After hearing Druff's "tomatoes on the side" story, it reminded me of one of the first times I visited a Subway restaurant. It was in the fall of 1987 in Biloxi, MS. Being from NJ, I had never visited a Subway before since delis were the more popular choice back home. Delis make up your sandwich from scratch -- slicing the meat and piling on whatever toppings you want. I went to Subway with a group of guys. All of us were attending a 17-week training class at Keesler Air Force Base and the Subway was located just a short walk from the side gate of the base.
On my first visit, I noticed that instead of cutting the roll all the way through, they kind of cut out a wedge. I quickly figured out that by doing this it made the meat and other fillings look twice as large since they were somewhat folded in half. No big deal. It was only my first visit and I went along with the group. On my second visit, I asked the person working at the counter if they could just cut the roll straight through. They said no. They were not permitted to do that and they had to cut the roll in that odd wedge fashion. Hmm...seemed odd, but ok. Whatever sandwich option I chose had black olives. I love black olives, but the sandwich was only topped with 3 little slices of black olive. It looked more decorative than anything else. I asked the sandwich maker if I could get more black olives. Again I was told no, that the sandwich I ordered only got topped with 3 olives. Very odd and not what I was use to. What difference could a few more tiny bits of sliced black olives make?
After those two experiences I had had my fill of Subway. I remember commenting to my Air Force classmates that this sandwich chain won't last long. That was 30 years ago and for some odd reason they're still around. It's probably because the franchise ran the smaller mom-n-pop delis out of business. (In fact, I just Googled Subway locations in Biloxi, and that restaurant is still there at 1670 Pass Rd.) So I wasn't surprised that Subway refused to serve "tomatoes on the side". The world would be a better place without Subway and their strict by-the-book army of employees.