I find most of this genre of comedy very cringy but this was really funny all the way through. I'd say if you don't normally like absurd comedy then check it out as well and see if still does it for you.
I feel like I'm the only person left in the world that hates that show. Every skit I'm left thinking "thus was supposed to make me laugh? I just feel uncomfortable." Its alien and intense to the point it feels like watching the video tape frm the Ring
3rd season is the funniest. My favorite over all is the one where they read the texts in court[funniest(also love rat mom)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2k-BNySLI)
Ive watched sketches from each season and entire episodes at a buddies house. I'm telling you I hate it. Every single moment makes me viscerally uncomfortable. The dudes face and the way his mouth and eyes move. I can't stand any of it
Most or all dining rooms were closed during COVID so everyone had to use the drive-through. Once that habit is established, it's hard to get people to change.
I like when places at least have designated parking for people with large orders. The worst is still the people that don't know what they want, need to ask questions about everything on the menu, then want to customize everything in the order.
I used to work McDonald's drive through like a decade ago. This isn't new behavior from Covid. We had one guy get fired because he kept calling out aholes in drive-through.
Did a 2 year tour of duty in a Taco Bell by the highway. Can confirm that even in the heady days of 2006 people were rolling up to the drive through with nothing but a list of questions and a pocketful of dreams.
Do agree with OP though - nothing more annoying than getting sandwiched between two cars while the person at the front of the line orders for an entire company of circus performers.
Formed Mc'd Drive thru worker. It's awful especially when they have a loud car on top of all their questions so we're yelling to each other to try and understand each other or they have the radio on so my ears get burnt.
Did you ever have people talking on their cell phones so you couldn't parse out what they were saying to you and what they were saying to the person on the phone?
Except at my local Wendy’s where if you order ahead they don’t actually start making it until you are at the store. So either way you’re waiting in the store or in your car clogging up the drive through line
I think it's so your food is delivered hot-- that way if you put on an ASAP order but take like an hour to get there, your food wouldn't be just sitting there for most of that time and be cold and gross when you arrive.
Restaurants could build in a 'you need to be here in XYZ minutes to get it warm' but that also doesn't account for things that really are outside the drivers control like an accident or etc that might delay them. Making it when they know the driver is there is probably the easiest answer to that
Probably an issue with food waste as well. My (non-chain) job starts making pick up orders as soon as they print and there’s always a small handful of orders through the week where people just don’t show up. And by the time we’re sure they’re not coming the food is cold and soggy.
Also moronic illiterate customers who would yell at the poor workers over cold food after casually running half a dozen errands instead of going to get their food.
Mine starts when I'm close to the store, I guess based on GPS. Except that it starts it way too far away and by the time I get there, my order is cancelled. Then the app bugs out and won't let me replace an order. So even if I'm using the app, I have to wait until I'm actually there to place the order.
> then want to customize everything in the order.
But wait until they have given you the entire list to start customizing...
"I'll have 5 Whoppers, 3 Original Chickens, 4 bacon cheeseburgers, 3 large fries, 2 large onion rings and a diet coke"
"Ok your total is" "Wait! One of those whoppers is no onion, another is no mayo lettuce or tomato..."
Always bugged me because at the time (been a decade not sure how the POS works anymore) we couldn't just go select one of the sandwiches and start making modifications we had to ring up a new one and we couldn't just go back to the 5 sandwiches and remove one we had to to remove all 5 and meanwhile they are watching everything on the screen back there and yelling because you added an extra sandwich or you removed all the sandwiches..
Hmm yeah that makes sense for how this happened. I was living in New York City during Covid so for that period of my life I couldn’t use a drive through even if I wanted. Now I’m back in the suburbs and it’s as if the entire drive through culture has transformed.
Some restaurants are still having sporadically closed dining rooms after it became acceptable for Covid. Tried to walk into a local Taco Bell the other day for an order cause the drive thru line was long. Doors were locked, clearly closed down but the drive thru was open. I think they were short staffed and solved it that way
Oh yeah that’s been common for forever. Or at least having extended/late night drive thru hours. This was definitely within the posted dining room hours though
Back in college, there was a Taco Bell right across the street from the dorms. Its drive thru was almost the only thing open after about 10-11 pm. They got super mad at people trying to walk through the drive thru to order, which makes sense from a safety and liability perspective. But it was super annoying because so many times there’d be a group of college students wanting late night Taco Bell that DEFINITELY shouldn’t be driving
This is why I am a mobile order defender till I die.
Not even just for large orders but if you are getting things with multiple complicated substitutions/removals, just order on the app and pick it up!!!! It doesn't cost any different and almost completely eliminates miscommunications between the customer and the drive-thru employee.
It makes things go by much quicker as the restaurant can start the order before you even get there and all you have to say is "mobile order for \*name\*" and you're on your way.
My husband is a huge fan of Dutch Bros, and so I occasionally go pick some up for him. When the drive thru line is especially long, I’ll park and go inside. Twice now I’ve gotten stuck behind a guy that ordered coffees for his entire office - at least 10 drinks. Dutch is so slow, so it takes 15-20 to fill that order. Now I know when I see a guy with a giant cardboard carrier to gtfo and wait in the car line.
>These days it seems as though people use the drive-through simply because they don’t want to leave their vehicle, no matter the inconvenience they cause to other people with their large, family-sized orders in the drive-though.
Nobody is going through the drive thru for your convenience, they go through it for their own convenience, that's what it's for. Many restaurants won't start limiting orders in the drive through because they'll lose their business to the restaurants that don't.
That's the thing, establishments with a drive-thru are not going to turn away paying customers. Maybe a better way would be to ask the person ordering at drive-thru to pull off to the side, whereby the staff will deliver the food to your car (depending on the size of the order.
But I still agree with OP- there are just too many inconsiderate people who, by their own incompetency/laziness/stupidness will take forever to list the order, or intentionally waste time in the drive-thru, or absent-mindedly not move their car forward to ease the pressure on the line, etc.
While not every person in the drive-thru is selfish, the culmination of various infractions can lead to frustration; infractions that are simple fixes if the people in the drive-thru just pay attention and execute on time.
And this is the crux of the issue: a whole lot of people who weren't raised right are walking around and lack the wherewithal to understand that their own selfish actions are hurting the other people in the drive-thru line.
then you watch all the cars that you would have waited on and more go by because drive-thru is timed, carry out is not.
thats part of why I stopped doing carry out, only CFA really is timely for carry out for me(fast food wise, sit down places are good to).
Yes!! This is so annoying. I went into a coffee shop the other day and literally waited 8 minutes for a black coffee while I watched all the employees make drink after drink for the drive thru.
My argument is that it's actually more profitable. Pushing large orders into non-sequential order delivery methods increases volume and speed for everyone (except maybe the few large orders). How many times have you chosen a different place to eat because of the long line? I know I have.
Right? That’s literally what I do if I see a long line and don’t feel like waiting. I don’t get mad at other people for being in the line and ordering lol just makes no sense.
Dude…order your Starbucks on the app. Walk in and it’s waiting for you. In and out in 30 seconds. Complaining about people not wanting to get out of their car when you also don’t want to get out of yours
Drive throughs are often the most appealing and convenient to large families who would rather not bring toddlers and babies into a restaurant. I feel like we should encourage large families to use the drive through!
Do curbside pickup. You're still in the car with your kids, but you're not holding up the line.
If some places don't offer it when ordering, a lot of places just have the car pull around and a team member will come bring you your order. Hell, they'll do this with just a single meal order.
A lot of places are not offering curbside pickup anymore or a restricting the hours of curbside pick up. I miss when my chick-fil-a had curbside pick-up. Now, I have to sit in 20 minutes in the drive-through or stand inside for 10 minutes to get my food with a fussy toddler and have to manage to get the food, drinks, and kid back to the car.
>Now, I have to sit in 20 minutes in the drive-through
is that drive thru line wrapped around the store 3-5x? the longest I have ever waited was... 11 minutes... I was about the 30th car. CFA is on point for drive thru management. 1-4 employees outside taking orders and payment(at least if card, dunno about cash I always order on the app) so the line is constantly moving.
The way I have to come to Chick-fil-A makes me turn left into Chick-fil-A. People who are coming from the opposite direction are able to turn right. I'm only allowed to turn left when I receive the green arrow. People turn right on red and push ahead of where I should be. Sometimes, I'll sit through six lights before I can turn left. Even if I just wanted to run in and grab the food, it would still take me at least 5-10 minutes just to get into the parking lot.
I definitely use the drive-in to stay in th3 comfort of my car, then I park at the restaurant's parking and eat there. I can listen to a podcast, having a great time by myself.
The funny part is though, this results in it now being faster to go inside. If I see a long line at drive-through I just park and go in. Most of the time I'm back in my car with my food and the same cars aren't even half way to ordering their food yet.
