Funny taste in soda, workers don't care.

[Barracuda]

I spotted this today at a Jack in the Box. Drove up and ordered a few food items, as well as a diet Dr. Pepper (my favorite.) Got the drink and took a sip immediately as I always do to check for problems and verify the taste. Got a mouthful of something that tasted kind of like Dr. Pepper with a NASTY aftertaste (You ever drunk water in a plastic bottle that's been in the sun too long, or tasted car exhaust? Kind of like that but stronger,) and immediately handed it back and explained something must be wrong with their machine. They handed me another one and I took a sip. SAME ISSUE.

I again explained that there was something wrong with the soda and asked them to taste it. They refused. I asked another worker. They refused as well. They asked what they wanted me to do. I replied that I wanted them to check the soda. They refused, again, and asked if I wanted something else instead. Finally I just took a Diet Coke and drove off, kind of pissed that they wouldn't listen (and wouldn't even check the damn soda!)

Should I have gotten more insistent? I feel like they were putting people's safety at risk, after all, if there WAS something wrong with the soda, it could have been more than a taste issue. I was also really pissed at being basically ignored and treated like I was the problem. Was I an SC?

[Talasar]

If you where asking them to taste your soda yeah that could be a bit weird but they should have at least checked it from the fountain. Or checked their bibs if they have a fountain system that uses soda bibs.

[sms001]

Yeah, I'd think that the assumption would be that they'd pull a little straight from the dispenser to do the tasting.

No, Barra, I don't think you were sucky. (Even leaving out the grading curve of Suck that includes people who throw their soda at drive through employees. )

I certainly try to bring safety concerns to the attention of employees whenever possible. Especially in this instance, it's possible that no one working the establishment drinks D-Dr.P. and they could hand out something bad for hours.

The only thing I can think of off hand is that they had new lines run, or that the bag-in-a-box container was defective.

Can't think of any reason why they would want to ignore a simple request to check though.

[EricKei]

It's possible that the drink is less than popular (Diet DP would likely fall under that category, despite the fact that, for a diet drink, it ain't half bad at all ) -- I suppose it's possible that the BiB (plastic bag-in-box full of drink "syrup") has been sitting around too long...

[otakuneko]

Possibly too much soda, not enough syrup? Some fast food places do that. Actually a lot probably do, just some much more noticeable than others. Ever had problems with that particular Jack before?

[EvilEmpryss]

I would doubt that it is a bad batch of syrup: dates are checked regularly and more than one person would be complaining about the flavor. From the description I'd say it's the syrup/carbonation mix being off.

They could be using one of those idiotic systems that pour all the soda flavors throught he same nozzle. I like Diet Coke, and I can tell when the place has individual dispensers for their sodas versus one big machine that dispenses them all through the same outlet: my DC will taste like orange soda or Dr Pepper or some other strongly-flavored drink. The flavor only gets stronger and more mixed up as the day goes on, when droplets of every other soda dispensed get mixed together. It's especially bad when the place is busy and the soda is still dripping from the previous order.

There's not a darned thing you can do about either of these except not go there. At the drive-thru they don't have time to flush the nozzle with water between drinks to clear the nozzle and they won't fiddle with the carbonation mix. Heck, most workers haven't got a clue how to do that anyway or are forbidden by management from doing so.

[retro]

Personally I'd be the wrong person to taste if your diet Dr Pepper tasted okay because I don't even like regular Dr Pepper. Could it be that maybe the seller didn't like it themselves so couldn't tell the difference between when it tastes good and when it tastes bad?

[Zellie Crescent]

There was a guy in the flea market where I worked who watered down the soda, whenever I got food from him after the first time I got different sodas just to see if I was right. After the fourth time I never got food from him again, his food was too salty anyway.

[Barracuda]

Normally this Jack has no problems with the soda. And it didn't just taste like it needed cleaning, it almost tasted like chemicals had gotten in it. I mean, it was bad. And I asked them to taste it from the dispenser, they refused.

[Silent-Hunter]

The fact that they wouldn't taste it tells me something screwy is going on. I'd call the health department.

[XCashier]

The fact that they wouldn't taste it tells me something screwy is going on. I'd call the health department.

I'd also contact corporate.

[Silent-Hunter]

Good idea.

[wolfie]

They could be using one of those idiotic systems that pour all the soda flavors throught he same nozzle.

Why would any place use such a system? It GUARANTEES cross-contamination, so if someone has problems (e.g. allergic to a specific ingredient) with a particular soda, they'll have problems with EVERY soda sold at that place. Can you say "liability issues"?

[Seshat]

I'd refuse to taste it if I was a worker and it was a potential contamination issue: but I'd also block off that dispenser until a manager could verify/identify the problem. Thus resolving the health concern!

I'm fragile, and what health I do have is important to me. So no, I won't volunteer to ingest a potential nasty. I'd be happy to test it against a test strip, or flush the lines with water to clean things out, or dissassemble and re-clean the unit. But I won't taste it.

Hm. If I were management, I'd go with re-cleaning the unit and trying a fresh bag of mix. The dubious bag of mix would either be discarded, or checked somehow. I presume there's ways of checking them for ok-ness!

[EvilEmpryss]

Why would any place use such a system? It GUARANTEES cross-contamination, so if someone has problems (e.g. allergic to a specific ingredient) with a particular soda, they'll have problems with EVERY soda sold at that place. Can you say "liability issues"?

Because it's cheap and can be automated. A conveyer belt carries a cup under the nozzle and the computer checks what the order is for, dispenses the appropriate soda, moves the cup, and preps the next in the order. The worker can then be busy prepping the remainder of the meal while the machine takes care of the drinks. It also takes up less space than your standard six-nozzle set up and allows the store to carry more flavors of soda since the space to run extra syrup tubes to the machine is negligible.