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  • Drive-through hell (Refresh)

    It's the stuff we've all heard a thousand times... why people on drive-through are miserable:

    • Don't rattle off your order as fast as you can. Our registers are ancient, with yellowed plastic and all. We have very strict limitations on what we can enter and what we can void out. When you change your mind, we need a manager's keys, and we usually have to 'trick' the register into doing what we want. If you order a spaghetti meat, small spaghetti meat, and a spaghetti marinara, and decide you want that first spaghetti to be marinara also... we have to void out all three and reenter them.
    • Don't ask to get the Panini cut in half. It's a square sandwich, 4" to a side. If I attempt to cut it in half, it's a chunk of bread and meat 2x4x2 inches in size. (Oh, and I just use the pizza cutter -- f*** if I'm gonna walk into the back room to get a knife) Good luck unwrapping that. And don't come back through the drive-through complaining I forgot to cut it -- We always supply plastic knives anyway -- do it yourself.
    • "Sauce on the Side"? GFY. I'm sick of people ordering sauce on the side, because it clutters up the screen and is pointless. If you want sauce for the breadsticks, it's only 53¢ extra.
    • (Not me, my problem going THROUGH a drive-through): If you want the Arby's Pick-5, tell them BEFORE you order five items. They use the same POS registers we do, which means I have to sit and wait for the employee to get a manager's keys, void out each item individually, then enter your Pick-5 choice, all because you were too damn stupid to say so in the first place.
    • I don't give a damn if you don't want any ice in your soda, when you list four entree's and three drinks within 10 seconds, barely giving me time to enter them (The registers are SLOW, remember)... I'm not listening to such obsessive-compulsive crap as "Sauce on the side", "No ice", "Little ice", or anything else.
    • Surprise, surprise: We stopped using that type of gift card five years ago. It no longer works. If you're nice we MAY re-issue a new card for the same value, but don't count on it.
    • Our goal is simple: When you're on drive-through, we need to get you out as fast as possible. You were waiting 10 minutes for a reason. You think we wanted that? Hell no, every night we have to send our regional manager a report that includes how many people had to wait more than five minutes
    • Don't get pissy because I keep shutting the window in your face. I open the window, collect your card/money, shut the window, run it, open the window, change/card back, close the window, get your food, open, give, close. Why? It's winter. The wind blows everything on the drive-through table around, knocks lids on the floor, and has a tendency to cool down the breadsticks in the warmer.
    • Why the f*** are you bitching at me because you're getting wet when it's raining?!
    • Yes, the drink exploded all over your car and lap. Is it my fault? No. It's yours because after I let it go, you proceeded to slam the top of it against your door. Is it that hard to pay attention to your window's clearance?
    • If you have a Hummer, stay out of drive-through. Your windows are too small to let you accept the 4 ultimate samplers you ordered.
    • Open your window all the way. Don't open it half-way, then try to double-joint your arms out.
    • Kids Meals only come with one breadstick now. Deal with it.
    • You must order one adult meal per 99¢ kids meal on Tuesdays now. Deal with it.
    • The only person who should be ordering is the driver. No passengers. Even if I can understand them, I will keep repeating "I'm sorry I couldn't hear you" until the driver orders for them.
    • Smoking in the drive-through window? Don't be surprised if I barely look at you. I don't smoke, I don't need to be inhaling your Menthols.
    • (this happened last night) If you come through drive-through at 10:40 at night, 20 minutes before close, order a sandwich and breadsticks ($5.86), and pay with a $100 bill, you're going to be waiting. I wasn't even polite about it, I said "Christ...." right in front of him, half-shut the window, and was just like "K, guy thinks we're a bank, paid with a hundred". Funny thing: We try to not keep that much change in the registers that late, and it takes 10 minutes to open the safe. You may think "Maybe he only had the $100", but ten minutes later when he got the change back, I saw plenty of bills in his wallet. He really was using us as a bank.


    ...I'm hungry. I'm gonna go to Arby's now... maybe the pick-5... two ham & swiss's, cherry coke, medium curly fries, and a cherry turnover
    I've been here for two years, work harder than most others, and I'm getting paid $1.80 an hour
    less than the 17 year old slacker you hired two months ago. Maybe that's why I'm not chipper at work.