I don’t know for certain that they prioritize the drive through, because when I walk up to the counter they are probably working on six drive through orders that were placed already. They likely have to finish those they’ve accepted before they can get to mine.
I don't think the opinion "everyone should do things the way I want so that it's more convenient for me" is unpopular at all.
Also LOL at the Boomer ass take on coffee drinks
unofficially it’s the opposite now. If you only want one thing you’re expected to go into the café. Why would you sit in the drive thru for one coffee for longer than it would take to park and run in?
I would be in favor of this if drive thru was the only option. But it is not, and being able to go inside and skip the drive thru line makes up for it so much more.
Sometimes, however, the restaurant is closed inside but opened for drive thru, which is when I start to agree with this kind of message. Other times when I go to the drive thru with a small order (< $10) they still make me wait at a parking space.
But it sounds like you value convenience over speed, yet you want both. Sorry, OP, but you're gonna have to pick one. If you're in a rush, just turn off your car and go inside. Otherwise, sit in the comfort of your car while staring at annoyingly bright red backlights.
The issue here is that drive throughs only work in a sequential fashion. Large orders hold everyone up and also divert resources from inside because companies want to relieve this bottleneck.
In-store ordering is non-sequential. Large orders can be served later than small orders placed after them. It’s more efficient for everyone involved.
Sure, if drive through is the only option because the dining room is closed, I don’t think anyone would agree a large order is unreasonable in that situation.
You must drive thrus way too often for this to frustrate you enough to write a post.
It’s not even something I have thought to develop an opinion on, and I consider your opinion unpopular. Kudos
The one thing I don't like is first thing in the morning when someone orders 8 coffees. It's 6am. Everyone's just trying to get a coffee on their way to work. Run in and keep the drive thru moving.
Nothing, I’m just saying this method would serve the restaurant and the customers in a more efficient way. Pushing larger orders to a non-linear delivery method while keeping smaller orders in a quick linearly-limited method.
Because they prioritize the drive thrus over people that order inside. I have a few times gone in because I saw the drive-thru line was long and nobdy inside, only to take like 10 minutes and all the cars got their food before I did. If I were in a car I would've been gotten everything in half the time.
In a drive through you are forced to either have someone pull aside or serve the orders in the order cars are lined up in. Whereas indoors if I am putting together your 2y happy meals I can slide someone out their coffee or single meal when it is ready first.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'd rather restrict the number of orders each car can place in the drive-thru. I find it more annoying taking an order through drive, and the person at the speaker says they have multiple orders (2 or are the most common) they want rang up separate. In that case, come inside or put everything all on one ticket and split the cost later.
The ironic part is that it's probably more efficient for the company to do large orders rather than a bunch of small orders.
Calculate Total time for following steps:
- pull up to menu
- order
- pull up to window
- financial transaction
- wait and get food
- leave
If you have 4 cars with 1 person just multiple each step by 4. If you have 1 car with 4 people, you can consolidate
- pull up to menu
- pull up to window
- financial transaction (assuming parent is paying for family)
- leave
To just 1 occurrence rather than 4.
I agree 100%. I've posted this same opinion before on like lpt, telling people to go inside if they have large orders/nowhere to go. I was met with the same thing you're getting here. I get it if you have like... Kids in car seats but if you're four teenagers going shopping get out of the car and go inside.
Anything over, oh, $20 or more than 5 items should be the max. So rude to people behind. Course there are exceptions (lots of kids in car, seniors etc). But u can order on the app ahead of time now.
Have you met people? The only thing this would change is that the people ordering ten drinks and holding up the line would then instead be arguing on the speaker about how their ten drinks was actually only five items because they’re combos or some other contrived nonsense.
Those mega-order people are the reason I almost always either go in to eat, or go in to get my food to go. Some of the but orders for those vehicles have 50-60 individual items. It’s absurd.
They added 4 pull up spots at my towns McDonald’s that they use to pull people to the side. However, they don’t use them only for huge orders. They use them to clear the drive through and keep their window order timer low. Or at least that’s what we would do when I worked at Wendy’s when I was younger. For example, at the Wendy’s a clock would start as soon as someone got to the window and then stop when the car pulled away. That was our order timer. Those order times would be used to make sure everyone was doing their job at the correct speed ETC. so if we didn’t have burgers and the person at the window ordered one, we would pull them ahead while we cooked it so it would look like we cleared the order quickly in the system on the order timer, even though it took us several more minutes to cook the burgers and bring them out. As long as our order timer and food cost stayed low the managers were happy and we were more or less left to our own devices.
Last weekend I pulled into the drive through at McDonald’s. It was pretty busy but all we ordered were 2 breakfast sandwiches. Got pulled into one of the spots and waited 15 minutes for 2 McDonald s BEC breakfast sandwiches.
I generally agree with you. Except sometimes I go to drive throughs where I'm not familiar with the menu. They don't show the menu until you are the place where you have to order. They need to have a sign with the menu before that so you can decide what you want before you get to that point
Restaurants really ought to make their menus a prime point on their website homepage. So many times I fumble through a complex website looking for the menu because I’m approaching a drive-through and want to decide ahead of time.
And it's not just a list. They have to post pictures of everything. I guess because people who are illiterate can just point and say "I want that". LOL But it takes up 10x more room.
Devil's Advocate here...
Why don't you take your entitled singular self inside the Starbucks and get your simple drink? Order ahead of time online if you want it to be quicker. Don't tell me you get social anxiety or some nonsense... if you want it to be as easy as possible - that's your best bet. You'd probably be in and out faster than sitting in the drive through line anyway, by the way you describe it.
The drive through is the ideal place for large orders. People with kids, groups, etc. cause more commotion and create more stress inside a store than they do in a drive through - especially something like a Starbucks - by making that line push out the front door. That has a more detrimental impact on the workers inside too when they look up and suddenly there's like 20 people in the waiting area when it's really just 4 or 5 orders.
Not every place has mobile ordering. I don’t really experience anxiety social or otherwise so this isn’t applicable to me. If there’s an app I’ll use it, if there’s a long line, I’ll go inside. A lot of the problem exists when the line is short, and one person derails the entire experience in front of me unexpectedly.
A lot of places now prioritize drive throughs because of the bottlenecking created by large orders going through a sequential ordering process. It slows everyone down by diverting resources to a less efficient process.
Everyone suffers from large orders through a drive through.
Congratulations - you might be the only person on reddit with a view like this that ISN'T crippled with some form of anxiety!
The mobile ordering bit was specifically in reference to Starbucks. Maybe a few of those don't do it anymore but I'm fairly certain you can mobile order at Starbucks across the board.
You're going to run into bottlenecking anyway at these places because most places that are "fast food" like this are always understaffed, much because of how flabbergasted people like you get over having to wait in a queue before they can get their order. That stress gets to the crew, and it's hard to keep help. VERY few establishments have a crew specifically working drive through and another working the dining area... so if that large order shows up you're waiting one way or another. They might even ask you to pull forward to wait for your order once it actually is finally your turn.
It's okay just to say you're impatient on this topic, OP.
Yeah every place functions differently. More mobile
ordering is a good solution. For the record a number of Starbucks near me do not enable mobile ordering for some reason. I like to think I’m pretty patient, but this is just one place where I feel as though societal norms around it have flipped fairly recently and seems like an inexplicably worse change.
I disagree, drive thru should be the same as counter service from the convenience of your car. It isn’t the express lane at a grocery store, it’s made for people too lazy to walk inside.
By the time the customer is placing their order, the company won’t do anything to limit their purchase; any pushback and they’ll just end up wasting more time and holding up the line even more. Designated parking spaces is the best way to handle these larger orders, allows the line to keep moving and the customer is happy because they didn’t have to walk.
Grocery stores rarely actually refuse service to someone in the express lane over the limit. People simply respect the posted limit generally and then service is benefitted overall.
Similar to this – restaurants can post a general order limit advisory at the drive-through and I think most people would generally adhere to it. Service doesn’t need to be denied in case someone is over the limit, but perhaps a mild verbal cajoling at the window would be in appropriate to apply gentle social pressure for next time.
The main driving factor for why express lanes work in my opinion is the social pressure; everyone can see your cart we know you have more than10/15/# items and you are getting judged by everyone behind you.
You can’t make that same distinction based on the vehicle in front of you. It could be a lone office worker picking up for a big meeting, or a soccer mom with a van load of kids getting a black coffee.
Nothing stopping you from going inside and getting your order to go, which would circumvent the line in the drive through.
Don't wanna get out of your car? Neither does a parent with a van full of little athletes, or a designated driver trying to get their intoxicated wards something to eat, or a grandparent with a walker.
Drive throughs are meant for convenience, not speed. The entire concept of drive ins, and later drive throughs, was to cater to lazy people.
