Jimmy John's ...no me gusta!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Jimmy John's is not the place for me. I'm not one to use this blog to go on a pessimistic rant, but I'll make this one exception. A couple of weeks ago, a Jimmy John's restaurant opened across from North Park, next to the Starbucks. I wasn't pumped about its opening because 1. their subs are below average and 2. I wanted a Potbelly or Chipotle to open up instead.

The fact that almost anyone could go to their local grocery store, buy an Italian bun, iceberg lettuce, and sandwich toppings and get an end result as good or better than their subs is only one of my annoyances with this establishment. Another would be the atmosphere of encouraged obnoxiousness found on their signage and in their employees. I've never been a fan of too many antics to try and force a customer to "have fun" in any business.

I'll take a Southwest flight, but I don't want to play any games with the flight attendants while we scramble for plane seats. I'll go to Cold Stone, but I'd rather not leave a tip, lest the entire staff breaks into a song for the tipper. I refrain from ordering a shake at Potbelly because it often results in a screaming match between employees to make sure the shake is being made...size, flavor, you name it, they'll scream it. Call me crazy but I just like to get my food and get out.

The other day I thought I would give Jimmy John's one last fighting chance, and - I kid you not - I walked into a nightmare of all my pet peeves realized. The door hadn't even closed behind me before about 10+ workers (squished behind a small counter) all gave me a big hearty hello all at once and then continued to say "welcome," "hi," "how are ya," "hola," in extremely random and intolerable silliness. With what I'm sure was a look of confusion on my face, I proceeded toward to counter, to read over the menu and see what I wanted. At this point, the man who must have been the manager literally came from behind the counter to stand beside me doing a song and dance the entire way up. He ended with extended jazz hands and a request for my order. I said I wasn't ready yet, could I look at the menu? "Want to tell me and then I'll tell her!?," (referring to the girl at the register) he asked with bubbling excitement. WHAT!?!?! Then he told me that I should get a #12. When I decided I wanted a #4, the girl asked if I wanted cheese for an extra charge. A $1.20 extra charge. I told them I'd just go somewhere else.

You'd think they would have turned off the antics when I wasn't responsive to their attempts in the beginning. Maybe they are just supposed to be weird. It's just so not my style. What I want to know is 1. do people actually like Jimmy John's food and, more importantly, 2. do people really enjoy the strange mix of customer service on steroids and "fun" in the workplace when you're just trying to get a meal? It just seems a little ridiculous to me - maybe I'm just super boring.