  • #2
    Quoth ahanix1989 View Post
    [*]Don't rattle off your order as fast as you can. Our registers are ancient, with yellowed plastic and all. We have very strict limitations on what we can enter and what we can void out. When you change your mind, we need a manager's keys, and we usually have to 'trick' the register into doing what we want. If you order a spaghetti meat, small spaghetti meat, and a spaghetti marinara, and decide you want that first spaghetti to be marinara also... we have to void out all three and reenter them.
    Ugh. I don't work at a drive-through, but I do have to put in carry-out orders using our ancient computer system. I didn't think they were still around until I started working there. Since it takes forever to erase stuff and put in people's obsessive-compulsive stuff; I usually write down the order first and tell the people to wait a sec while I put it in the computer. I sometimes have to be firm. Why? Because I want to get it right. How terrible!


    Quoth ahanix1989 View Post
    [*]"Sauce on the Side"? GFY. I'm sick of people ordering sauce on the side, because it clutters up the screen and is pointless. If you want sauce for the breadsticks, it's only 53¢ extra.
    Our dressings always come on the side. It's just easier that way.
    Last edited by Giggle Goose; 11-14-2007, 04:16 PM.
    "If you are planning not to tip, please let your server know before ordering so they can decide whether or not to wait on you" - from an advice column I read some time ago

    Comment


    • #3
      Our salad dressing is in individual packets, but I'm talking like... they want spaghetti sauce not on their spaghetti, but in a seperate little bowl.
      I've been here for two years, work harder than most others, and I'm getting paid $1.80 an hour
      less than the 17 year old slacker you hired two months ago. Maybe that's why I'm not chipper at work.