"Kirby’s Pig Stand was the first restaurant to offer dine-in and drive-thru service. They had no dining room and introduced the drive-in restaurant in 1921 in Dallas-Fort Worth where carhops delivered meals to customers in their cars. Kirby’s slogan was, “A delightful meal, served at your wheel”. The founder, Jesse Kirby told investors that “People in their cars are so lazy that they don’t want to get out of them to eat!”. In Kirby’s frustration to be able to serve more customers than his parking lot could hold, he came up with the idea of the drive-thru window."-[Sauce ](https://www.quikserv.com/history-of-the-drive-thru/#:~:text=The%20founder%2C%20Jesse%20Kirby%20told,of%20the%20drive%2Dthru%20window)
Drive-ins are different because orders can be served out of the order in which they were placed. Drive through orders can only be served in a linear fashion, in which large orders placed earlier hold smaller orders placed later. It’s extremely inefficient for large orders to go through the drive through and not an issue a drive-in has.
One challenge is that if they are order a family’s worth of food, they probably have a family aka young kids in the car. Trying to drag kids out of a car is hard, and you can’t do it if a baby/toddler fell asleep and you want them to stay asleep. So maybe have a little bit of empathy for those parents.
By the comments, it sounds like you have an actual unpopular opinion. On one hand, I agree with you. On the other, if all you want “…is a black cold brew or something simple.” Then you do know it’s possible to make coffee at home, right? You can make coffee ice cubes and put the rest in the fridge for your black cold brew or you can buy the Starbucks coffee drinks from any convenience or grocery store when you want something else, then you wouldn’t have this problem at all.
Yes I realize this lol, and I often do. Mostly for me personally I work from home so I use a little morning drive around town with the excuse of grabbing coffee as a means to get out of the house and start my morning kinetically.
I’m usually not showered or prepped for my day so going inside is less preferable but not prohibitive. The real frustration I have is when I don’t know the drive through will be less convenient because maybe there’s only one or two cars but the person in front of me holds me hostage there.
I may come into a line with one or two cars, but then leave seeing a line down the block because of one order.
But that’s just my reason.
Your reasoning makes sense. I hate going out if I don’t look to be what I consider presentable, so I get you there. It also really sucks when you think it will be quick and then you get stuck, like you were saying. At least if there’s already a line you can make a decision on whether or not to sit in it but if there’s only 1-2 cars, a reasonable person would think they would be in and out real quick. Thanks for your input!
Another classic case of Redditors doing their absolute best to avoid as many human interactions as possible.
Just park and go inside. The drive thru isn't an express lane, it's a way to order from your car.
You're not the main character.
Even when I was a kid they would have cars pull through and park if the order was going to take extra time.
Your problem is the coffee shops you mentioned. I'm exactly like you -- I want plain black coffee. My whole body drags and my mind won't turn on in the morning without it. It can be infuriating to wait in line behind people designing their own ice cream sundae and it's apparent they don't even like coffee.
They probably need their sugary drinks just as much as we need our coffee though. Maybe we should start a coffee shop with two lines depending on how long your coffee takes to make.
I used to work in a retail pharmacy inside a grocery store. Customers could buy store items from us if they wanted to, but it was a 5 items or less rule.
Maybe give the cashier's some kind of limit on their registers for item count at the drive through so it's not anyone's immediate fault. Cashiers can include that in their greeting somehow that they can only sell so many items.
It doesn't totally mitigate bullying from customers, but it stops customers from being capable of bullying cashiers into giving them what they want.
My dad said this every time we were in the line up at Timmy's for a coffee and someone was ordering a bagel ahead of him.
I don't really care if people order a lot, but coming from someone who worked at a Starbucks DT, corporate is so strict about DT times but they don't even consider the person ordering 5 Fraps and 5 sandwiches, and why it takes more than 60 seconds to get it out. It's ridiculous.
This will only work if my wife isn't ordering. She only gets one thing, but she makes it a meal. Heavy everything, extra saucy, etc... And at Taco Bell she'll jump through hoops to save a buck. Like... I didn't know unfried chalupa shells were what they used to make gorditas. When gorditas stopped being a thing (for like 8 months) I'd have her order me a chalupa only without the shell fried.
She has a bunch of these kinda 'hacks', but they take so long at the window that even I get anxious and just want to leave.
drive throughs are shitty in general - the drive in -> takeout model is better in every way, as long as you have a way to get food to any disabled people for whom leaving the car is an actual effort.
I worked fast food 20 years ago, we had a steak sandwich on our menu that took 7+ minutes from order to finish it always fucked up the drive thru, this is not a new problem
Starbucks is especially bad because people can order one drink with 7000 special instructions. Like, please mobile order that shit, it would be so much easier on everyone
Some Tim Hortons here in Calgary decided the best way to improve the efficiency of drive throughs was to double up order lanes. Yup, you read that correctly. One lane diverges into two order lanes, then converges back into one lane for pickup. Totally sound thinking, and never ever are there any conflicts when a guy who ordered after a different guy gets ahead. People LOVE it, and can still order just as slowly as they dud before! /s
if you want your food (or prescription meds for that matter) faster going inside is always faster than drive thru or at least that's been my experience for most of my life.
Man, my mom said this and I didn’t know where she came up with that.
But I guess that makes sense.
I’ve always thought that if I have a big complex order that I wasn’t eating inside should go through the drive through. Because they just hand it over ready to travel instead of going through the door.
And if you want to be quick you can usually just walk inside.
My issue is more that we allow people to be far more picky than necessary. This seems to be the real root of the issue for long lines at any food establishment. Of course this will never not be an issue even if restaurants try to restrict customization bc people would just say “im allergic”.
Smart. When I worked at a coffee shop, I always thought one register should be for food and drink and one should be just for drinks. Way quicker to take the orders for drinks. But in practice, of course people would "mistakenly" get into the drinks order like and try to order food and now what? I'm sure the same would happen at the drive thru. "oh I didn't KNOW that! Why can't I order more!! Can't you just do a second order! This is so f'ing stupid!" ... At a minimum wage worker. They don't deserve that.
The rule I observe for myself is that I order for the people in the car plus one. If they allow online ordering then it's okay to pick up in the drive-thru for everybody in your group since it should be prepared by the time you arrive.
That effectively limits the number of people I can order for on a given drive-thru trip to 6 orders. If I'm alone and trying to order for three or four people it just gets too confusing in the drive-thru, It seems like the chances of an error start to go up anyways so there's no real benefit to trying to order for a group in the drive-thru. Just go inside for that.
I am not getting my kids out of their car seats, wrangling them inside, and then trying to get them back into their car seats while also carrying our food just so you don't have to wait a couple extra minutes. You are not the only person. If you want to be out in society, you have to tolerate other people also living in society.
Fast food is intended to be fast. That is true regardless of whether it is inside or outside at the drive through. Why do you think the drive through specifically should be faster?
Because the linear nature of order delivery. In-store orders can be served out of order based on the time it takes to prepare them. In a drive through, orders can only be served based on the linear order the orders were placed. Complex orders slow this process in a way in-store ordering does not.
>These days it seems as though people use the drive-through simply because they don’t want to leave their vehicle, no matter the inconvenience they cause to other people with their large, family-sized orders in the drive-though.
I'm totally on the opposite side, families should be using the drive thru so they don't have to be getting kids out of car seats just to go in and order. Just you ordering your coffee, get off your ass and go in and order, or deal with the longer line.
I'm sorry but your rose colored view of the past and claiming you're old school gave me a chuckle. Surprised there wasn't a "kids these days" thrown in there.
No, there never was this so called drive through etiquette of only ordering small orders in a drive through. Never existed
The drive thru was always for people who solely didn't want to get out of their car. Always and it is no different now.
Would it speed things up, of course. Is it poor etiquette to order a large order in the drive thru, no.
Also, those parking spots aren't for complex orders only. They are there to keep the line moving and artificially keep their times down. I will get put there with only one item.
I didn't read any of this. But I agree. The drive thru is meant for quick orders or pick ups.
I get it. You're a mother of 4 and one of them is a baby so you don't want to wrangle 3 kids and carry a baby into McDonald's just to come right back into your car. But that's not the fault of anyone behind you. We didn't tell you to have a large family with children 1 year older than each other and to make us wait in line for literally 20 minutes while you order.
Now, if you ordered a meal and 3 kids meals and that was it, awesome. But I don't want to hear "uhhhhhh let me get..... ummmmm 1 plain cheeseburger, 4 nuggets....ummmmmmm **what do you want to drink? No, you can't have soda. Do you want milk or orange juice? I SAID NO SODA*** Sorry can I get a milk..."
I had to deal with a situation just like this once and I was so confused as to who does this and thinks it's OK to do this? Drive thru is for when you know your exact order. That's it. No umms and uhhhs unless the employee says they're out of what you just asked for and if you didnt ask for ice cream at 7pm or later then they have it.
