Fast Food Hacks That Employees Can't Stand

Hacking your meals at fast food restaurants isn't a new concept. Employees who work for our favorite joints have always had some level of freedom to play with the recipes behind the scenes to create some delicious variations not on the menu. Whether you had KFC workers deep-frying biscuits into buttermilk donuts or movie theater staff slathering popcorn with nacho cheese, the idea of changing up your order has always been a semi-protected secret by workers in the food space.

However, with the advent of social media (and more specifically trends on TikTok), creative fast-food hacks are becoming more widespread among consumers and making workers' lives everywhere more difficult. In many cases, employees of fast food restaurants have spoken out on those very same social media platforms to get the attention of both customers and companies and to let everyone know these hacks make their lives miserable. Some companies have even responded by changing store policies.

But let's get down to the question you're probably asking — are any of the hacks that you've been ordering been torturing the employees at your favorite fast food place? We've compiled several that do. Keep reading to learn more.

Nothing says hedonistic fast-food mash-up more than throwing together almost every single protein a restaurant offers into a single sandwich — and that's exactly what the Land, Air & Sea is at McDonald's. And this isn't just some fan-made monstrosity — McDonald's actively markets the product (although for a limited time). According to the McDonald's website, "this menu hack covers all bases and all cravings" by combining the ingredients of a Big Mac, a McChicken, and a Filet-O-Fish into one enormous sandwich.

So if McDonald's actually encourages people to buy the Land, Air & Sea, what's the problem? The issue is that the restaurant clearly states online that when you order the menu item, you'll receive a Big Mac, a McChicken, and a Filet-O-Fish separately — and that you need to put them together yourself. Think of it as a DIY sandwich. Once a hack goes viral on TikTok, though, it's safe to say people aren't going to be reading the fine print. 

And that means workers are bearing the brunt of the complaints. There have been several reports of customers exploding at McDonald's employees for not assembling the sandwich for them. In a viral TikTok that has since been deleted, one man actually called McDonald's to complain that he had to do the "work" of assembling the sandwich himself (via Distractify). In the words of Snickers, "You aren't yourself when you're hungry."

Everybody loves a good grilled cheese. Everybody loves a good cheeseburger. And if the math adds up, everybody should love a good grilled cheese cheeseburger — which is exactly what has gone viral recently for the burger chain Five Guys. But not everyone loves it — namely the employees.

TikToker @shawnthefoodsheep breaks down the hack in one of his videos, saying it's basically a grilled cheese with a beef patty and whatever else you want to add in it. He personally adds grilled mushrooms, grilled onions, pickles, and more. He goes on to say, "holy crap, this is amazing. This is an orchestra of fast food ingredients that creates a foodgasm in your mouth."

It seems like there's a bit of a disconnect between customer and employee, though. In Shawn's video, he states the burger is "very easy to order," but some workers don't feel the same way. In a video that has since been deleted, one Five Guys worker begs customers to stop ordering the grilled cheese cheeseburger (via Daily Dot). Is the "foodgasm" worth upsetting the workers at your local Five Guys? That's for you to decide.

A TikTok hack by user @shantellxoxo that garnered over 6.8 million views and more than 11,000 comments was focused on one, heaven-made monstrosity that since been dubbed the Waffle House sandwich. It's essentially a Texas patty melt with beef patties, cheese, grilled onions, and bacon sandwiched between two waffles instead of Texas toast (with a big cup of pickles on the side). In the video, the concoction is split evenly into four pieces and looks to be the size of four small burgers.

Since then, many other aspiring eaters flocked to their local restaurant to snag their own Waffle House sandwiches. In another viral TikTok, an employee from Waffle House tries to dissuade people from getting the hacked sandwich by telling them it costs around $20, but this seemed only to fan the flame as an advertisement for the sandwich.

Some branches of the breakfast chain have taken matters into their own hands. According to a TikTok by user @officialgodbodycash, one Waffle House posted a handwritten sign that said in all capital letters: "ORDER FROM THE MENU WE ARE NOT MAKING ANYTHING YOU SAW ON TIKTOK!!" That's one way to deal with TikTok crazes: Just say no.

At a popular Mexican grill burrito chain called Pancheros, employees use a special device called "Bob" to evenly mix all of the contents of the burrito together so the customer gets the perfect bite every time. Unfortunately, Chipotle does not use "Bob," so some patrons have taken it into their own hands to specifically ask Chipotle workers to mix their burrito contents together.

In yet another viral TikTok, a user showed a Chipotle worker mixing up the contents of their burrito with two plastic tops from the side containers and captioned it: "this is ur sign to ask the Chipotle staff to mix up your burrito before they wrap it." In the comments, someone replied, "this ur sign not to do this bc we not supposed to now." Several others commented about how annoying this is for Chipotle workers and how it holds up the line unnecessarily. One commenter simply said, "when people ask me i say no."

Final verdict? It's probably better to leave this hack on the shelf — especially if your Chipotle is extra busy that day.

Of all of the hacks on this list, this one is probably the most devious. In a viral TikTok that has since gone private, a woman went to her local Chick-fil-A's drive-thru when it was really busy. She used a debit card that she was aware would get declined and waited for the employee to get frazzled and wave them through with a free meal so the line could keep moving. 

Although the trick seems unethical at best, several commenters replied with their own tricks that relied on the goodwill of an employee so that they could get free food. Of course, several others argued the hack was a terrible thing to do.

According to Daily Dot, one person commented, "Yeah as a former Chick-fil-A employee, don't do this. Managers will direct you out of the line with no food." Another commenter, via Daily Dot, hit the nail on the head: "When I worked at Chick-fil-A I would almost never give people free food. Because as an adult why are you ordering food when you don't have money." Not only is this hack wrong, but you could be getting people in a lot of trouble by practically stealing.

With the amount of customization that Chipotle Mexican Grill allows its customers, it was probably inevitable that someone would come up with a way to get what's been dubbed a soup burrito (if you can call it that) out of certain ingredients.

A soup burrito pretty much just includes a ton of the liquid ingredients that make the tortilla soggy. "An example of one is a burrito that has barbacoa, hot salsa, sour cream, and at times queso. Wrapping a burrito like that is very difficult and at times customers get annoyed we can't wrap it," a Chipotle worker said via Mental Floss.

It's easy to see why employees of the fast food chain would hate making this one. Several of them went to Reddit to vent. In one post, u/atkinsondrangoly titled a post: "Stop getting Soup burritos." He goes on to complain about how hard it is to make the burrito — and wonders why anyone would even enjoy eating something like that. "Like I get that you might like the flavor of these Sauces but it's damn near impossible to roll this. Not even my Gm can roll that." Another employee agreed with the post, saying, "I've been telling ... [the general manager] for years we need to limit all liquids to 2 servings on burritos. We get too many negative surveys for soup burritos." We can get on board with this one. Burritos should just be burritos — not soup.