Wow. You are THAT impatient...

[AmbrosiaWriter]

So. Ambrosia wanted some Qdoba, because we all know how much Ambrosia loves some Qdoba. Ambrosia is also a kind, and generous lady, so she offered to go pick up any Qdoba that her brother and his girlfriend (both currently at the house) wanted and so everyone ordered online so that it would be ready upon Ambrosia's inevitable arrival.

So, I get there all excited because Qdoba is my treat food (it has surpassed McDonald's in that regard!) I get there and notice there is no order on the table behind the register, but I figure I was a couple minutes early and there was a long "Hey it's lunch time" line so it just wasn't out yet.

Then I notice someone at the register looking very annoyed. He was a big guy, with a slender waif of a girl standing at the exit looking at him, huffing, tossing her hair and picking at her nails. Oh, and it's still February, but she's wearing daisy dukes.

Annoyed man: What the hell is this! My girl friend is vegetarian! She can't have any of this crap you put on here!
Cashier: But... that's what you ordered.
AM: I use the online ordering so that you people will get this shit right!
Cashier: I can show you the--
AM: How fucking stupid do you have to be to not be able to follow written instructions!

Me: *Is now very interested, and finds this way fishy. Scoots forward a little bit* Excuse me, who is that online order for?
AM: FUCK YOU! THIS IS MINE.
Cashier: For AmbrosiaWriter.
Me: That's a girl's name.
AM: My girlfriend ordered it, didn't you hunny?
Me: Well, that's weird, because that's my name and I bet that's my order.
AM: *Turns several shades of purple and I thought his nose was going to pop off.* You little bitch. Trying to jump to the front of the line and get out of here huh?
Me: *Not wanting to bother arguing with an orangutang, Ambrosia opens her wallet, pulls out her driver's license and hands it over to the cashier* Here, this is my license where you can see my name is AmbrosiaWriter.
Cashier: I'M SO SORRY!!!
Me: Don't worry about it! It's not your fault.

At this point the manager (who is a really nice guy) comes out from the back drying his hands. I think he wasn't out during the yelling because he had been in the middle of making more food for the lines.

Manager: What the heck is going on over here?
Me: Well this--

As it happens, both the big guy and his little piece of tail had booked it out the door as soon as I pulled my license out. We all turned just to see him and the little woman screech by in their car.

Someone else in the restaurant: Did that really just happen?
Me: o.O I... I have no idea.
Manager: What happened?!

As I'm typing this I'm still wondering if it actually happened or if the smell of roasted corn salsa and pulled pork got me so high I hallucinated the entire thing. It's so surreal thinking back on it.

But yeah, apparently the guy and the girl came in, saw the line, were too impatient but noticed that there was an online order waiting to be picked up. So they meander over, say they have an online order, and when the cashier was like "For AmbrosiaWriter?" the girl went "Yup that's me!"

Too bad my brother, brother's GF, and myself all love our animal flesh.

[PepperElf]

what jerks!

and i'm betting they were hoping it was already paid for too, eh?

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I don't know if they did or didn't, but I always choose the "pay at pick-up" option anyway. So even if they successfully had claimed my meal, they would've had to pay for it and I would've just had to wait for them to remake everything.

As far as I can tell they were just hoping to be able to line jump and get out of there - (edit!) oh, wait, probably try to line jump, bitch and moan about the order "being wrong" (which it wasn't! it was delicious!) so they'd get free food of what they actually wanted anyway.

[IT Grunt]

Our local Little Caesars had this problem quite a few years ago. (This was back before the hot'n'ready deals..) They had suddenly switched to checking IDs on folks picking up orders and curious we queried about it. The explanation was that a couple weeks prior a woman had just walked into the store (it was rather new at the time and thus busy), just as one of the employees held up an order and called out a name. She was quick to say 'That's mine!', paid for it, and ran out. About 5 minutes later the people who it was for had returned from browsing the shop next door while they waited. So they had to remake it and apologize profusely to this couple who had waited patiently for their pizza. From that point on everyone had to present ID to pick up an order. I figure it was the same story. Not wanting to wait like everyone else and snagged someone else's order whether it was what they really wanted or not.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

the smell of roasted corn salsa and pulled pork

STOP IT STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

(A Qdoba is going to be built in Irv's city. Now he can't wait for it to open. It will be joined by a Hardees, which Irv is also impatiently anticipating.)

[Kristev]

I don't mind the idea that you need an id to get food if you use your name. It makes perfect sense to me, based on the amount of fraud and thievery going around.

Though I'm very jealous because I wish I could eat out.

[Aethian]

I had a order I paid for online. Held the door open to the lady before me and while I waited for her to get her order I saw her hem and haw over the boxes handed to her. She walks out and me being a good soul held the door for her. I go up and as the lady drives out of the parking lot I find out she picked up her order AND my order.

I was a very hungry Bunny that day since the time it took them to remake my meal I had to go back to the route and couldn't eat it.

[Caractacus_Potts]

Reminds me of my all time favorite barista story (although in this case the guy was an idiot not a scammer).

Barista: I have a small Y drink for Tom.
Guy: Hey! I ordered a large, not a small!
B: I'm so sorry Tom. Let me remake that for you.
B: Here you go Tom.
Guy: (takes a sip) This isn't what I ordered! I ordered a X drink!
B: Oh! I'm so sorry Tom. Don't know how that happened. Let me remake it.
B: Here you go Tom. A large X drink.
Guy: (takes a sip) Finally! And why do you keep calling me Tom? My name is Gary!

[lordlundar]

what jerks!

and i'm betting they were hoping it was already paid for too, eh?

DINGDINGDINGDING!!! WE HAVE A WINNAR!!!

It's a classic scam. Go into a place that does pickup and claim you're there to pick up the order. Then bitch and complain that the order's wrong for some reason to get a refund, comped food or both. Once Ambrosia proved who she was that shut down the scam and the scammers took off so they didn't have to explain it.

[Chromatix]

When picking up an order at VK - which is not food but electronics and computer stuff - ID is only required if the order is already paid for. Otherwise the order number is sufficient. Given the value of some orders, that's just common sense.

Another possibility is not to advertise that pick-up orders are waiting ready, either by putting them on a visible counter or shouting them out. To pick up an order, the customer needs to go to the counter and ask for it - probably an additional "pick up" queue line would help with congestion. If it isn't ready at first asking, the customer can be handed one of the numbered markers normally used to identify tables, and the order can then be brought to them - or the number can be called out. Since the marker is returned at that point, it's easy to check that the number is correct.