      Comment


      • #4
        Don't rattle off your order as fast as you can. Our registers are ancient, with yellowed plastic and all. We have very strict limitations on what we can enter and what we can void out.
        Even on new, fast registers there's only so fast you can go, and it isn't as fast as people can talk when they try. But please, don't stop after each item and wait for me to prompt you for the next one. Or at the least, if you *do* stop more than five seconds between items, don't yell at me for asking if you'd like anything else. (I've long ago set the HALO limits as high as they will go, so getting a manager's code just for an order being changed too many times is very rare).
        "Sauce on the Side"? GFY. I'm sick of people ordering sauce on the side, because it clutters up the screen and is pointless. If you want sauce for the breadsticks, it's only 53¢ extra.
        At least you have a way of ringing it up. We have to do "NO SAUCE", fix a cup of sauce, and hope it goes out to the right car. It's not pointless, though: if you do want sauce for something else, and you *don't* want it for whatever it comes with that you're buying, why shouldn't you ask for it on the side? We also get a lot of orders for that for people who want to dip their fish sandwiches in sauce instead of having it inside. Weird, but harmless. Now the ones who order unsalted fries, then ask for a handful of salt packets...
        (Not me, my problem going THROUGH a drive-through): If you want the Arby's Pick-5, tell them BEFORE you order five items. They use the same POS registers we do, which means I have to sit and wait for the employee to get a manager's keys, void out each item individually, then enter your Pick-5 choice, all because you were too damn stupid to say so in the first place.
        I hate it when people do stuff like that! But then, it's not like they have any reasonable way of knowing how the register keys are set up, either. A Happy Meal example: 90%+ of the people who order them want fries. So unless you say you want apples, we ring up the one with fries. As far as the POS knows they're completely different items, so changing the side means deleting the original and reentering. So please, PLEASE tell me if you want apples *before* saying you want your cheeseburger no pickles, extra onions, add mayo. Not only is it annoying, but it's much more likely that I'll misremember how you wanted it and put "no onions, extra pickles, add mayo" instead.
        I don't give a damn if you don't want any ice in your soda, when you list four entree's and three drinks within 10 seconds, barely giving me time to enter them (The registers are SLOW, remember)... I'm not listening to such obsessive-compulsive crap as "Sauce on the side", "No ice", "Little ice", or anything else.
        Ordering too much too fast may be sucky, but what's wrong with not wanting ice? I do hate it, though, when people get *really* precise about how much ice they want, partly because it doesn't convey well in words and you'd do better to pour your own inside, and partly because the ABS pours whatever we ring up.... and has only three possible ice levels: EXTRA, REGULAR, AND NO. Regular being a bit less than we used to put when we did them ourselves, and also what it will make if you ring up "LIGHT". We even have a few who will say they want theirs from the lobby. Not even a special ice order or a mixture of two drinks, either, they just don't want it from the Drive-Thru machine. Which means we have to either lie or throw away the one it makes and fix another just exactly like it for no good reason at all.
        Surprise, surprise: We stopped using that type of gift card five years ago. It no longer works. If you're nice we MAY re-issue a new card for the same value, but don't count on it.
        I know it's a common practice, but having gift certificates or cards that expire (or even drop in value as they age) is a slimy way of doing business. I'm not saying that if they're *that* outdated you shouldn't be able to make them have the card reissued, since things do change, but it shouldn't be a "maybe if we feel like it" sort of thing. (I'm glad to work for a company that doesn't have expiring gifts. Just the other day I took one issued in 1998, and there was one in the safe from 95 or 6. So basically we've owed them a dollar for ten years. Why punish someone for paying in advance?)
        Our goal is simple: When you're on drive-through, we need to get you out as fast as possible. You were waiting 10 minutes for a reason. You think we wanted that? Hell no
        AMEN! I'd like to add that your going on and on about the wait being too long after I've already agreed and apologized is doing nothing but holding up everyone else behind you. You're not only making each of the dozen or so other cars in line wait an extra minute each (and increasing the chance that one of them will do the same thing) but also, their food was ready too and now it's getting cold, and if we have to make every order twice not only is it incredibly wasteful but it, surprisingly enough, takes twice as long!
        Why the f*** are you bitching at me because you're getting wet when it's raining?!
        We have awnings over the speaker and windows. If you close your car window except when you actually need it open, you won't get wet (except at the speaker if it's really windy, which isn't my fault either). Please turn your wipers off when you get to the window. I know it's not the sort of thing you'd think about unless you'd worked in a DT, but seeing the cashier duck behind the window every time your wipers throw a sheet of water in there should be a clue.

        I've had complaints about *sunny* weather, too, someone not only complaining that the sun was reflecting off the menu and making it hard to read, but expecting me to do something about it!
        The only person who should be ordering is the driver. No passengers. Even if I can understand them, I will keep repeating "I'm sorry I couldn't hear you" until the driver orders for them.
        Ideally, the driver should order. I understand sometimes the passenger will know better what everyone wants and/or have a better command of English, and it's no problem as long as *they* understand that they'll have to speak up to be heard from over there. Just please don't have little children order, don't have everyone in the car telling me what they want, or basically anyone who is not the *one* person placing the order talking at the same time. Oh, and if I ask you to repeat something or to speak up, it's not because I'm just a rude SOB trying to make things difficult. It's not because I'm too lazy to listen to what you say. It's because I CAN'T HEAR YOU. Either you're not talking loudly or clearly enough, or you're too far from the speaker, or your window is closed, or you missed the speaker and I'm listening to your back bumper, or your engine is loud, or an ambulance or helecopter went by, or someone in here didn't realize I was taking an order and was talking at me too, or any number of other things, but *you* don't have the ability to hear quieter, indistinct sounds among other louder noises as clear words so don't expect it of me either.

        One thing I'd like to add: if I ask you a question, that means I need the answer to complete your order accurately. I don't just ask at random. If you order a drink, I'll need to know size and flavor. If you just say "nugget kid's meal" I'll need to know whether you want the Happy Meal with four or the Mighty Kids Meal with six. Please quit either ignoring the question entirely, or pretending that repeating "the chicken" or "kid's meal" or "regular" is any answer at all or that this is anything new. By the way, this goes for the suggestive sell at the end, too: I'm required to ask, and all you have to do is say no. But if I can't hear an answer, I have to ask again because for all I know you might have said yes and I just didn't hear it, so again, if I ask a question I need an answer. Oh, and one last thing: if I ask a question about one item on the order, your response should under *no* circumstances be to repeat the entire order word for word as you placed it originally. If I'm asking about one thing on it, either your original order wasn't specific enough (so repeating it is worthless) or it was just the one thing I didn't understand (so you're wasting time with the rest).

