Drive-thru Etiquette

I've worked at McD's for 2 years. There's some people who need to learn how to go thru a drive-thru and not be so rude. Its for quick and simple meals for people on the go. Employees are timed and have to get orders out under 120 second for each person. Managers change that number often to as low as 90 or 85. Its very stressful, especially with customers who like to take their time digging out change or long orders. So here are a few Dos and Don'ts for the drive-thru.

- Don't order a huge meal. I see too many soccer moms ordering for the whole team. It slows down the drive thru times and the more food ordered the more likely there could be a mistake. Please just go inside.

-Keep it simple. I have seen people go into details on exactly how they want their burger. It drives the order taker insane, its hard enough to just hear the order sometimes, then when you have to relay back to grill eactly what this guy wants cause the computer has no button for it, things get even more confusing. I've seen orders being made over 3 or 4 times before grill really gets it right. And the customer will even get pissed off. Please just take it inside or write it down!

-Calm down. You go thru drive-thru, you order just a meal. Lets say a big and tasty with cheese but no mayo and mustard instead. You get the sandwich and they have forgotten the cheese AGAIN! OMG! don't have a cow. This is the most messed up sandwich ever. Its all because there is a separate button for cheese on a B & T. and it is the most overlooked on a grill paper when someone orders it. Don't throw a fit, or for any other messed up order. Employees are trying their best most the time, and are constantly yelled at to serve off the order to keep those times down. Mistakes happen, it doesn't help if you go crazy, its not like we won't fix it. And if you say "well they screw up a lot" then you get too much fast food

-Smile and say "thank you". Its not much, but it helps a lot. They feel a bit better when serving you if you are polite. And don't feel bad if they don't smile back, after hours of trying to smile and say "thankyou" that smile tends to fade on its own.

-Sorry, we just don't have it. If the restraunt doesn't have it, please don't get pissed off. Its not their fault. Don't wave a sauce from a different place in their face and say "but Burger King has it!"

-Wear clothes. Yes i am serious.

-No Thx. Please don't be handing out business cards in Drive-thru Its just not polite.

-Be Ready. The most common reason for drive-thru times to be high or your long wait in line is caused by people who are not ready. They sit there and decide on what to get, or they are digging around for money. Don't be mad at the employees, its most likely the people in front of you causing the wait.

-Speak loud and clear. Some of those headsets are just pure evil. The speaker seems to be aimed directly at the engine on the car, cause thats all i hear along with some mumbling. Once in a while i can make out what they say or take a guess. If you have a loud car or truck, its best to turn the engine off while giving your order. Else make sure its loud and clear so your order will be correct.

-Don't you remember me? Drive-thru isn't social time with friends. I don't care how good of a friend you are or if you are a relative. I don't have time to chat, i need you in and out the same as all the other customers. And don't be upset if you go in and out and i don't even say hi. When you get into the working trance, all faces are the same. And if i havn't seen you in a while or something, i might overlook you. Nothing personal, i just turned off the outside world to ignore the frustration and stress of work.

-Turn off your windshield wipers! I really hate trying to serve poeple while getting splashed by water when it rains. I have seen people completly ignore it and watch me get smacked in the face with water. Its rude and annoying. And might earn you some spit hehe

-Please just pull forward. If your food has to cook don't be an ass. The people behind you can still get their food and go. Don't sit there and say no, it doesn't make your food cook any faster. It just drives the times up. And it makes you look really bad.

-I don't know. Don't ask me what is in your bag after i hand it to you. Chances are i have forgotten already or didn't have time to check. I depend on the other guy to give it to me correctly. If i stop to check every order i get yelled at. Its much easier and faster to just check it yourself. Its in your hand.

-I still don't know. Don't ask me if the fries are fresh. The truth is, i have no idea. The best i can do is ask the fry dude. And hes gunna say yes everytime. Just taste one if you are that concerned.

-Don't obsess over the toy. I see people that act worse than thier bratty kids over the stupid McD's toy. Just take what we gave you. Its a cheap little toy. And if you get the same one then read the last line of "Calm down."

-Be polite to other customers. If you are the type to drive over the median or take a short cut in drive-thru at least make sure you arn't cutting anyone off. Its not fair to those following the rules. And it can be dangerous going in the wrong way at times.


these are all the Dos and Don'ts i can think of for now. I might some more later or some general rules.