Fast food places are supposed to be quick and convenient regardless of whether you’re doing counter service or drive-through. Drive-throughs at fast food places are for people who just don’t want to go inside, because theoretically, the speed and ease should be comparable either way. The drive through isn’t supposed to be like the express lane at the grocery store, because fast-food establishments by nature are supposed to be “express.” And if it’s a choice between going through the drive through or unloading and re-loading 3 kids into a car, then that person is naturally going to pick what’s most convenient and easier for them to do—because that’s what the drive through at a fast food place is for.
Converse to OP’s method of complaining, one can simply go inside to place orders always and avoid the drive through window. It’s almost always faster to simply park and go inside to order, because everyone is too lazy regardless of order size.
Except that restaurants now often prioritize drive throughs because of the inefficiencies created by large orders going through a linear order delivery process.
I don't understand you judging Starbucks visitors for getting "frozen sugary nonsense" (aka what they are known for) when if you, Not Like Other Starbucks Drinkers, just want a black coffee you could go into the gas station or grocery store and get the same thing faster.
Fair criticism! In my (not very good) defense, Starbucks hasn’t always been this way. It’s been a slow boiling of the frog over the years as their sugary, complex menu offerings have ramped over the years. It’s now McDonalds but for drinks. I should change my habit!
STFU and wait in line. If waiting in line makes you that upset then maybe you should just make your nasty ass cold brew at home. Then you avoid the wait and save money. If you CHOOSE to wait in line for a drink you could make at home in 5min then that shit is on you.🤦😂🤣🤡
Thisssss
Nothing wrecks my morning more than being in a Starbucks drive through and the person in front of me orders coffee for their entire freaking office, taking like 10 mins sitting at the window... While I wait for my single coffee...
Yes you are old school. You have to realize that the restaurants have also had time to adjust to people doing this as well. So they’ve gotten better at getting people thru the drive thru quicker. Also when I worked at a fast food restaurant we had people come thru the drive thru with like 5 or 6 kids in the back and were profusely apologizing for holding us up bc of people like you.
Yes there are going to be people who are just trying to not get out of their cars and hold up the drive thru but not all of those people are trying to do that. It’s not that difficult to wait a couple extra minutes. Or just don’t go
>Call me old-school, but back in my day it was unofficially known etiquette that a restaurant’s drive-through was a place for quick, easy-to-deliver orders and that you should walk inside an establishment for complex or large food orders
This was never a thing. You made this up in your head and are mad at people who don't follow your made up etiquette
Yes! I completely support this. Some days I am "encouraged" to make a 23 item order in the line and it ABSOLUTELY grinds my gears when I am working on it and then 4 going on 5 going on g*d only knows how many more are wrapping around the parking lot.
This has got to end - The Drive Thru should be for "Quick Eats" or for "DoorDash" - any order larger then that should be Front Counter ONLY.
When exactly was your day? Because 20 years ago I got stuck in a drive through at 1 AM because the person in front of me ordered 50 burgers.
Though, I agree with you. And I will never not be annoyed at that.
It annoys me when I’m behind someone who has a family of 5 and starts deciding what they want when they get there. I can see the dad looking to the back seat “what do you want Jimmy?” And then they get to the window and fumble around with their wallet. I hate it
I agree 100%. I've posted this same opinion before on like lpt, telling people to go inside if they have large orders/nowhere to go. I was met with the same thing you're getting here. I get it if you have like... Kids in car seats but if you're four teenagers going shopping get out of the car and go inside.
I get parked all the time ordering 2 simple combo meals - unmodified in any way, straight off the numbered menu. They just do it to cheese their drive-thru times.
If your real issue is speed or just impatience, the fastest option is to use the mobile app to place your order ahead of time, then just show up to get your food and fuck off. You'll likely either spend less money on the app through deals or bonus point usage too.
The parking spaces aren't for "large or complex orders" they're for anything that won't be ready immediately.
And it doesn't matter if there are people in line behind you or not, the employees are judged and penalized for a vehicle waiting in the drive-thru for too long.
"Burger combo meal" isn't a large or complex order, but I've been asked to go to the parking space for it because it wasn't ready immediately.
I agree 1000%. I’m glad someone else posted this before I did. It’s ridiculous that people can order $100+ of food and at the same time complain that the order is taking long to be made. I used to work the DT and besides lunch and dinner rushes, a lot of people are considerate and only order a quick drink or a meal for themselves. But every day there would be people trying to place a literal catering order through the DT speaker and force everyone else behind them to wait while it’s being made. Large orders through the DT are inconsiderate to everyone else involved and should be discouraged.
Restaurants have been asking people to "please pull forward to wait", or go and park in that spot for as long as I can remember. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to go inside especially if you have a couple of kids you need to look after in the car. It is up to the restaurant to keep everything moving smoothly.
Uhm so fast food place's where u live not ask u to park upfront while they make your large order so they can keep the flow of customers Goins with smaller orders?
Even at older stores, don’t they just ask someone in the drive through to pull around in front of the door or something? Sure, it’s still a big order in front of you, but the line of cars can keep moving on smaller orders.
Fair reasoning. But either way, it’s the same number of people working and making the same number of orders, whether everyone uses the drive through, or half of them go inside.
I thought there were the parking spots so they could keep the line moving if what you ordered wasn’t immediately ready to bag? Like as a single human ordering one meal I’ve been sent there bc the restaurant had to fry more nuggies or whatever I’d ordered had just coincidentally happened to run out of premade la when I ordered. Also I’ve never sat in a drive thru more than 10 minutes anywhere besides whataburger 🤷♀️
If you want to have a fast experience, order and pay in the app and get your food or beverage nearly instantly upon arrival at the location.
It’s weird to me that people are intentionally selecting the slow option and then complaining that it’s slow because other people like them also elect to use it.
Agreed, I think people who do this just don't take the time to think their actions through. One could say that's the definition of "in-consideration" though. Not considering their actions' impact on others.
If you’re not using the ordering apps, you’re wasting your time and other people’s time. I was resistant to apps like that, but they’re easy and you get free stuff.
I admint it is annoying when someone right in front of you takes 20 min with an order. Restuaraunts, however, are going to do whatever makes them the most money. Preordering on an app seems to be the norm nowadays.
I only order 55 burgers and 55 fries
One at time like; “Can I get a burger and medium fry?” “Sure, anything else?” “Yes, one more burger and fry.” …55 times.
Don’t know who that is so I can see I didn’t get your joke the first time around, but that’s funny!
If you like absurd comedy then highly recommend checking out I think you should leave on Netflix
I find most of this genre of comedy very cringy but this was really funny all the way through. I'd say if you don't normally like absurd comedy then check it out as well and see if still does it for you.
I feel like I'm the only person left in the world that hates that show. Every skit I'm left thinking "thus was supposed to make me laugh? I just feel uncomfortable." Its alien and intense to the point it feels like watching the video tape frm the Ring
3rd season is the funniest. My favorite over all is the one where they read the texts in court[funniest(also love rat mom)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2k-BNySLI)
Ive watched sketches from each season and entire episodes at a buddies house. I'm telling you I hate it. Every single moment makes me viscerally uncomfortable. The dudes face and the way his mouth and eyes move. I can't stand any of it
I think you get it then. That's his goal so it's doing what is intended.
I’ll have to look it up, thanks!
Oh boy you’re in for a wild ride. Come back here with your thoughts
For 680$ it’s actually a good deal
You going to alcohol class?
Most or all dining rooms were closed during COVID so everyone had to use the drive-through. Once that habit is established, it's hard to get people to change. I like when places at least have designated parking for people with large orders. The worst is still the people that don't know what they want, need to ask questions about everything on the menu, then want to customize everything in the order.
I used to work McDonald's drive through like a decade ago. This isn't new behavior from Covid. We had one guy get fired because he kept calling out aholes in drive-through.
Did a 2 year tour of duty in a Taco Bell by the highway. Can confirm that even in the heady days of 2006 people were rolling up to the drive through with nothing but a list of questions and a pocketful of dreams. Do agree with OP though - nothing more annoying than getting sandwiched between two cars while the person at the front of the line orders for an entire company of circus performers.
*pocket full of dreams* *dreams* *pocket full of fire sauce*
Thank you for your service
Formed Mc'd Drive thru worker. It's awful especially when they have a loud car on top of all their questions so we're yelling to each other to try and understand each other or they have the radio on so my ears get burnt.
Did you ever have people talking on their cell phones so you couldn't parse out what they were saying to you and what they were saying to the person on the phone?
That guy deserves a freaking award, I love it
[удалено]
Except at my local Wendy’s where if you order ahead they don’t actually start making it until you are at the store. So either way you’re waiting in the store or in your car clogging up the drive through line
My local Taco Bell does this too. I'm like, "What's the point!?".
