I was a Sandwich Artist in high school (best job I ever had, in fact; the owners would leave each night when my friends and I showed up for work, so we'd have the place to ourselves!). And, yes, they really are called Sandwich Artists. Anyway, to answer the post, I had many good subs at Subway--when I would make them. It was the one exception to the rule that a sandwich made by someone else tastes better. Once I stopped working there I couldn't even think of eating at Subway for years; my sandwiches had ruined it for me.

I completely agree that the average Subway employee either doesn't understand or doesn't care about making a decent sandwich, following explicit instructions, or using simple reasoning. But I've also found that this varies from franchise to franchise, rather than employee to employee. So find a good franchise and you'll probably get a decent sandwich nine out of ten times. I think this has more to do with the franchisee's ability to recognize/interest in hiring good employees (i.e. those with an understanding of customer service) than training. My friends and I may have blasted rock music, partook in illegal substances, and generally just misbehaved as employees on slow nights, but when a customer came in, we made him/her a good sandwich.

And I agree that Quizno's is exponentially better.

Oh, and don't eat the tuna. Or the seafood mix, if they still have that. Nasty stuff that.