I concur with the above.

I've always followed the rule that you should be very, very nice to the person handling your food.

I worked at a Burger King about 7 years ago. I refused to do drive-thru or front register (I only had to do front register twice). It's a job that really teaches you to hate people, especially spoiled bourgeois hicks from Boerne, Texas who all drive giant v8 dualies and buy their kids one too as soon as they turn 16.

If your order doesn't come up right away, look around you. Is the restaurant crowded? If so, then it is probably slow because the staff is having to deal with the nitpicking of some asshole (unless you are that asshole). Also, the registers really are difficult to use because you can't type any numbers in. It's a big dopey pad with lots of little descriptions written too close together and frequently you have to browse drop-down menus any time you "want it your way, right away."

Before you get all pissed off, think about this: these people work for minimum wage. The work is hard, especially the kitchen work when it is understaffed in order to keep the profits up (and it's always understaffed). These people are frequently tired and have been standing for 8 hours in a room where the grease literally turns into an aerosol and coats every exposed crevice of your body (and it's impossible to completely wash the smell out of your clothing). Also, all kinds of labor rules and employee rights are most likely being violated but these people are just gritting their teeth and bearing it because they need to keep their pathetic jobs. There's really nothing stopping them from sabotaging your food this time (or next time if they remember you and hold a grudge) other than basic civility (which has been worn pretty thin by a day full of angry people).

Oh... And if you're a cop, don't use the drive-thru. Some people who get a slave labor job for less than a living wage happen to dislike you guys A LOT.

Now I'm not gonna sit here and say I am a saint about this (remember the wendy's drive through and ordering a #20 supersized with a beer). I do however wait until I go to it often enough that the staff starts making the jokes with me. Example just before I realized how often and how much I was spending going to wendy's and ordering a #3 biggie sized with a diet coke 5 - 6 times a week, I was driving up to the drive through and ordering all sorts of stuff..but not until they played the prank of telling me my order was 50 bucks one night.

I agree though with the post and heck alot of it applies to life in general.

This is a pathetic thread ....and yet another good reason never to eat fast food......you think people are assholes at the drive through....wait till you get a real job

What's a "real job?"

Where you think I am right now Talen. LOL

Hah, drive throughs. How american. I think we actually have one or two... but... well, you know how it is in Europe. I *walk* to the mall. That's right. And it's only a block away... I try to avoid fast food like the plague though. No offense to the fine people who prepare it, of course, but that stuff is poison.

OMG OMG OMG OMG you .. *GASP* walk???? Back in my day, I carried 20 pounds worth in a backpack, no shoes, up hill; both ways, freezing sleet/snow, and 'we' have it easy .

Anywho...


But yeah, I totally agree with Hikaru, granted 'fast food' is supposed to be fast, but how can you argue with a person who wins a settlement for over $1Mil for their coffee being 'too hot' and they spilt it all over themselves???

Welcome to the world where money is king.

Yes please everyone, avoid all fast food. McD's is poison!! Its true!! I have horror stories nothing is safe cept maybe coutons and bagged cookies.

1. the fried chicken stuff. there is a yellow strange gunk that likes to collect on the trays it smells like a weird chemical and it collects so much and so hard to get off that they just leave it. WHo knows what this stuff is. Don't eat the chicken unless its grilled.

2. the grill. The meat is safe most the time. But at the McD's i worked at some dude took crap from a toilet and grilled it up as a burger with all the fixings. Then dared someone to eat it for money. He ate the whole thing, made me gag ><

3. the fries. Don't eat the fries during the hot summer. They leave the window open too much and flies get in. They like the lights over the fries but its so hot that they just die in them. I've had to scoop out a lot of corpses.

4. the soda. Yes, even they arn't safe. Before you get your drink, take a look underneath by the nozzles. Most the time there is a slimy black mold growing, unless someone cleans it which is rare.

5. shakes and ice cream. Its pretty safe most the time. Just everyonce in a while we drop one of those damn caps in there and someone dips their arm in to fish it out.

