Ordering at the window? That's a paddlin'.

[lachesis]

I currently have a very bad cold and I feel like absolute crap. I'm also in the process of possibly losing my voice, which is NOT fun and I don't recommend to anyone. Thankfully I was almost done with my shift. We suddenly had a rush in the drive-thru and a couple of people came into the dining room. I was my co-worker's ride, but she and I agreed to help out until we cleared the line of customers.

Catelyn (Restaurant Manager - formerly Tina in my previous posts) had taken over headset duties. My co-worker started ringing up the dining room customers and I started packing the food orders. A couple of cars in, I was handing out a rather large order (she pretty much ordered one of everything off the value menu) and the woman wanted to order more at the window. This woman is henceforth known as the MegaBeast (MB). She was 25-30 years old who surprisingly did not have the "I want to speak to the Manager" haircut.

MB: *being handed her several bags of food* Thank you. Can I also have $DESSERT and a small $SODA and another medium $SODA and...

Me: I'm sorry, I'll get you those three things, but anymore and you'll have to pull around again.

She said OK and I went to task getting those things for her as soon as possible to keep our time down. Mind you, there were at least 3 cars behind her so consideration for those people was something I thought about before allowing her to do this.

I rang her up and handed her the extra items and she started blowing up at me.

MB: Listen, Bitch, I am the customer, don't tell me I can't... Blah blah blah You're a fucking bitch!!!

Me: *Patience thinning and I only strike back when provoked* Takes one to know one. Don't come back now.

Catelyn heard the exchange and she said I was nice enough to allow her to order more at the window and MB was the one acting rude. We get on to try to clear the line and MegaBeast stalks her way into the dining room.

MB: EXCUSE ME, remember me, BITCH??!! I want your name!! My best friend is the manager here and she...

Catelyn: You are not getting her name, you are not supposed to order more at the window and she was nice enough to allow that even though there are people behind you in line.

MB: MY BEST FRIEND IS THE MANAGER HERE.

Catelyn: *I* am the restaurant manager and you are not welcome back here. Please leave or I will call the police.

She left, but not without continuing to cause a scene, hollering her way out the door.

Another co-worker working in the kitchen recognized her and said her best friend was a former crew member who walked out last week and hasn't been scheduled since.

[MoonCat]

her best friend was a former crew member who walked out last week and hasn't been scheduled since.

I love it. Wait til MB finds out!

[XCashier]

I currently have a very bad cold and I feel like absolute crap. I'm also in the process of possibly losing my voice, which is NOT fun and I don't recommend to anyone.

Ouch. That's happened to me more than a few times. Oh, how the SCs complain when you sound like Marge Simpson talking to them!

I hope you have a day off soon, and can rest up, eat soup and drink tea.

[Monterey Jack]

Ouch. That's happened to me more than a few times. Oh, how the SCs complain when you sound like Marge Simpson talking to them!

A few years ago I had such a bad sore throat I literally went into work with a pad of Post-It notes so I could communicate with my managers, because talking hurt so much. It was a surreal day.

[Ironclad Alibi]

A few years ago I had such a bad sore throat I literally went into work with a pad of Post-It notes so I could communicate with my managers, because talking hurt so much. It was a surreal day.

When I had some mouth surgery years ago it hurt to talk so I carried a magic slate tablet around with me.

[Monterey Jack]

^ Man, I loved those things as a kid.

[mjr]

"Ordering at the window? That's a paddlin'."

Maybe it should be.

I worked in food service (at a King of Burgers) for about 4.5 years total. Our Drive Thru was timed. They wanted us to keep our times under 3 minutes (some places I know of are faster than that).

Oh, how I loathed working in drive thru, and people who ordered at the window. I loathed it so much that for YEARS afterward, I would not personally go to a drive thru. Yes, I'm serious. If I went to an establishment like that, I would park and go inside.

[catcul]

"Ordering at the window? That's a paddlin'."

Maybe it should be.

"That's the sixth time this week. If I didn't know any better, I would think you actually enjoy getting paddled." Some people pay good money to get paddled.

I hated drive thru when I was working at the Mexican ding-dong.

[lachesis]

Thank you all for the "get better" vibes. I am allllmost well and regained my voice (albeit a little weak) yesterday. I only WISH I sounded like Marge Simpson! I sounded more like Patty and Selma!

"Ordering at the window? That's a paddlin'."

Maybe it should be.

I worked in food service (at a King of Burgers) for about 4.5 years total. Our Drive Thru was timed. They wanted us to keep our times under 3 minutes (some places I know of are faster than that).

Oh, how I loathed working in drive thru, and people who ordered at the window. I loathed it so much that for YEARS afterward, I would not personally go to a drive thru. Yes, I'm serious. If I went to an establishment like that, I would park and go inside.

