers: "Ex fast food workers, what menu item would you never order after working there & how come?"
And boy, did everyone deliver the gross and unsettling details.
Before we go into it, it's important to remind you that all of these stories are purely anecdotal and don't necessarily reflect the way that any of these restaurants want their food to be handled. Just because one employee says some gross stuff went down where they worked, it doesn't mean that's a general rule or practice across all locations. Every restaurant chain has standards, and if you hear about something gross, that chain is probably just as upset as you are about the way things are done.
Along with this, we're also unable to verify the stories from Facebook, so be prepared to take them with a grain of salt. Because, believe it or not, its really easy to stretch the truth or outright lie on the internet.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get into the food items that former fast food employees say you'll need to stay the heck away from.
One of the most popular items that was mentioned on Facebook was the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish.
This fish sandwich has been a part of the McDonald's menu since 1962 and was invented so that those who abstain from meat on Fridays for religious reasons have something to eat, according to the Smithsonian Magazine.
And according to the commenters, its limited popularity is its downfall.
"No one orders them so they just sit all day in the warming stagers until one unlucky gremlin decides to scarf one down," said Facebook user Geoff.
"One time during a busy shift one fell on the ground and our Manager was like 'pick it up just serve it,'" they claimed.
"Some managers were good about swapping the stuff out, most didn’t care," added user Margaret, in reference to the Filet-O-Fish.
"Ask them to do it fresh," they advised.
"Do you know how often those were made?" echoed Logan. "Hardly ever."
Narcity's Josh Elliott recently mentioned that another item at McDonald's would often get made and forgotten because of its unpopularity -- the grilled chicken.
"There just might be a grilled chicken sitting in the heating cabinet when you order [one]," he explained.
"And that grilled chicken might be into Hour 3 of its one-hour shelf life because staff would rather reset the timer than go through the trouble of making it again for seven minutes."
He added that the Facebook comment about Filet-O-Fish is legit, at least when you're ordering it outside of lunch or dinner hours.
As for one of Canada's most Canuck places to eat, a former Tim Hortons employee spoke up about one of their world-famous donuts.
"Tim Hortons glazed donuts," said Narcity's Shelby Renaud.
"I've seen bakers spread the glaze on the donuts with their fingers because it was more efficient than doing it with the huge gloves," she alleges.
And don't think that movie theatres aren't going to be mentioned here.
Narcity's Nancy Pham said she used to work in a movie theatre, and she recommends that cinema fans avoid anything fried.
"The oil most often never got changed for MONTHS. It was such a dark brown, almost black," she said.
She also added that she's "seen people drop the frozen food on the ground, pick it up and put it in the oil."
Another self-proclaimed former movie theatre employee advises staying away from popcorn after they found a mouse carcass in the cooking oil tub.
"We called the shift manager to help us deal with it and he just scooped out the carcass and told us to use it and that the heat would kill anything else he didn’t scoop out," they claimed on Facebook.
Yikes!
And if you've read this far, we're really sorry if we ruined any of your favourite fast food eats.
At least that was the case for Facebook user Joel who succinctly said, "I'm never eating again!"
Neither are we, until we get a craving for that Filet-O-Fish again...
Iced coffee from fast food restaurants in Canada.