6. hot fudge and carmel. They like to grow mold. A friend of mine had just finished a nice big sundae at the end of his break. We were checking to see if the fudge needed to be filled, and there was a huge fuzzy mold spot on the bottom of the lid eeeeeww. We checked the carmel and it was the same.

7. salads. oh no! Not the one healthy food! unless you smother it in dressing People like to make salads with their bare hands, i don't know why. Maybe they are just too lazy to put on gloves.

8. all food is dropped once in a while. most the time we throw it away. But the grill people like to put it back. One lady even caught a grill guy doing something nasty and she wanted her money back. I don't blame her.

Do not eat fast food for any reason.
Better to eat nothing than eat poison.


DNA

Before I respond, I would like to point out that I spent two and a half years putting myself through college by delivering pizzas for minimum wage, so I do have a lot of sympathy for the fast food worker. If you think working the drive through at Mickey D's and serving an SUV driven by a soccer mom with her entire soccer team is tough, try delivering a pizza to a frat house on a Friday night... especially if the cooks fuck up THAT order.

But let me offer the counterpoint to what you are saying.

- If I tell you that I don't want a pickle on my burger, don't have a cow. Just give me the damn burger without a pickle. I hate pickles, and I can't even stand having the leftover pickle juice on my burger if I get an unadultered burger and pull the pickle off myself. Not everyone in this world likes their burgers the same.

- If the fries are cold and have been sitting out for the last 40 minutes, don't expect me to smile and pretend like I don't notice. I paid for edible fries, and I expect edible fries.

- I know you are overworked and underpaid (remember... I used to have a similar job), but that's an issue for you and your boss. I don't want to hear about it. I just want my burger and fries.

- If you and your entire crew are a bunch of bumbling idiots, and every order is coming out late and wrong, don't act like its my fault. Making and serving burgers isn't rocket science (although the professors at Hamburger University might try to convince you otherwise).

- If you have a demanding customer, remember that you are a worker in a "service" industry. Working in a service industry means that its your job to serve. If I want something that is a little out of the ordinary, just give it to me and don't act like I'm a close relative of Osama bin Laden for asking.

- If something doesn't go smoothly and I'm having a less that satisfactory experience, apologize and try to make it right. Even if its not your fault, its still your job to make me feel like the $5.97 that I'm spending is worth something. I worked hard for my money too.

There are two sides to every coin.

- Ace

I worked in the service industry while going to school. I think I would have loved fast food. You see, I worked in a pharmacy.

- You try dealing with the woman who demands a refill for her birth control pills but cannot get them because her prescription has expired. You call the doctor but he won't approve it because he wants her to have an office visit. This leaves me to be the pawn in the middle of this doctor/patient dispute. I didn't handle it well.

- Once a terribly ugly (not genetically ugly but unkempt ugly) and unclean woman came in the pharmacy. She explained that her husband was a long distance truck driver and that he had been out of town for a while. She then explained that she she had a yeast infection but wanted to, you know "surprise him" when he got home. She asked me what she should do. I told her to hire a hooker. I got a written warning for that one. Given my first choice of "'take a bath, drop 50 pounds and clean your pussy" I thought I was rather nice.

- Doctors who call in prescriptions from their boat. They shout it once. You either get it or you don't.

- The families of terminally ill patients who are addicted to the patients drugs and are constantly trying to scam more. We had a girl with cystic fibrosis who needed heavy pain medication. Her brother would always pick up her drugs and somethign bad would always happen to them on the way home that required he get replacements. She finally died. So I guess problems with the terminally ill eventually fix themselves.

- Then there was the girl from out of the country who came in looking rather rough one morning non-chalantly asking for a morning after pill. The fear and anxiety-based explecatives coming from her mouth once I explain that we don't sell those here in the US was quite scary. She asked me what to do and I recommended traditional early abortion. She seemed horrified and then the catholic pharmacist reported me for telling people to kill their unborn children. I didn't see the big deal. I often told people to kill their born children as well. I try not to discriminate in life.

I'm sure life as a fast food worker sucks, but there are days like today when I envy you. It is 1:12 in the morning and I just got off an emergency call at work that started 6 hours ago. You see, when you work as McDs you don't go home at night and think of better ways to make a burger or count change. When your shift is done, you are done for the day.