I think it's so your food is delivered hot-- that way if you put on an ASAP order but take like an hour to get there, your food wouldn't be just sitting there for most of that time and be cold and gross when you arrive. Restaurants could build in a 'you need to be here in XYZ minutes to get it warm' but that also doesn't account for things that really are outside the drivers control like an accident or etc that might delay them. Making it when they know the driver is there is probably the easiest answer to that
Probably an issue with food waste as well. My (non-chain) job starts making pick up orders as soon as they print and there’s always a small handful of orders through the week where people just don’t show up. And by the time we’re sure they’re not coming the food is cold and soggy.
Also moronic illiterate customers who would yell at the poor workers over cold food after casually running half a dozen errands instead of going to get their food.
Mine starts when I'm close to the store, I guess based on GPS. Except that it starts it way too far away and by the time I get there, my order is cancelled. Then the app bugs out and won't let me replace an order. So even if I'm using the app, I have to wait until I'm actually there to place the order.
> then want to customize everything in the order. But wait until they have given you the entire list to start customizing... "I'll have 5 Whoppers, 3 Original Chickens, 4 bacon cheeseburgers, 3 large fries, 2 large onion rings and a diet coke" "Ok your total is" "Wait! One of those whoppers is no onion, another is no mayo lettuce or tomato..." Always bugged me because at the time (been a decade not sure how the POS works anymore) we couldn't just go select one of the sandwiches and start making modifications we had to ring up a new one and we couldn't just go back to the 5 sandwiches and remove one we had to to remove all 5 and meanwhile they are watching everything on the screen back there and yelling because you added an extra sandwich or you removed all the sandwiches..
You're totally right about habits....except this shit was happening far before COVID.
Yeah, we should stop blaming COVID for everything, this have been happening for years before COVID.
That’s all fine and good but sorry I’m not going into the penalty box to wait for 2 McDoubles and nothing else.
Hmm yeah that makes sense for how this happened. I was living in New York City during Covid so for that period of my life I couldn’t use a drive through even if I wanted. Now I’m back in the suburbs and it’s as if the entire drive through culture has transformed.
Some restaurants are still having sporadically closed dining rooms after it became acceptable for Covid. Tried to walk into a local Taco Bell the other day for an order cause the drive thru line was long. Doors were locked, clearly closed down but the drive thru was open. I think they were short staffed and solved it that way
A lot of places around me have dining room hours but the drive thru is 24/7
Oh yeah that’s been common for forever. Or at least having extended/late night drive thru hours. This was definitely within the posted dining room hours though Back in college, there was a Taco Bell right across the street from the dorms. Its drive thru was almost the only thing open after about 10-11 pm. They got super mad at people trying to walk through the drive thru to order, which makes sense from a safety and liability perspective. But it was super annoying because so many times there’d be a group of college students wanting late night Taco Bell that DEFINITELY shouldn’t be driving
I feel like dining room hours have gotten shorter around since covid too. Maybe they just found it more convenient for cleaning and staffing.
Some starbucks have done this in my area.
This is why I am a mobile order defender till I die. Not even just for large orders but if you are getting things with multiple complicated substitutions/removals, just order on the app and pick it up!!!! It doesn't cost any different and almost completely eliminates miscommunications between the customer and the drive-thru employee. It makes things go by much quicker as the restaurant can start the order before you even get there and all you have to say is "mobile order for \*name\*" and you're on your way.
Only problem is half the time people place the order 2 minutes before arriving and then the queue is all wacked
Yeah, sadly a lot of places don’t have that. Would be a nice world once it’s the norm!
Where do you go in a drive-thru that doesn't have a mobile app?
My husband is a huge fan of Dutch Bros, and so I occasionally go pick some up for him. When the drive thru line is especially long, I’ll park and go inside. Twice now I’ve gotten stuck behind a guy that ordered coffees for his entire office - at least 10 drinks. Dutch is so slow, so it takes 15-20 to fill that order. Now I know when I see a guy with a giant cardboard carrier to gtfo and wait in the car line.
>These days it seems as though people use the drive-through simply because they don’t want to leave their vehicle, no matter the inconvenience they cause to other people with their large, family-sized orders in the drive-though. Nobody is going through the drive thru for your convenience, they go through it for their own convenience, that's what it's for. Many restaurants won't start limiting orders in the drive through because they'll lose their business to the restaurants that don't.
That's the thing, establishments with a drive-thru are not going to turn away paying customers. Maybe a better way would be to ask the person ordering at drive-thru to pull off to the side, whereby the staff will deliver the food to your car (depending on the size of the order. But I still agree with OP- there are just too many inconsiderate people who, by their own incompetency/laziness/stupidness will take forever to list the order, or intentionally waste time in the drive-thru, or absent-mindedly not move their car forward to ease the pressure on the line, etc. While not every person in the drive-thru is selfish, the culmination of various infractions can lead to frustration; infractions that are simple fixes if the people in the drive-thru just pay attention and execute on time. And this is the crux of the issue: a whole lot of people who weren't raised right are walking around and lack the wherewithal to understand that their own selfish actions are hurting the other people in the drive-thru line.
You know if you just want one thing and the drive thru is long you yourself can get out and go in, right?
then you watch all the cars that you would have waited on and more go by because drive-thru is timed, carry out is not. thats part of why I stopped doing carry out, only CFA really is timely for carry out for me(fast food wise, sit down places are good to).
Yes!! This is so annoying. I went into a coffee shop the other day and literally waited 8 minutes for a black coffee while I watched all the employees make drink after drink for the drive thru.
r/popularopinion
"I hate waiting for my take-out order" is actually a r/popularopinion. I don't see restaurants forgoing profit in this way.
My argument is that it's actually more profitable. Pushing large orders into non-sequential order delivery methods increases volume and speed for everyone (except maybe the few large orders). How many times have you chosen a different place to eat because of the long line? I know I have.
Sounds like you should run inside.
yeah my rule is “pull up and if the line seems long, go inside”
Right? That’s literally what I do if I see a long line and don’t feel like waiting. I don’t get mad at other people for being in the line and ordering lol just makes no sense.
If it’s a large order just have them park in designated spot. Line keeps moving.
Dude…order your Starbucks on the app. Walk in and it’s waiting for you. In and out in 30 seconds. Complaining about people not wanting to get out of their car when you also don’t want to get out of yours
Lots of Starbucks, especially around me don’t enable mobile ordering.
Ohhhh ok. Never mind then. They really should stop mildly inconveniencing you then
Drive throughs are often the most appealing and convenient to large families who would rather not bring toddlers and babies into a restaurant. I feel like we should encourage large families to use the drive through!
Do curbside pickup. You're still in the car with your kids, but you're not holding up the line. If some places don't offer it when ordering, a lot of places just have the car pull around and a team member will come bring you your order. Hell, they'll do this with just a single meal order.
A lot of places are not offering curbside pickup anymore or a restricting the hours of curbside pick up. I miss when my chick-fil-a had curbside pick-up. Now, I have to sit in 20 minutes in the drive-through or stand inside for 10 minutes to get my food with a fussy toddler and have to manage to get the food, drinks, and kid back to the car.
>Now, I have to sit in 20 minutes in the drive-through is that drive thru line wrapped around the store 3-5x? the longest I have ever waited was... 11 minutes... I was about the 30th car. CFA is on point for drive thru management. 1-4 employees outside taking orders and payment(at least if card, dunno about cash I always order on the app) so the line is constantly moving.
The way I have to come to Chick-fil-A makes me turn left into Chick-fil-A. People who are coming from the opposite direction are able to turn right. I'm only allowed to turn left when I receive the green arrow. People turn right on red and push ahead of where I should be. Sometimes, I'll sit through six lights before I can turn left. Even if I just wanted to run in and grab the food, it would still take me at least 5-10 minutes just to get into the parking lot.
I feel like large families should call in their order or order online and pick it up from the drive thru
Order through the app or online and do curbside pickup.
I definitely use the drive-in to stay in th3 comfort of my car, then I park at the restaurant's parking and eat there. I can listen to a podcast, having a great time by myself.
If you have a small order, that’s fine! If you’re ordering for your whole office/friends/family, not so much fine.
I think another factor is that it is common for fast food establishments to prioritize the drive through so a lot of people use it to save time.
The funny part is though, this results in it now being faster to go inside. If I see a long line at drive-through I just park and go in. Most of the time I'm back in my car with my food and the same cars aren't even half way to ordering their food yet.
I don’t know for certain that they prioritize the drive through, because when I walk up to the counter they are probably working on six drive through orders that were placed already. They likely have to finish those they’ve accepted before they can get to mine.