        Oh, and you have no business complaining about my asking the same question four times when it's absolutely essential information (fried or grilled chicken?) and you completely ignored it the first three. Even a "what do you mean?", though incredibly stupid, is better than that.
        Last edited by HYHYBT; 11-14-2007, 05:27 PM.
        Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.

        Comment


        • #5
          Well, they rattle off everything, so I suddenly have to ring in three seperate sodas (Trying to find each one's code on the screen), I will very quickly forget whether or not they wanted ice. I wouldn't mind "Sauce on the Side" if every other person didn't order it for every single entree, so we have a screen of
          1 S SPAG MT
          1 SPECIAL
          1 ONSIDE
          1 ULT SAMP
          1 SPECIAL
          1 ONSIDE
          1 SPECIAL
          1 ONSIDE
          1 CLUB SUB
          1 IT WHITE
          1 EXTRA
          1 MAYO
          1 SPECIAL
          1 ONSIDE
          2 R FET
          2 SPECIAL
          2 ONSIDE
          1 K SPAG
          1 SPECIAL
          1 ONSIDE
          1 K SPAG MT
          1 SPECIAL
          1 ONSIDE
          1 K FETT
          1 SPECIAL
          1 ONSIDE



          The gift cards no longer work because either it's so old that it's become demagnetized, or simply our newer credit card readers simply can no longer read that card. The card is too outdated to be compatible with our card reader. We only reissue if we're nice because we have no way to verify the actual value that's supposed to be on the card, since the readers don't recognize them.


          Our city's layout has several key roads that are a "Straight shot" through -- the building is on the corner of two of those roads, so if I'm being silent for 10 seconds, it's because there's an ambulance giong past and I won't be able to hear you -- same with the tornado siren half a block away that is tested every Saturday at noon.


          When they ask for water, I think it's a perfectly legitamate question to ask if they want just a glass of ice water, or a bottle of Dasani.
          I've been here for two years, work harder than most others, and I'm getting paid $1.80 an hour
          less than the 17 year old slacker you hired two months ago. Maybe that's why I'm not chipper at work.

          Comment


          • #6
            Here were a few of my pet peeves when I worked drive-through

            Do not eat your entire meal in the drive-through. If you have the time to eat a leisurely meal either go into the lobby or pull forward into the parking lot. A lot of drive-thru's are timed and having someone sit in the drive-through for over 5 minutes does not look good

            Do not simply pull up to the window without ordering because "you already know what you want" It will take even longer to get your meal ready and again the drove-thru times will suffer

            Turn down your radio I will not compete with whatever is blaring from your speakers

            Do not try to hand me a bag of your garbage and ask me to toss it for you. It's unsanitary there's a nice garbage can 5 feet forward you can use

            And last but certainly not least we do not serve people on bikes, scooters, or on foot in the drive-thru. Whining about how you want a burger and the lobby is closed will not sway me. It's dangerous for you to stand there and I could get in trouble if I serve you.
            My Horror Blog

            Cinemania

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            • #7
              Quoth ahanix1989 View Post
              Our registers are ancient, with yellowed plastic and all. We have very strict limitations on what we can enter and what we can void out. When you change your mind, we need a manager's keys, and we usually have to 'trick' the register into doing what we want.
              I am going to show my age, but when I worked fast food, we actually had to check off items on a note pad and write out the special aspects of the order. We developed a kind of short hand to do this.

              Once we had the order written out and had read it back to the customer for confirmation, we rang it up. It actually made it incredibly easy to alter orders or take them in an odd sequence. If we made a mistake, it just required us to cross through whatever we wrote and mark the order correctly. The cash register printed out the prices and we stapled the order sheet to the receipt.

