Subway's Turkey Sub Was The Target Of This Surprising Graffiti

Subway doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to positive press surrounding its sandwiches. Between the tuna debacle and the ruling from an Irish court saying that Subway's bread doesn't legally meet the definition of bread because of its astronomical sugar content (via The Independent), Subway has had more than its fair share of controversy — most of which is due to decisions made at the corporate level.

What consumers might not know, though, is that Subway runs on a franchise model. This means that each location is run by an individual who pays an initial fee to run their restaurant under the brand name and agrees to adhere to guidelines set forth by the company, but with some autonomy (as outlined by the International Franchise Association). The flexibility can be great for some managers, but ultimately these are shops run by individuals, and unfortunately, when situations of vandalism and graffiti arise, it can feel personal.

This was the case in Oakland, California, when Subway manager Peter Singh found his store defaced with graffiti multiple times. According to SFGate, one example of the offending graffiti read, "F—k yo turkey sub," and that wasn't the first time Singh had been forced to paint over graffiti on the exterior of his store. It had happened at least five times before. Singh's neighbor, Nick Yapor-Cox, who owns a pizza shop across the street, told SFGate, "It kept coming back and it feels like harassment...I think someone thinks that they're being funny. To me it's not acknowledging that there's a person behind there, not a nameless corporation."

While the graffiti references Subway's turkey sandwich, it seems unlikely that dissatisfaction with a sandwich is all that's at play. KQED reports that rampant graffiti is an issue all over the city, with new graffiti popping up over fresh paint less than a day after. And while the city does offer one free removal of graffiti, according to The City of Oakland website, many business owners in the community are forced to go into their own pocket to cover the cost of painting over it due to a lack of resources for the city to spearhead the project on its own.