Twelve former fast food employees were asked “What one menu item should customers NEVER order?” Their candid answers left me speechless. Every American needs to read this!

Most American lifestyles make it difficult to bake a home-cooked meal 7 days a week. Because of this, the fast food industry is booming.

But have you ever wondered what goes on behind the front counter at your favorite fast foot joint? Now, thanks to thirteen former employees, you can avoid the most questionable fast food menu items. Every American needs to see this!

12 Fast Food Items You Should NEVER Order, According To Former Employees

1. Panera

Pasta: “It’s all microwaved, this includes mac and cheese.”

Smoothes / Frozen Drinks: “Nasty base crap that smells and it’s sticky.”

Coffee Cakes / Cupcakes: “All come frozen.”

“Best items are the real sandwiches / salads. Real ingredients and are usually fresh.”

2. Taco Bell

Steak and Beans: “I worked at Taco Bell a bit ago and warn everyone to stay away from both the beans, and the steak. The beans start out looking like cat food, and the directions are, ‘Add water and stir until you can’t see white anymore.’ The steak was just the worst on dish duty. If it would sit too long it would become like hair gel. It was the worst.”

3. Starbucks

‘Secret Menu’ Items: “Former Starbucks worker here. Please don’t order anything off the ‘Secret Menu’. It doesn’t exist. If you want a snickerdoodle, Nutella, or Captain Crunch Frappuchino (or whatever other overly sugary thing someone has since come out with), know the base drink and the modifications, and order that. If you just say the name, it’s up to the barista to come up with what’s in the drink, and it may not be what the last barista you ordered from put in there.”

4. Your Local Movie Theater

Popcorn: “I worked at a theater, don’t get popcorn for the first showing- that’s all just last night’s popcorn put into giant garbage bags and then reheated in the warmers in the morning. Oh yea and remember that sticky floor in the aisle of the theater? Well what do you think would happen if you had that at your house? YES THAT’S HOW YOU GET ANTS… and cockroaches, and everything else. Plus it’s in the dark most of the time. It’s like a bug buffet once the lights go out and the movie starts.”

5. McDonald’s

Chicken McNuggets: “I used to work at McDonald’s. If you order, especially chicken nuggets, just ask for them fresh. Otherwise they’ve been just sitting in their container in the heat. They have a timer, but 9/10 times when that timer goes off, people just reset the timer instead of making new ones. This could go on until all the nuggets are sold.”

‘McCafe’ Drinks: “I work for McDonald’s and make sure everyone that matters to me never orders anything that comes out of the ‘McCafe’ machine as these are routinely neglected, in practically all the McDonald’s. Not only are staff not properly trained in it’s cleaning and maintenance, at almost every McDonald’s I’ve had experience with, the managers in charge of training don’t know fu** all either… All McCafe beverages run through a horrifically dirty machine — we’re talking 5+ inches of uncleaned, liquid bullshi** making up it’s inside parts.”

6. Ballpark Concession Stands

Hot Dogs: “I used to work in a baseball park concession stand. The short answer is not to order anything, but if you absolutely have to buy something, don’t buy the hot dogs. Do not. Buy. The Hot Dogs. They made it out of the package okay, and might even have been edible after we finished grilling them — and then they went into the water.

We kept three pans of water at the back of the grill that held the hot dogs. Any hot dogs left at the end of the day went back into the fridge, and came out again the next day. Me and the other cook put our feet down on throwing out the water and old hot dogs after two full days, but the management didn’t want to let us.”

7. Taco John’s

Beans: “Taco John’s reporting for all you midwesterners. I would steer clear of the beans, at least outside of peak hours, because they sit on the hot table for a long time and when they dry out, they just add water. Everything else is pretty solid though. Worked there a couple years back in 2007-2009 and still love going back to get my fix.”

8. KFC

BBQ Sandwiches: “Worked at KFC for 4 years. The BBQ sandwhich is actually made from chicken too old and stale to give to the homeless shelters, so they soak it in BBQ sauce until it can be bulled and then they keep it on the heater for a month. I still order it though.”

9. Chipotle

Quesarito: “It backs up the line like no other. If it’s not busy, you’re fine but PLEASE do not order a quesarito during peak hours. Employees will hate you. The people behind you in line will hate you. Everyone will hate you. There’s nothing wrong with it health/sanitation wise, but too few people order it for our da**ed managers to rearrange and optimize our food line for quesarito production.”

10. Einstein Bro.’s

Eggs: “I worked at Einstein’s bagel place which is basically fast food. Don’t order anything with eggs, they aren’t real eggs and if business is slowo they could have been sitting in a container for hours after they are microwaved.”

11. Wendy’s

Chili: “I used to work at Wendy’s. The meat used in the chili, yea that comes from the meat on the grill top that expires and dries up that’s put into a warming drawer until you have enough for a batch of chili, which we first freeze and then thaw the next day. Also if the chili sitting in the warmer doesn’t sell fast enough we just added hot water to it to mix it up.”

12. Gas Stations

Slurpees: “The amount of mold in those machines would crush your childhood to a pulp.”