A few nights back, I ordered a Fat Burger.

I don’t eat fast food much, but when I feel like getting a stomach ache I indulge in burger from a Fast Food joint. This time it happened to be a Fat Burger.

Anyways, to my Fat Burger story.

I was at Fat Burger, waiting in line for my burger. Since they cook the burgers (they are not in a burger tray like McDonalds), they take a little longer.

While I was waiting, I noticed the lady making my burger looked into the mayonnaise bin with an estranged look. What was she looking at? I am a germ freak, so what happened next freaked me out a little bit.

She called over the chef to have a look in the mayonnaise bin!

Remember, my burger is still sitting there just been made and she hasn’t given it to me yet.

The next thing that happens pierces a feeling of “sickness’ into my stomach. Both the chef and the woman look at each other with a look of confusion and the chef instructs here to throw out the mayonnaise bin and bring out a new one.

They then both look at their hands...inspect them...apparently looking for something. To me this meant that there could have been something from their hands that could have gone into the mayonnaise, my initial assumption “blood”.

Upon throwing out an entire container of mayonnaise, the lady handed me my burger.

Did they not think I was watching what was going on? I was standing right there!!!

I was walking back to sit down and I had second thoughts...

“Like HELL I am eating this contaminated burger.”

After a few seconds of reconsideration I went back up to the counter and approached the area where the chef and the lady making the burgers were. I asked...

“I am just wondering what you guys were looking at within the mayonnaise jar before you threw it out?”

They looked stunned and guilty of something. They both look at each other and the lady said...

“What are your talking about?”

The chef then stepped in, “OH, it was empty.”. Then I asked them why they were looking at their hands after then.

The both looked at each other and failed to give a response. The manager was there now and she said:

“Your burger is fine!”.

I am not one for complaining, in fact if I see a hair in my food at a restaurant I will never complain. It is just not in my nature, however this one pissed me off more than I think any experience at any restaurant. I felt that in some way my own well-being was being jeopardized by what I was eating.

I asked for a refund. They obliged. They took the food back and I went on my way...but this event is not over.

As a potential repeat customer, this has diminished the Fat Burger brand in my eyes. In fact, I now associate that negative event with the entire chain. It is not logical, but that is how an entire brand can be represented by one negative event.

I am sure my experience could be awesome the next 100 times I visit Fat Burger and perhaps even that same one, however this left a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended).

Will I ever go to a Fat Burger again? Probably not for awhile and definitely not back to that one.

The point I am getting at is...

YOU ARE YOUR BRAND. THE PEOPLE THAT WORK FOR YOU ARE YOUR BRAND. And the services/products you provide people are with are your brand.

It is very hard to create a quality brand and it is really easy to lose it (one event in fact). Remember this with all of your activities online and if you truly care about your brand, you will be diligent about these single events not happening.

And if they DO happen, do something about it for your customer or they won’t be a customer for long.