It's actually 2:30 minutes now...

What gets me is the sense of urgency that's lacking when someone is at the speaker hemming and hawing at the menu. I had one person the other day spend FIVE minutes ordering. Luckily we can cheat the timer sometimes but that car ruined our time for the rest of the evening as we can't "push" the car out of the line when they're only just ordering!

[notalwaysright]

Arg, I hate when I'm behind someone and I can hear them ordering and they just... keep... talking... For so long! I just want to say, "if your order is that long and complicated, go inside!"

There's a couple places around here that are so hit and miss. Sometimes I can order, go to the window and they hand my food out almost instantly. Sometimes it's like a whole different staff is on, maybe? Big long lines, long waits even for my food which is only a few items, and simple. I never know what's up at that place, I just know not to count on super fast. I noticed that at the Green Mermaid a few times, just on Sundays. Once they lost my order from their computer by the time I got to the window. A couple of times they've tried to hand me food I didn't order or the wrong drink. The rest of the week I don't have any of these things happen. Could be a coincidence, of course.

[Seanette]

Another problem with the rushing of drive-through is that walkin customers get much poorer service, if any. There are a couple of places here I won't go to anymore because they can't manage to have enough staff to keep the drive-through moving AND actually serve customers who get off their butts and walk into the place.

[Bumbershoot]

I can sympathize with people given impossible time limits on transactions. Been there, done that. Unfortunately, there are no consequences for the customer who causes delays, and the PTB aren't there to see that it's the customer hem-hawing and slowing things down.

Working at a cutting counter of a huge fabric store, I've been chewed out for talking too long. I will admit that I had, once. But what do I do with the customer who keeps talking long after I'm done with them? I can hardly tell them the shut up and get out of the way. Some customers want to share their ideas with the whole world, starting with the captive audience of store employees. Others are just lonely and want someone to listen to them.

As far as drive-through, once upon a time, there were menu boards ahead of the speaker so you could make your choices while you waited your turn. Now there's only one board and it's often hard to see, so you don't always know what you want as soon as you are at the speaker. Thanks bunches, corporate.

[mjr]

As far as drive-through, once upon a time, there were menu boards ahead of the speaker so you could make your choices while you waited your turn. Now there's only one board and it's often hard to see, so you don't always know what you want as soon as you are at the speaker. Thanks bunches, corporate.

There's a "John in the Container" (or Jack en la caja, or Jack dans la boîte, or whatever you wanna call it) where I live that actually has a menu board ahead of the speaker.

I like that idea, but unfortunately that particular restaurant has a bad habit of screwing up my order.

It's actually 2:30 minutes now...

I have a cousin who works at a different foodservice place (rhymes with socko wayno). I believe he told me at one point they were supposed to get their food out of the drive thru in 90 seconds or less.

What gets me is the sense of urgency that's lacking when someone is at the speaker hemming and hawing at the menu. I had one person the other day spend FIVE minutes ordering. Luckily we can cheat the timer sometimes but that car ruined our time for the rest of the evening as we can't "push" the car out of the line when they're only just ordering!

I remember "cheating" the timer, too on occasion. They should actually start the timer when the person reaches the window, but that's a different story.

Anyway, yeah, we'd occasionally have people who would want to do "multiple orders" from one car, too. Where they pay separately. We had a guy once demand to place four separate orders in the drive thru. He even threatened to sit there until we did. I would have enjoyed that game of chicken. Because personally, I would have called the police and told them that he's interfering with the restaurant's ability to do business in the drive thru. Unfortunately, we had no official policy about how many orders to take per car through the drive-thru, so we couldn't quote policy to them. I tried to lobby for one, but to no avail.

[Racket_Man]

There's a "John in the Container" (or Jack en la caja, or Jack dans la boîte, or whatever you wanna call it) where I live that actually has a menu board ahead of the speaker.

.

I really miss that chain as there are NO stores even close to where I now live. I would have to drive at least 5 hours to find one.

BUT with that chain there are a LOT of menu items that can only be made as they are ordered like their tacos (yeah not the greatest BUT I LOVE THEM).

AND if you go to a drive-thru later in the evening enough places are doing made to order and NOT keeping a small "stock" of menu items in a warmer. I went to on of my local McD's a couple of weeks ago (say around 9 or 10pm ish) and if you will all bets were off as far as DT or counter service times go as they were making Everything on a made to order basis only

[EricKei]

They wanted us to keep our times under 3 minutes (some places I know of are faster than that).

I have a cousin who works at a different foodservice place (rhymes with socko wayno)...

It's my understanding that "clown burger" has, or had, a 90-second limit, starting from when the customer began talking into the speaker. I (nearly) always know exactly what I want and I've seldom even reached the pay window in less than that time, let alone had my food O_O