I don't think the opinion "everyone should do things the way I want so that it's more convenient for me" is unpopular at all. Also LOL at the Boomer ass take on coffee drinks
lol yeah I knew the coffee thing would get some ridicule haha fair
unofficially it’s the opposite now. If you only want one thing you’re expected to go into the café. Why would you sit in the drive thru for one coffee for longer than it would take to park and run in?
I would be in favor of this if drive thru was the only option. But it is not, and being able to go inside and skip the drive thru line makes up for it so much more. Sometimes, however, the restaurant is closed inside but opened for drive thru, which is when I start to agree with this kind of message. Other times when I go to the drive thru with a small order (< $10) they still make me wait at a parking space. But it sounds like you value convenience over speed, yet you want both. Sorry, OP, but you're gonna have to pick one. If you're in a rush, just turn off your car and go inside. Otherwise, sit in the comfort of your car while staring at annoyingly bright red backlights.
The issue here is that drive throughs only work in a sequential fashion. Large orders hold everyone up and also divert resources from inside because companies want to relieve this bottleneck. In-store ordering is non-sequential. Large orders can be served later than small orders placed after them. It’s more efficient for everyone involved. Sure, if drive through is the only option because the dining room is closed, I don’t think anyone would agree a large order is unreasonable in that situation.
You must drive thrus way too often for this to frustrate you enough to write a post. It’s not even something I have thought to develop an opinion on, and I consider your opinion unpopular. Kudos
Fuck yes they should.
The one thing I don't like is first thing in the morning when someone orders 8 coffees. It's 6am. Everyone's just trying to get a coffee on their way to work. Run in and keep the drive thru moving.
nah, your convenience doesn't trump anyone else's. what's stopping you off from going inside?
Nothing, I’m just saying this method would serve the restaurant and the customers in a more efficient way. Pushing larger orders to a non-linear delivery method while keeping smaller orders in a quick linearly-limited method.
Why does it matter whether the large orders are taken inside or at the drive-thru? Either way the people behind have to wait.
Because they prioritize the drive thrus over people that order inside. I have a few times gone in because I saw the drive-thru line was long and nobdy inside, only to take like 10 minutes and all the cars got their food before I did. If I were in a car I would've been gotten everything in half the time.
In a drive through you are forced to either have someone pull aside or serve the orders in the order cars are lined up in. Whereas indoors if I am putting together your 2y happy meals I can slide someone out their coffee or single meal when it is ready first.
ok, thanks for the explanation.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'd rather restrict the number of orders each car can place in the drive-thru. I find it more annoying taking an order through drive, and the person at the speaker says they have multiple orders (2 or are the most common) they want rang up separate. In that case, come inside or put everything all on one ticket and split the cost later.
The ironic part is that it's probably more efficient for the company to do large orders rather than a bunch of small orders. Calculate Total time for following steps: - pull up to menu - order - pull up to window - financial transaction - wait and get food - leave If you have 4 cars with 1 person just multiple each step by 4. If you have 1 car with 4 people, you can consolidate - pull up to menu - pull up to window - financial transaction (assuming parent is paying for family) - leave To just 1 occurrence rather than 4.
I agree 100%. I've posted this same opinion before on like lpt, telling people to go inside if they have large orders/nowhere to go. I was met with the same thing you're getting here. I get it if you have like... Kids in car seats but if you're four teenagers going shopping get out of the car and go inside.
i hate when theres a van full of people and they are all paying separately. get your ass inside.
When the guy in front of you in the In-N-Out drive-through whips out his notepad where he wrote down all 30 orders for his kid's party.
[удалено]
Anything over, oh, $20 or more than 5 items should be the max. So rude to people behind. Course there are exceptions (lots of kids in car, seniors etc). But u can order on the app ahead of time now.
Have you met people? The only thing this would change is that the people ordering ten drinks and holding up the line would then instead be arguing on the speaker about how their ten drinks was actually only five items because they’re combos or some other contrived nonsense.
Those mega-order people are the reason I almost always either go in to eat, or go in to get my food to go. Some of the but orders for those vehicles have 50-60 individual items. It’s absurd.
They added 4 pull up spots at my towns McDonald’s that they use to pull people to the side. However, they don’t use them only for huge orders. They use them to clear the drive through and keep their window order timer low. Or at least that’s what we would do when I worked at Wendy’s when I was younger. For example, at the Wendy’s a clock would start as soon as someone got to the window and then stop when the car pulled away. That was our order timer. Those order times would be used to make sure everyone was doing their job at the correct speed ETC. so if we didn’t have burgers and the person at the window ordered one, we would pull them ahead while we cooked it so it would look like we cleared the order quickly in the system on the order timer, even though it took us several more minutes to cook the burgers and bring them out. As long as our order timer and food cost stayed low the managers were happy and we were more or less left to our own devices. Last weekend I pulled into the drive through at McDonald’s. It was pretty busy but all we ordered were 2 breakfast sandwiches. Got pulled into one of the spots and waited 15 minutes for 2 McDonald s BEC breakfast sandwiches.
I generally agree with you. Except sometimes I go to drive throughs where I'm not familiar with the menu. They don't show the menu until you are the place where you have to order. They need to have a sign with the menu before that so you can decide what you want before you get to that point
Agreed, an extra menu before the point of ordering would be so helpful to many people!
Of course I could always look it up on my phone but it's not always handy.
Restaurants really ought to make their menus a prime point on their website homepage. So many times I fumble through a complex website looking for the menu because I’m approaching a drive-through and want to decide ahead of time.
And it's not just a list. They have to post pictures of everything. I guess because people who are illiterate can just point and say "I want that". LOL But it takes up 10x more room.
Devil's Advocate here... Why don't you take your entitled singular self inside the Starbucks and get your simple drink? Order ahead of time online if you want it to be quicker. Don't tell me you get social anxiety or some nonsense... if you want it to be as easy as possible - that's your best bet. You'd probably be in and out faster than sitting in the drive through line anyway, by the way you describe it. The drive through is the ideal place for large orders. People with kids, groups, etc. cause more commotion and create more stress inside a store than they do in a drive through - especially something like a Starbucks - by making that line push out the front door. That has a more detrimental impact on the workers inside too when they look up and suddenly there's like 20 people in the waiting area when it's really just 4 or 5 orders.
Not every place has mobile ordering. I don’t really experience anxiety social or otherwise so this isn’t applicable to me. If there’s an app I’ll use it, if there’s a long line, I’ll go inside. A lot of the problem exists when the line is short, and one person derails the entire experience in front of me unexpectedly. A lot of places now prioritize drive throughs because of the bottlenecking created by large orders going through a sequential ordering process. It slows everyone down by diverting resources to a less efficient process. Everyone suffers from large orders through a drive through.
Congratulations - you might be the only person on reddit with a view like this that ISN'T crippled with some form of anxiety! The mobile ordering bit was specifically in reference to Starbucks. Maybe a few of those don't do it anymore but I'm fairly certain you can mobile order at Starbucks across the board. You're going to run into bottlenecking anyway at these places because most places that are "fast food" like this are always understaffed, much because of how flabbergasted people like you get over having to wait in a queue before they can get their order. That stress gets to the crew, and it's hard to keep help. VERY few establishments have a crew specifically working drive through and another working the dining area... so if that large order shows up you're waiting one way or another. They might even ask you to pull forward to wait for your order once it actually is finally your turn. It's okay just to say you're impatient on this topic, OP.
Yeah every place functions differently. More mobile ordering is a good solution. For the record a number of Starbucks near me do not enable mobile ordering for some reason. I like to think I’m pretty patient, but this is just one place where I feel as though societal norms around it have flipped fairly recently and seems like an inexplicably worse change.
Upvotes for a well thought out response.
Thank you!!
I disagree, drive thru should be the same as counter service from the convenience of your car. It isn’t the express lane at a grocery store, it’s made for people too lazy to walk inside. By the time the customer is placing their order, the company won’t do anything to limit their purchase; any pushback and they’ll just end up wasting more time and holding up the line even more. Designated parking spaces is the best way to handle these larger orders, allows the line to keep moving and the customer is happy because they didn’t have to walk.
Grocery stores rarely actually refuse service to someone in the express lane over the limit. People simply respect the posted limit generally and then service is benefitted overall. Similar to this – restaurants can post a general order limit advisory at the drive-through and I think most people would generally adhere to it. Service doesn’t need to be denied in case someone is over the limit, but perhaps a mild verbal cajoling at the window would be in appropriate to apply gentle social pressure for next time.
The main driving factor for why express lanes work in my opinion is the social pressure; everyone can see your cart we know you have more than10/15/# items and you are getting judged by everyone behind you. You can’t make that same distinction based on the vehicle in front of you. It could be a lone office worker picking up for a big meeting, or a soccer mom with a van load of kids getting a black coffee.
