Bet your pH was too high letting bad bugs eat the heat instead.

That "you don't talk yourself into swinging through the drive thru" part really hit home for me. It's like my brain has this ability to completely forget about the leftovers sitting in the work fridge the second I smell fast food. But here's something I haven't seen anyone mention yet - the time of day you prep matters way more than you'd think. @oscarw83, you said you do Sunday prep, but I tried doing it on a Wednesday evening instead and it made a huge difference. Sunday prep always felt like I was wasting my weekend, but doing it midweek felt more like I was setting myself up for the second half of the week. Plus there's less pressure to make it perfect when you're not staring at a whole week ahead of you. It's still the same chicken salad, but my brain just cooperates better when prep feels like a quick task instead of a big Sunday chore.

Spoons sauces by hand" huh... I had a buddy who worked there for like six months and he said his wrist gave out from whisking so much. Guess they really don't cut corners on that stuff.

Did a friend of yours actually pull that off?

Flip them halfway through and bump the temp to 400 for the last 2 minutes if you want extra crunch. Tater tots are the other one that blows the oven away, just shake the basket every 4 minutes. French fries from frozen turn out way better too, just don't overcrowd the basket or they steam instead of crisp.