Sir, This Is A Wendy's

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About

Sir, This Is A Wendy's, also written Ma'am, This Is A Wendy's, is a catchphrase used to deflect overbearing or subjectively annoying statements or questions, as well as comments that are bizarre or irrelevant. It's an offshoot of the Sir, This Is An Arby's meme and was first used on Twitter in 2012, though it has a likely origin from a 2008 episode of The Office. In 2020, an exploitable template emerged that used a SrGrafo cartoon showing a disgruntled Wendy's cashier talking to a customer. The template was used en masse for anti-memes and ironic memes on Reddit, among other platforms, going into the early 2020s.

Origin

A potential origin for the "Sir, This Is A Wendy's" meme comes from a moment in season four, episode 14 of The Office, titled "Chair Model."^[1] In the episode, Michael Scott asks everyone to give him phone numbers of women he could potentially date. Michael receives the number of a Wendy's restaurant as a prank, and when he calls it, he's then met with a female employee who states, "No sir, this is a Wendy's restaurant" (shown below).

On November 11th, 2011, Twitter^[2] user ethanhunter posted the first-known Sir, This Is An Arby's meme, earning 16 likes in 11 years (shown below, top). The Sir, This Is An Arby's trend started to encapsulate one speaker saying something romantic or unfounded only to issue a "Sir, This Is An Arby's" response. This format was then mimicked by Twitter^[3] user JustinLanier on March 15th, 2012, however, he stated, "Sir this is a Wendy's please place a order or leave," instead, earning no likes in 10 years but being the first online to use some form of the Sir, This Is A Wendy's meme (shown below, bottom).

Spread

Going into the 2010s the catchphrase started to be used more often on Twitter. For instance, on April 27th, 2014, Twitter^[4] user jakelikesnaps used the catchphrase in a tweet about Jurassic Park, earning over 300 likes in eight years (shown below, left). On January 3rd, 2017, the brand Twitter account @Wendys posted a reply^[5] that used the catchphrase and referenced The Office episode,^[1] earning over 260 likes in five years (shown below, right).

On February 5th, 2019, Redditor and cartoonist SrGrafo posted a comic called Airport Security to /r/comics,^[6] earning roughly 52,400 upvotes in three years. On the same day, Redditor^[7] HydroSword left a comment stating, "Sir this is a Wendy's," earning roughly 1,300 upvotes in three years. SrGrafo then responded to the comment with an edit^[8] of the comic, adding in the "Sir this is a Wendy's" catchphrase (shown below). SrGrafo's comment^[9] received roughly 1,800 upvotes in three years.

On February 8th, 2020, SrGrafo posted another comic to /r/comics,^[10] showing a disgruntled Wendy's cashier saying, "Dude…" to a customer's odd question about locking someone in a fridge and whether they'd die from hypothermia or suffocation. The comic received roughly 34,900 upvotes in two years (shown below, left). On the same day, Redditor^[11] ThatOneWeirdName commented, "Sir, this is a Wendy's," earning over 220 upvotes in two years. On February 8th, a blank template was shared to /r/MemeEconomy.^[12]

On February 21st, 2020, Redditor Desnof117 posted a version of the cartoon to /r/ShitPostCrusaders^[13] that replaced the employee's speech bubble with "Sir, this is a Wendy's," earning roughly 5,300 upvotes in two years (shown below, right).

Going into the early 2020s, Redditor Desnof117's version of the cartoon was exploited en masse by meme creators who replaced the text in both speech bubbles as well as the place of employment of the cashier using object labeling. Additionally, on August 17th, 2019, the /r/sirthisisawendys^[14] subreddit was created, which as of May 2022 has roughly 11,000 members.

On December 18th, 2020, Redditor u/PROblem817 posted a version to /r/Memes ^[16] that pushed the template into anti-meme and Bone Hurting Juice territory, having the customer actually order a Wendy's meal to the relief of the cashier. Over the course of a year and a half, the meme received roughly 49,100 upvotes (shown below, left). Also, in early 2022, the catchphrase received increased usage on Twitter. For instance, on January 3rd, 2022, Twitter^[15] user minakimes received roughly 38,300 likes over the course of four months for a tweet that used it (shown below, right).