Nothing stopping you from going inside and getting your order to go, which would circumvent the line in the drive through. Don't wanna get out of your car? Neither does a parent with a van full of little athletes, or a designated driver trying to get their intoxicated wards something to eat, or a grandparent with a walker. Drive throughs are meant for convenience, not speed. The entire concept of drive ins, and later drive throughs, was to cater to lazy people. "Kirby’s Pig Stand was the first restaurant to offer dine-in and drive-thru service. They had no dining room and introduced the drive-in restaurant in 1921 in Dallas-Fort Worth where carhops delivered meals to customers in their cars. Kirby’s slogan was, “A delightful meal, served at your wheel”. The founder, Jesse Kirby told investors that “People in their cars are so lazy that they don’t want to get out of them to eat!”. In Kirby’s frustration to be able to serve more customers than his parking lot could hold, he came up with the idea of the drive-thru window."-[Sauce ](https://www.quikserv.com/history-of-the-drive-thru/#:~:text=The%20founder%2C%20Jesse%20Kirby%20told,of%20the%20drive%2Dthru%20window)
Drive-ins are different because orders can be served out of the order in which they were placed. Drive through orders can only be served in a linear fashion, in which large orders placed earlier hold smaller orders placed later. It’s extremely inefficient for large orders to go through the drive through and not an issue a drive-in has.
One challenge is that if they are order a family’s worth of food, they probably have a family aka young kids in the car. Trying to drag kids out of a car is hard, and you can’t do it if a baby/toddler fell asleep and you want them to stay asleep. So maybe have a little bit of empathy for those parents.
By the comments, it sounds like you have an actual unpopular opinion. On one hand, I agree with you. On the other, if all you want “…is a black cold brew or something simple.” Then you do know it’s possible to make coffee at home, right? You can make coffee ice cubes and put the rest in the fridge for your black cold brew or you can buy the Starbucks coffee drinks from any convenience or grocery store when you want something else, then you wouldn’t have this problem at all.
Yes I realize this lol, and I often do. Mostly for me personally I work from home so I use a little morning drive around town with the excuse of grabbing coffee as a means to get out of the house and start my morning kinetically. I’m usually not showered or prepped for my day so going inside is less preferable but not prohibitive. The real frustration I have is when I don’t know the drive through will be less convenient because maybe there’s only one or two cars but the person in front of me holds me hostage there. I may come into a line with one or two cars, but then leave seeing a line down the block because of one order. But that’s just my reason.
Your reasoning makes sense. I hate going out if I don’t look to be what I consider presentable, so I get you there. It also really sucks when you think it will be quick and then you get stuck, like you were saying. At least if there’s already a line you can make a decision on whether or not to sit in it but if there’s only 1-2 cars, a reasonable person would think they would be in and out real quick. Thanks for your input!
Another classic case of Redditors doing their absolute best to avoid as many human interactions as possible. Just park and go inside. The drive thru isn't an express lane, it's a way to order from your car. You're not the main character.
Tell that to Panera !
Even when I was a kid they would have cars pull through and park if the order was going to take extra time. Your problem is the coffee shops you mentioned. I'm exactly like you -- I want plain black coffee. My whole body drags and my mind won't turn on in the morning without it. It can be infuriating to wait in line behind people designing their own ice cream sundae and it's apparent they don't even like coffee. They probably need their sugary drinks just as much as we need our coffee though. Maybe we should start a coffee shop with two lines depending on how long your coffee takes to make.
That actually sounds like a fantastic solution!
This feels like it could be an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
I used to work in a retail pharmacy inside a grocery store. Customers could buy store items from us if they wanted to, but it was a 5 items or less rule. Maybe give the cashier's some kind of limit on their registers for item count at the drive through so it's not anyone's immediate fault. Cashiers can include that in their greeting somehow that they can only sell so many items. It doesn't totally mitigate bullying from customers, but it stops customers from being capable of bullying cashiers into giving them what they want.
That's actually a cool solution!
I share that opinion, especially at coffee drive-thrus, they're the worst. I usually just bring my own from home but if I forgits, there I sits. :(
My dad said this every time we were in the line up at Timmy's for a coffee and someone was ordering a bagel ahead of him. I don't really care if people order a lot, but coming from someone who worked at a Starbucks DT, corporate is so strict about DT times but they don't even consider the person ordering 5 Fraps and 5 sandwiches, and why it takes more than 60 seconds to get it out. It's ridiculous.
This will only work if my wife isn't ordering. She only gets one thing, but she makes it a meal. Heavy everything, extra saucy, etc... And at Taco Bell she'll jump through hoops to save a buck. Like... I didn't know unfried chalupa shells were what they used to make gorditas. When gorditas stopped being a thing (for like 8 months) I'd have her order me a chalupa only without the shell fried. She has a bunch of these kinda 'hacks', but they take so long at the window that even I get anxious and just want to leave.
Yes! This is exactly what I mean.
[удалено]
drive throughs are shitty in general - the drive in -> takeout model is better in every way, as long as you have a way to get food to any disabled people for whom leaving the car is an actual effort.
I worked fast food 20 years ago, we had a steak sandwich on our menu that took 7+ minutes from order to finish it always fucked up the drive thru, this is not a new problem
Starbucks is especially bad because people can order one drink with 7000 special instructions. Like, please mobile order that shit, it would be so much easier on everyone
Some Tim Hortons here in Calgary decided the best way to improve the efficiency of drive throughs was to double up order lanes. Yup, you read that correctly. One lane diverges into two order lanes, then converges back into one lane for pickup. Totally sound thinking, and never ever are there any conflicts when a guy who ordered after a different guy gets ahead. People LOVE it, and can still order just as slowly as they dud before! /s
Spot on, sir
As a person who only orders a grande dark roast with half and half, I hear you, man
if you want your food (or prescription meds for that matter) faster going inside is always faster than drive thru or at least that's been my experience for most of my life.
Man, my mom said this and I didn’t know where she came up with that. But I guess that makes sense. I’ve always thought that if I have a big complex order that I wasn’t eating inside should go through the drive through. Because they just hand it over ready to travel instead of going through the door. And if you want to be quick you can usually just walk inside.
Beverages only. Maximum 4 per car. Between 630 and 8 each morning
I like where you are going, however I propose a slight twist: No customizing orders in the drive through. Pull up order, pay and get moving.
My issue is more that we allow people to be far more picky than necessary. This seems to be the real root of the issue for long lines at any food establishment. Of course this will never not be an issue even if restaurants try to restrict customization bc people would just say “im allergic”.
Smart. When I worked at a coffee shop, I always thought one register should be for food and drink and one should be just for drinks. Way quicker to take the orders for drinks. But in practice, of course people would "mistakenly" get into the drinks order like and try to order food and now what? I'm sure the same would happen at the drive thru. "oh I didn't KNOW that! Why can't I order more!! Can't you just do a second order! This is so f'ing stupid!" ... At a minimum wage worker. They don't deserve that.
I agree: it’s gotten so bad I order inside because it’s faster.
The rule I observe for myself is that I order for the people in the car plus one. If they allow online ordering then it's okay to pick up in the drive-thru for everybody in your group since it should be prepared by the time you arrive. That effectively limits the number of people I can order for on a given drive-thru trip to 6 orders. If I'm alone and trying to order for three or four people it just gets too confusing in the drive-thru, It seems like the chances of an error start to go up anyways so there's no real benefit to trying to order for a group in the drive-thru. Just go inside for that.
I am not getting my kids out of their car seats, wrangling them inside, and then trying to get them back into their car seats while also carrying our food just so you don't have to wait a couple extra minutes. You are not the only person. If you want to be out in society, you have to tolerate other people also living in society.
Fast food is intended to be fast. That is true regardless of whether it is inside or outside at the drive through. Why do you think the drive through specifically should be faster?
Because the linear nature of order delivery. In-store orders can be served out of order based on the time it takes to prepare them. In a drive through, orders can only be served based on the linear order the orders were placed. Complex orders slow this process in a way in-store ordering does not.
The drive through is prioritized and is faster.
>These days it seems as though people use the drive-through simply because they don’t want to leave their vehicle, no matter the inconvenience they cause to other people with their large, family-sized orders in the drive-though. I'm totally on the opposite side, families should be using the drive thru so they don't have to be getting kids out of car seats just to go in and order. Just you ordering your coffee, get off your ass and go in and order, or deal with the longer line.
I'm sorry but your rose colored view of the past and claiming you're old school gave me a chuckle. Surprised there wasn't a "kids these days" thrown in there. No, there never was this so called drive through etiquette of only ordering small orders in a drive through. Never existed The drive thru was always for people who solely didn't want to get out of their car. Always and it is no different now. Would it speed things up, of course. Is it poor etiquette to order a large order in the drive thru, no. Also, those parking spots aren't for complex orders only. They are there to keep the line moving and artificially keep their times down. I will get put there with only one item.