              I remember when the McDonalds next to us brought in the computer pad ordering system. The employees HATED it. The computer system may keep a better record for corporate accounting, but it really slows down the process and is frustrating for both the employee and the customer.
              "Ignorance is no excuse for a law."
              .................................................. ..................- Alfred E. Newman

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth South Texan View Post
                I am going to show my age, but when I worked fast food, we actually had to check off items on a note pad and write out the special aspects of the order. We developed a kind of short hand to do this.
                Did you use hammer and chisel or had they invented pen and paper by then?
                Be a winner today: Pick a fight with a 4 year old.

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                • #9
                  Quoth Alpha Strike View Post
                  Did you use hammer and chisel or had they invented pen and paper by then?
                  Hammer and chisel? We used a broken rib bone and animal blood on cured skins, or else a stick and clay. You're thinking the Bronze Age.
                  The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                  "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                  Hoc spatio locantur.

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                  • #10
                    Oh my god, this is SO true! HYHYBT, everything you said is down to a T!!

                    I have worked my drive thru for 8 years, yes SHOOT ME!!, and I am actually going deaf because of it. So please SPEAK UP!! It's not my fault I am the fastest there, and never get to move out of drive thru.

                    And if you see a tractor trailor sitting near the speaker, SPEAK THE FUCK UP!!! All I hear is their engines!!

                    And complaining when it's sunny, I wanna ask, "Do you want me to turn the sun off for you?" Cause if I could, your sorry butt wouldn't be here!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth HYHYBT View Post
                      I know it's a common practice, but having gift certificates or cards that expire (or even drop in value as they age) is a slimy way of doing business. I'm not saying that if they're *that* outdated you shouldn't be able to make them have the card reissued, since things do change, but it shouldn't be a "maybe if we feel like it" sort of thing. (I'm glad to work for a company that doesn't have expiring gifts. Just the other day I took one issued in 1998, and there was one in the safe from 95 or 6. So basically we've owed them a dollar for ten years. Why punish someone for paying in advance?)
                      Now here's something interesting. I read on MSN today that according to a national retail organization, some states consider unused gift cards "unclaimed funds" after a few years. Which means the retailers have to turn these funds over to the state. So honoring old gift cards would mean the store takes a loss. That said, retailers can be using or earning interest on the monies from unused gift cards in the meantime. I wonder how that applies to restaurants and the like?

                      Also, if these are "unclaimed funds", are these monies being labeled appropriately? There is no way a regular person can claim these funds after the fact, so it is just money in the state's pocket, right? I'm curious how these funds are used by the states that do this. Please let it be some kind of consumer-protection agency.
                      A lion however, will only devour your corpse, whereas an SC is not sated until they have destroyed your soul. (Quote per infinitemonkies)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth ahanix1989 View Post
                        "Sauce on the Side"? GFY. I'm sick of people ordering sauce on the side, because it clutters up the screen and is pointless. If you want sauce for the breadsticks, it's only 53¢ extra.
                        Well, some people like the sauce on the side, not necessarily because their obsessive-compulsive, but because they like a certain amount of sauce, and they like to control that amount, since explaining it to the drive thru person will usually not convey what they want. In essence, most of these people are trying to make things EASIER on you by having you put the sauce on the side....this gets them just what they want, (in most cases) without much effort on the establishment's part, and leaving them to do all the work.

                        No, I am NOT one of those people, actually....I just have a lot of friends that are!

                        Quoth ahanix1989 View Post
                        I'm gonna go to Arby's now...
                        I miss Arby's! The closest one is 50 some miles from here. One of the few fast food establishments I like. *sigh*

                        Quoth HYHYBT View Post
                        It's not pointless, though: if you do want sauce for something else, and you *don't* want it for whatever it comes with that you're buying, why shouldn't you ask for it on the side? We also get a lot of orders for that for people who want to dip their fish sandwiches in sauce instead of having it inside. Weird, but harmless. Now the ones who order unsalted fries, then ask for a handful of salt packets...
                        Well, using your very own logic on the sauce issue, maybe they want the salt for something other than fries? Or, using my logic on the sauce issue, maybe they just like to control the amount of salt that gets on their fries?

