Drive-through ettiquette

I think that there are quite a few people that are inadvertently rude while giving their orders in drive-through. Some suggestions seem to be common sense, others are less so.

1. Diction. Seriously, there are times when I can barely understand customers for lack of diction. Ive changed "Hi-C" into "Iced Tea," and on one occasion, a small sprite became a small fry. And speak slowly! Over the intercom, speaking too quickly is one of the best things you can do to damage your understandability. Slow down, and make your consonants crisp, please.

2. Have an idea of what you want before your start ordering. Even if it's vague, I can list the choices we have in that category. Say, you want a salad though you're not sure what kinds the store offers or what's in them; a good drive-through order-taker should be able to describe the different kinds of salad fairly quickly. Don't get me wrong, I know that sometimes you need to look at the menu board to see the prices or narrow your decision, but please, don't sit in drive through looking at the menu board for more than a minute or so.

3. Turn your windshield wipers down if it's raining. This isn't obvious, but when your windshield wipers are on high, often they'll throw the water off of your windshield and onto whoever happens to be next to you. It sucks working in drive-through when it's raining just because of this.

4. Please don't yell. Try to speak in a calm, low tone. Even though the volume is up on the speaker outside, you don't need to match its volume for me to hear you. Speaking voice is good, if you know command voice, that is better. Screaming and shouting aren't good.

5. If it takes you more than thirty seconds to find exact change, don't bother. Exact change is nice, but celerity is better. If you have pennies to make it to the next quarter, dime, or nickel, that's more than adequate. Also, if you want to pay exclusively in change, please don't come at lunchtime or around 8 in the morning, because chances are, there will be a line at least three cars long behind you. Ideally, we're supposed to go from order to handing the food to you in less than 90 seconds, and giving me five dollars in mixed change at lunch is more than just annoying. It's going to take you and those other people that much longer to get to the food.

6. This is a personal preference, but if you're going to thank your order taker while at the speaker, say "thanks" rather than "thank you." Over the speaker, "thank you" sounds like "fuck you."

I may think of more later. I just want to put this out there, for contemplation's sake.

Something that bewilders me.

There are people who come through drive-thru and just order drinks, usually diet. Now, I have no problem with people drinking diet; it could be that they like the taste better than regular soda, or are diabetic, or trying to loose some weight. Those are all pretty good reasons to drink diet.

But what bewilders me is two pronged... why are you going through drive-thru to buy soda, and why don't you go next door to the convenience store to buy it?


Soda at my McDonald's currently costs $1.07 for 12 and 16 oz, $1.59 for 21 oz, and $2.02 for 32 oz. Next door, the prices usually run around $1.30 for a 20 oz and about $1.50 for a liter (it depends on what you get). However, those are just for the bottles; they've had a sale going for their fountain drinks -- any size, 69¢.

So really, go there. You can even park your car in the parking lot if it's not terribly busy. The *cough* fresh air and exercise will do you good.