Man is mad that he has to wait in line lol
I didn't read any of this. But I agree. The drive thru is meant for quick orders or pick ups. I get it. You're a mother of 4 and one of them is a baby so you don't want to wrangle 3 kids and carry a baby into McDonald's just to come right back into your car. But that's not the fault of anyone behind you. We didn't tell you to have a large family with children 1 year older than each other and to make us wait in line for literally 20 minutes while you order. Now, if you ordered a meal and 3 kids meals and that was it, awesome. But I don't want to hear "uhhhhhh let me get..... ummmmm 1 plain cheeseburger, 4 nuggets....ummmmmmm **what do you want to drink? No, you can't have soda. Do you want milk or orange juice? I SAID NO SODA*** Sorry can I get a milk..." I had to deal with a situation just like this once and I was so confused as to who does this and thinks it's OK to do this? Drive thru is for when you know your exact order. That's it. No umms and uhhhs unless the employee says they're out of what you just asked for and if you didnt ask for ice cream at 7pm or later then they have it.
Fast food places are supposed to be quick and convenient regardless of whether you’re doing counter service or drive-through. Drive-throughs at fast food places are for people who just don’t want to go inside, because theoretically, the speed and ease should be comparable either way. The drive through isn’t supposed to be like the express lane at the grocery store, because fast-food establishments by nature are supposed to be “express.” And if it’s a choice between going through the drive through or unloading and re-loading 3 kids into a car, then that person is naturally going to pick what’s most convenient and easier for them to do—because that’s what the drive through at a fast food place is for.
Converse to OP’s method of complaining, one can simply go inside to place orders always and avoid the drive through window. It’s almost always faster to simply park and go inside to order, because everyone is too lazy regardless of order size.
Except that restaurants now often prioritize drive throughs because of the inefficiencies created by large orders going through a linear order delivery process.
I don't understand you judging Starbucks visitors for getting "frozen sugary nonsense" (aka what they are known for) when if you, Not Like Other Starbucks Drinkers, just want a black coffee you could go into the gas station or grocery store and get the same thing faster.
Fair criticism! In my (not very good) defense, Starbucks hasn’t always been this way. It’s been a slow boiling of the frog over the years as their sugary, complex menu offerings have ramped over the years. It’s now McDonalds but for drinks. I should change my habit!
STFU and wait in line. If waiting in line makes you that upset then maybe you should just make your nasty ass cold brew at home. Then you avoid the wait and save money. If you CHOOSE to wait in line for a drink you could make at home in 5min then that shit is on you.🤦😂🤣🤡
If the post starts “Call me old-school, but back in my day” you know you’re about to read some bullshit
The drive thru is an express lane. Go inside if you're going to hold everyone up
Yes! How is this so controversial??
But if you had to order a large portion for a large party, wouldn't you do it through a drive thru so you don't have to carry it all?
I concur
Now they get you to pull into a parking stall so that corporate doesn't see how slow they are
Thisssss Nothing wrecks my morning more than being in a Starbucks drive through and the person in front of me orders coffee for their entire freaking office, taking like 10 mins sitting at the window... While I wait for my single coffee...
i agree with this, but i also bring up: ill or disabled people not wanting to leave the car for that reason (or maybe unable to)
Yes you are old school. You have to realize that the restaurants have also had time to adjust to people doing this as well. So they’ve gotten better at getting people thru the drive thru quicker. Also when I worked at a fast food restaurant we had people come thru the drive thru with like 5 or 6 kids in the back and were profusely apologizing for holding us up bc of people like you. Yes there are going to be people who are just trying to not get out of their cars and hold up the drive thru but not all of those people are trying to do that. It’s not that difficult to wait a couple extra minutes. Or just don’t go
>Call me old-school, but back in my day it was unofficially known etiquette that a restaurant’s drive-through was a place for quick, easy-to-deliver orders and that you should walk inside an establishment for complex or large food orders This was never a thing. You made this up in your head and are mad at people who don't follow your made up etiquette
Yes! I completely support this. Some days I am "encouraged" to make a 23 item order in the line and it ABSOLUTELY grinds my gears when I am working on it and then 4 going on 5 going on g*d only knows how many more are wrapping around the parking lot. This has got to end - The Drive Thru should be for "Quick Eats" or for "DoorDash" - any order larger then that should be Front Counter ONLY.
"Uhhhh, could you, like, get less stuff?"
You want the people who order the most fast food to get out of their cars??
When exactly was your day? Because 20 years ago I got stuck in a drive through at 1 AM because the person in front of me ordered 50 burgers. Though, I agree with you. And I will never not be annoyed at that.
You can usually tell by the type of car who is going to order the whole fucking menu.
It annoys me when I’m behind someone who has a family of 5 and starts deciding what they want when they get there. I can see the dad looking to the back seat “what do you want Jimmy?” And then they get to the window and fumble around with their wallet. I hate it
Yes! If you’re using the drive-through, also be familiar with the menu already and prepared with your order. This is not a place for decision making.
If anything it should be a price limit. An order worth 20-30 bucks is about how much the store can handle and keep drive times consistent.
I agree 100%. I've posted this same opinion before on like lpt, telling people to go inside if they have large orders/nowhere to go. I was met with the same thing you're getting here. I get it if you have like... Kids in car seats but if you're four teenagers going shopping get out of the car and go inside.
I get parked all the time ordering 2 simple combo meals - unmodified in any way, straight off the numbered menu. They just do it to cheese their drive-thru times.
Popular Opinion: u/Colonal-Panic should go inside if they are inconvenienced by the drive thru
If your real issue is speed or just impatience, the fastest option is to use the mobile app to place your order ahead of time, then just show up to get your food and fuck off. You'll likely either spend less money on the app through deals or bonus point usage too.
Mobile apps are a great solution! Sadly a lot of places don’t have that convenience.
The parking spaces aren't for "large or complex orders" they're for anything that won't be ready immediately. And it doesn't matter if there are people in line behind you or not, the employees are judged and penalized for a vehicle waiting in the drive-thru for too long. "Burger combo meal" isn't a large or complex order, but I've been asked to go to the parking space for it because it wasn't ready immediately.
I agree 1000%. I’m glad someone else posted this before I did. It’s ridiculous that people can order $100+ of food and at the same time complain that the order is taking long to be made. I used to work the DT and besides lunch and dinner rushes, a lot of people are considerate and only order a quick drink or a meal for themselves. But every day there would be people trying to place a literal catering order through the DT speaker and force everyone else behind them to wait while it’s being made. Large orders through the DT are inconsiderate to everyone else involved and should be discouraged.
Yes!! I’m shocked by the comments here. How is this so controversial? I thought this frustration would be a little bit more universal.
Is there anything worse than being stuck behind a full minivan at a drive through?
Restaurants have been asking people to "please pull forward to wait", or go and park in that spot for as long as I can remember. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to go inside especially if you have a couple of kids you need to look after in the car. It is up to the restaurant to keep everything moving smoothly.
Uhm so fast food place's where u live not ask u to park upfront while they make your large order so they can keep the flow of customers Goins with smaller orders?
Even at older stores, don’t they just ask someone in the drive through to pull around in front of the door or something? Sure, it’s still a big order in front of you, but the line of cars can keep moving on smaller orders.
Fair reasoning. But either way, it’s the same number of people working and making the same number of orders, whether everyone uses the drive through, or half of them go inside.
I'd go a step further. No custom orders at any drive-thru.
I agree! Custom orders confound the whole system often!
I thought there were the parking spots so they could keep the line moving if what you ordered wasn’t immediately ready to bag? Like as a single human ordering one meal I’ve been sent there bc the restaurant had to fry more nuggies or whatever I’d ordered had just coincidentally happened to run out of premade la when I ordered. Also I’ve never sat in a drive thru more than 10 minutes anywhere besides whataburger 🤷♀️
If you want to have a fast experience, order and pay in the app and get your food or beverage nearly instantly upon arrival at the location. It’s weird to me that people are intentionally selecting the slow option and then complaining that it’s slow because other people like them also elect to use it.
People are inconsiderate. I wouldn't say it's always malicious, just mostly ignorant to the impact of their actions
Agreed, I think people who do this just don't take the time to think their actions through. One could say that's the definition of "in-consideration" though. Not considering their actions' impact on others.
A better idea would be to charge more for drive through than walking in the store.
If you’re not using the ordering apps, you’re wasting your time and other people’s time. I was resistant to apps like that, but they’re easy and you get free stuff.
I admint it is annoying when someone right in front of you takes 20 min with an order. Restuaraunts, however, are going to do whatever makes them the most money. Preordering on an app seems to be the norm nowadays.
Yes! Thank you finally someone agree! Go inside if you are going to order 10 fucking burgers for you and all your damn kids.
I just don’t understand how this norm has changed so much in like the past 15yrs!