                        Quoth HYHYBT View Post
                        I've had complaints about *sunny* weather, too, someone not only complaining that the sun was reflecting off the menu and making it hard to read, but expecting me to do something about it!
                        I have often had people complain to me about the weather. Most of them are joking around, but some of them are very serious.
                        "Why is it so hot?"
                        "Can you do something about the sun?"
                        "Why is it raining so much?"

                        My answers to the above are simple:
                        It's the tropics.
                        It's the tropics.
                        It's the tropics.

                        I especially love the people who bitch about the weather at either the outdoor bar I work at or the rooftop deck at my other job.

                        More proof of my belief that the intelligence of the human race is highly overrated.
                        Last edited by Jester; 11-15-2007, 11:30 PM.

                        "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                        Still A Customer."

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          off topic
                          MMMMMMMMMM CHEESECAKE BITES WITH RASPERRY SAUSE!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth HYHYBT View Post
                            A Happy Meal example: 90%+ of the people who order them want fries. So unless you say you want apples, we ring up the one with fries. As far as the POS knows they're completely different items, so changing the side means deleting the original and reentering. So please, PLEASE tell me if you want apples *before* saying you want your cheeseburger no pickles, extra onions, add mayo. Not only is it annoying, but it's much more likely that I'll misremember how you wanted it and put "no onions, extra pickles, add mayo" instead.
                            Now, this is something I would never realize could be a problem. I sometimes get apples with a meal, and I'll usually order, then ask for apples instead of the fries/hash browns, and it never seems to be a problem. I just feel weird ordering the apples first, since I tend to say "I'd like a #whatever, with cheese on the sandwich and apples instead of the hashbrown," or something similar. Any suggestions on how to phrase it?

                            Quoth HYHYBT View Post
                            Ideally, the driver should order. I understand sometimes the passenger will know better what everyone wants and/or have a better command of English, and it's no problem as long as *they* understand that they'll have to speak up to be heard from over there.
                            I always figure as long as you make sure whoever *is* ordering is as close to the box as possible, it should be fine. Like, when we drive through with my dad, sometimes he pulls up so the backseat window is at the speaker box, and my brother or I can do the ordering.

                            Quoth HYHYBT View Post
                            One thing I'd like to add: if I ask you a question, that means I need the answer to complete your order accurately. I don't just ask at random.
                            This drives me insane at work as well, and I'm not in a drive-thru, just on the phones. If I ask you a question, I did so because I wanted an answer, dumbass.
                            "In the end I was the mean girl/or somebody's in between girl"~Neko Case

                            “You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about.” ~William Stafford

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              The gift cards no longer work because either it's so old that it's become demagnetized, or simply our newer credit card readers simply can no longer read that card. The card is too outdated to be compatible with our card reader. We only reissue if we're nice because we have no way to verify the actual value that's supposed to be on the card, since the readers don't recognize them.
                              Oh, I didn't mean you necessarily had to replace them *in the store*, but there really ought to be somewhere the customer can call or mail off to or something.
                              I remember when the McDonalds next to us brought in the computer pad ordering system. The employees HATED it. The computer system may keep a better record for corporate accounting, but it really slows down the process and is frustrating for both the employee and the customer.
                              I'd have hated to use one of the first ones, too: they didn't have a screen!
                              Now, this is something I would never realize could be a problem. I sometimes get apples with a meal, and I'll usually order, then ask for apples instead of the fries/hash browns, and it never seems to be a problem. I just feel weird ordering the apples first, since I tend to say "I'd like a #whatever, with cheese on the sandwich and apples instead of the hashbrown," or something similar. Any suggestions on how to phrase it?
                              Well, we only offer them in the kid's meals, so I don't know if it'd be the same with hash browns, but "cheeseburger Happy Meal with apples, only ketchup", which I know sounds completely backwards and no one in their right mind would say it that way, works best. (if someone asked for them in place of hash browns we'd probably do it, but since there's no way to ring it up anyway it doesn' t much matter when you say it)
                              Last edited by HYHYBT; 11-16-2007, 01:05 PM.
                              Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.

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