So if I'm not a cheery camper when I am coming to bu food from you, I am sure you will take into account that maybe it is because I just worked three 20 hour days in a row and am under an unrealistic deadline created by men in suits and promised to shareholders I will never meet. I am tired because even when I sleep I am thinking about how the fuck I am going to make this happen. I don't have any magic left to wonder how the pickle gets on or off my burger because I've used all my magic trying to please the MAN back at the office.

Basically, I don't need ettiquette lessons to eat at McDonalds. Does that make me a bad person? No. It just makes me a hungry person who just wants some food. By they way, I'm not a product on an assembly line, so I am not going to use a stopwatch to see if you get me through the line in 90 seconds. I'm already using my stopwatch to count how fast the MAN is fucking me up the ass at my own job.

I tend to follow Juro's advice - only I think I word it "NEVER be a blue veined throbbing COCK to the person handling your food!"

Mmmmmm...... K. I just lost as few taste buds.

I know fast food is risky and all that. But really, how else are you supposed to eat when your day is jammed packed with things to do and don't have time to make the stuff you need to? Also, a lot of people are on a strict budget when sometimes fast food is the only option.

Unfortunately, you take that risk anywhere you go. Fast food places aren't the only ones. But are mostly the 'cause'. Even in well dined places you're subject to food poisoning. So, truly, the only place you're safe is if you grow the food yourself (such as vegies), and that's not a logical option for the most of us.

So case in point, you take that risk anywhere you go, and learn to live with it.

I concur. I've seen too many shows like 20/20 and Dateline where they did stories about what we don't see behind the counter at fast food resturaunts. Always be nice to those who handle your food. They all have bodily orifices that secrete all manner of icky fluids. Some are not shy about teaching the asshole who yelled at them a lesson.

we should all just live off ramen cheap easy and fast

i just thought of another

-Trash. I'm not a trash can! pull forward and throw it away. I don't like touching sticky gross trash and its not sanitary. And don't toss it to the ground after i ask nicely to throw it in the trash can I've had one lady try to hand me a nasty DQ cup with chocolate dripping everywhere. I told her i wasn't allowed to take trash and she will have to throw it away in the trash can around the drive thru. So she laughs at me and when she takes off i saw the cup on the ground then she pulls around and dumps all the trash in her car on the ground.

least there people don't view you as scum

Its not just fast food places that can be gross. I worked at a little fancy maroccan restaurant for a *very* short while as a dishwasher.Two of the very popular things that i remember were Kebab (meat pieces on sticks) and cous cous (tiny pasta like doodads).

Well i saw kebab that was dropped on the floor, just picked back up and placed on a plate, as well as the edges of a plate of cous cous being wiped with a nasty dirty tablecloth.

Oh and the person doing these things was the owner of the place.

Btw the reason i got fired after just 3 days?....i used too much dishwashing detergent (yes that is the reason he gave me).

Well i also worked at a travel agency once for a few months, answering the phone and transferring the calls to whoever was free at the moment. I would have liked an automated message for people *before* the call came through to me saying: The lady who answers the phone is not responsible for the agents double booking your cabin on the cruise liner, please wait until you are put through to an agent before you start ripping them a new one, thank you. (and yes it happened quite a lot back then)

If i'm with someone and they start being an ass to the people serving them, I know not to associate with them anymore

What's that saying? "Don't judge a person by how they treat you, judge them by how they treat the waiter."

Something like that anyway...

That's not always true though. My ex-boyfriend caught me giving a blowjob to our waiter in the back room and he got really mad.

It always amazes me how some people feel they can treat another human being just because they're in a service industry, or because they happen to be paying money for something. Paying $5.75 for a burger does not give you a right to treat another person like they are a second class citizen, and it's very telling about how small some people are that act that way. The customer is not always right, and a noticable percentage of the time, they're assholes who feel they can lord it over a service worker because they don't get any respect in other areas of their lives.

I worked my share of service industry jobs when I was younger, and not one of them paid me enough for me to actually care if I lost that job due to putting Visine in your coffee. (Go lord it over a bathroom attended for the next few hours, asshole!)

Always be respectful to anyone handling anything you plan to put in your mouth! It's just common sense.

LOL! Ahhh, Siggy... for once, I am speechless.

exactly