No.4- Car Windows

Okay, so this one has two sections to it. The first part, I just don't get. I really don't. Ok, I do understand that it's an inconvenience to get out of you car and come inside to order. But let's be real, sometimes it can be faster. But yes, you come through the drive thru. You order, and roll up to the window.....and then, you open your car door. HUH? Your window doesn't work. Ok, now this is awkward. It's a little difficult to talk to you around your door, and even harder to pass you your food. Forget it if you pull forward too far!! So we have to leeeeaaannn all the way out the window, and you pretty much have to get out of the car anyway.....so remind me again why you didn't just come inside to order?? If your window is broken, please don't use the drive thru!!

Ok, so the second part. This is still having to do with your window. Maybe you do this when it's raining, maybe when it's hot or cold, but you come up to the window, and you still have your window up. When you were driving up to the window, what were you doing? Were you counting all that change out??? Well, I know what you weren't doing and that's rolling down your window. I get it, it's raining, or cold or hot or whatever it is, but now we have to sit in that while we wait for you to finally roll down your window. We don't want to get wet. We don't want to sweat, or freeze. But we have to because a) that's our job and b) you won't roll down your window before you get to the window. Help us out! Have some mercy! While we're talking about your window, please please don't roll your window back up until you are driving away. It's a pain in the behind to tell your total, take your money and when we turn back around to give you your change, we now have to wait again for you to roll down your window. We turn our back for 2 seconds to grab your bag of food and turn back around and somehow your window is back up! That is a damn fast window motor you've got there. That's impressive, but still annoying. Also, we can't talk to you through your window, so if you're going to continue to roll up your window on us, then don't complain when you don't get your sauces or ketchup or whatever other crap you need. Just do us a favor and don't make us lean out into the elements any longer then we have to!! Thanks, and happy eating!!

No. 3- Exact Change. Cash vs Credit Cards

Exact change.....this one is a little bit tricky. If your total is something simple like 12.50 or 10.75 exact change is welcome! Usually we won't mind exact change so long as there isn't a whole lot of coins or different dollar amounts involved. And when it's a little bit slower, we might not mind the sorting process of all that money. However, during the lunch rush, handing the cashier 4 ones, a 5 and 10 as well as a fist full of change is not a welcome sight. There is a trend of this blog, and that is to remind you that we have time goals!! Having to sort all that change and put the money away in the correct spots in pretty time consuming. We want to get you your food fast, and we can't really do that having to spend a whole minute putting away money!! I know a minute doesn't sound like a lot to you now. But just think of how long that minute is when you're hungry and waiting ever so impatiently for your food.
While we are discussing exact change, waiting until you get to the window is not the time to decide that you have that change! Oh, I have that 97 cents! Really? Really? Do you? Well you should have gotten it before you got here. Like you didn't know that that was your total......so now, I have to not only put away that 97 cents, which I'm sure is mostly pennies, but I have to wait for you to fish it out of your purse, your cup holder and the floor of your car. Way to put us behind. All because you didn't want 3 whole pennies? Anything we can do help I guess.  
The best thing to do, honestly, in drive thru is have a credit or debit card. I know that not everyone has this and I know sometimes you have the cash on you, which truly isn't the problem. But there is nothing we like better then a fast credit card transaction to get the line moving. Cash is becoming a thing of the past, but if you have to use it, if you could just make it a little easier on us during that busy rush time of lunch and dinner. Thanks! And happy eating.

No.2- Your Order.....

Sometimes we all have days when we don't know what we want to eat. Those days, are not for drive thru. If you don't know what you want, please just come in. You're wasting your time, and ours and like I mentioned before, we are under a time constraint.
So after hemming and hawing for what seems like an eternity to us, you finally order something. After sitting in the line to get to the window for no more then 5 minutes, you have suddenly changed your mind. You don't want that special sandwich that you ordered, you want something totally different that is going to take another 2 minutes to make and throw off the kitchen. Or, even worse, you want to add to your order! Maybe whoever you were talking to on that inappropriate phone call you were on asked you to pick them up lunch after they heard your delicious order. Whatever the case may be, when you add on to your order at the window, it really throws things off. Not only are you now confusing the kitchen and causing them to have to now work out of order of their screens, but you are now holding up the line of hungry people behind you that took the time to order correctly. This again brings us back to our time issue. The whole point of fast food is that it's fast! We have a system in drive thru and that it's get you your food fast, in fact, in less then 90 seconds.
The moral of this story is that by adding on to or changing your order, you really throw off the grove of the lunch rush. If you were to come in a slow time, it might not be so bad....but just don't do it during lunch rush! Help us to help you. Happy eating.

No. 1- Cell Phones

You're hungry, it's lunchtime, and you're taking a very important call. What's a person to do? Well, just hit up the drive thru! You won't have to get off your phone right? Wrong! This is right up there with checking out at the grocery store on your phone. There are so many things that are wrong with this, but let's start at the beginning.
1. You do realize that as soon as you pull up to the order box, that we can hear you right? That's how we know you're there. So we can hear you tell whomever you're talking to that no, you don't have to get off the phone, it's just drive thru. That always makes us happy to serve you!
2. So you're on the phone, and trying to hold a conversation, oh and order some food. We've all gone out to eat with our friends and had it take forever to figure out what we want because we're talking right? Well the same thing goes for drive thru. You don't know what you want! So you take forever. You do realize that we have time goals to meet right?
3. Alright, you finally order something....who knows if you even know what you ordered....and you pull around to the window. But you still haven't gotten off the phone. Which means, you probably haven't gotten your money out yet. You get to the window, and don't even acknowledge us, and are fumbling for your money while trying not to drop your precious call. Have I mentioned our time goals?
4. We try to confirm your order with you, but you're not really listening. We ask if you need any condiments, but you act like we're being so rude to your conversation. Hey, you came to us! If anything you're making our job much harder. Just get off the phone.
5. We hand your food and your drink, which is a miracle if you don't spill trying to grab it all with one hand. And you just drive away. Well thanks, have a nice day too.

After reading this, I'm confident you can see what's wrong with this picture, but if not, let me sum it up for you. If you're on the phone, we can't confirm your order properly. We don't want to be rude, that's not our goal, so please don't make us interrupt your conversation, it's just awkward. And please please please, if you're going to continue to come through the drive thru on your phone, please finish your argument before you come. We really really really don't care and don't need to hear it. Thanks. Happy eating!!

We've all done it.....

Whether it's everyday or every once in a while, everyone has gone through the drive thru. The question becomes then, are you "that" guy? Are you the guy that they talk about as soon as you drive away? Chances are, you could very well be. Until I started working at one of these fine establishments, I could have been one of "those" guys. There are things that people just don't think about as being a faux pas. Other things, you just know are wrong!! Some of these posts are just plain common sense, and others are things that people wouldn't know about unless put on the other side of the window. I hope this blog helps you become a better patron of whatever drive thru you choose!!