Dear Mr. in the Box: You owe me 12 minutes of my life.

The BBQ Pit
1

Alternate title: A Lesson in Sign Placement

Today, I decided to see if I could get my vehicle tested for emissions during my lunch hour. Due to canny line management, I got in, out and certified environmentally friendly within 25 minutes. That left me just enough time to grab some fast food for lunch and get back to work.

Taco Time? Line is too long. Taco Bell? Don’t fancy tacos that taste of bleach. Jack in the Box? Hey, they’ve got that new Bistro Jack – I wonder if that’s any good?

I get in the drive-through lane and peruse the pre-speaker menu. Yup, definitely want the Bistro Jack combo. I drive up to the speaker.

The first thing I notice: a sign indicating that they accept “CASH ONLY! NO CREDIT/NO DEBIT!” Hmm.

Wallet check indicates that I’ve got $3 in cash. Not enough for a Bistro Jack combo.

Rear-view mirror check indicates that there are two people who’ve pulled in behind me. I’m stuck in line.

Speaker: “Welcome to Jack in the Box, can I take your order?”
Me: “Well, I don’t have enough cash, so I guess I’ll just drive through.”
Speaker: “Okay, thanks!”

(Thanks?)

At any rate, 12 minutes later, I’m finally able to drive away from Jack in the Box without any food. 10 minutes after that, I’ve been through the McDonald’s drive through, paid for my Value Meal with a debit card, and am on my way back to work, where I am forced to chow down my Double Cheeseburger as quickly as possible.

So Jack: for fast food, your stuff isn’t bad. As you can see, I pick you over McDonald’s. But could you put your “cash only” sign somewhere I can see it before I’m trapped in your drive through lane? I don’t think that’s asking a lot. Asking for an escape from the drive through lane might be asking for a lot, although I don’t think even that’s unreasonable.

Needless to say, I won’t be visiting your bistro again anytime soon, jerk in the box.

(Yes, I know it’s a lame rant. But I’m just too unmotivated to call for the heads of those minimum wage employees.)

2

You want fries with that?

3

Wow! McDonald’s takes debit cards?

Nifty.

4

I agree wholeheartedly. Other signs they need to put well in advance of the drive thru to keep me from wasting my time:

“We don’t sell sushi”
“Drive thru is 100 feet in length – bring enough gas for the whole trip”
“That guy with the big plastic head doesn’t work drive-thru”
“All transactions in U.S. currency only”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been burned on the first one alone. How about a little consideration for the customer, eh?

5

Let’s see here…

In the last 20 years, drive-thru’s have specifically NOT accepted any form of card payment. Now you expect them to inform you that they don’t accept cards before you get into line?

Am I the only person who sees the problem here? If you’re going to drive thru, take cash, if not hike your butt inside.

Sam

6

I realize that many drive-thrus do not accept debit or credit cards. However, in my experience, most of the drive-thrus in this neighborhood do accept them. This is, I’m sure, a regional and franchise-by-franchise decision.

My objection is not that this Jack in the Box doesn’t accept plastic, it’s that I was informed of this circumstance when it was too late for me to do anything but drive through their lane without purchasing anything. (If I could’ve parked and gone inside to pay with plastic, I would’ve.)

If you realize that you need a sign that says “we don’t take debit cards,” you should put it where it’s going to do the most good – before I’m in the unescapable drive-thru lane.

7

Fast food that takes credit cards? That would be cool. I haven’t seen any where I live.

8

What the Hell? Credit cards at McDonalds? This can’t be real!

9

They should also put the menu before you enter the drive thru as well, in case they don’t have anything I want. And a description of the drive-thru window, maybe with a picture so I know when to stop and stick my money out the car window. And a computer screen, showing the currently estimated wait time.

Heck, the safest thing would be some sort of virtual reality simulation of the complete drive thru experience out in the parking lot, allowing people who aren’t ready for The Show to practice first.

10

The thing is, they dohave a really big menu at the entrance of the drive-thru. Had they included the no debit/credit information on that menu, instead of on the speaker 10 feet beyond it, I could have pulled out of line with no trouble and entered the store to purchase my Bistro Jack.

11

No way – in every fast food place I’ve been to, the first menu (without the speaker) is already in the drive thru proper, where cars can come up behind you and block your exit. I want a menu out in the parking lot, well away from the prying eyes of others. Why should they know what I’m eating for lunch anyway?

12

This menu was placed in such a position, but I would’ve read the payment info soon enough to back out before getting blocked in. It was in the first yard or so of the drive-thru proper, so escapable if a decision was made early enough.

Who are you kidding? We all know you’re having sushi.

13

[sub]He knows too much. Now we must kill him.[/sub]

14

I have some sympathy for the OP. Nearly every drive thru around here accepts credit cards–Burger King, McDonald’s, Arby’s, Zip’s, Wendy’s, A&W–but not Jack in the Box. And, of course, Jack in the Box is the only one open past midnight.

But any true follower of Jack already knows that they don’t take plastic. Cash or check only. A greenhorn like the OP clearly doesn’t deserve a Bistro Jack.

A teriyaki bowl or chicken breast pieces, perhaps. Maybe even a Sourdough Jack. But no bacon cheddar potato wedges, no Ultimate Cheeseburger, and certainly no Bistro Jack!

No, you can’t go inside to pay with plastic. It’s cash or check only in there, too.

15

Is this a West Coast thing? I have never been to a McDonald’s or Taco Bell that accepted anything other than cash.

16

Fuckin’ California.

Debit cards for a burger… :rolleyes:

17

They allow them in the Chicago area too, as well as payment (at McDonalds at least) via Mobil Speedpass (little keychain thing that lets you pay at the pump, charging to your Mobil card, by just waving it over a sensor).

18

Fuck off.

BTW, I live in California and I’ve never seen debit cards able to be used in a fast food place. I don’t get fast food all that much any more though. It would seem to me that cash only is the expectation and the OP should have been prepared.

Haj

19

Hmm… I started seeing fast food places (in Ca) taking cards about ten, maybe twelve years ago. Debit cards not until more recently though, both drive-through and walk-in.

What’s wrong with debit cards for fast food? Credit cards, now that’s a little wonky, if that means you have to borrow enough cash to buy a taco, that is.

20

And here’s where I confess that I’m not a true follower of Jack. I mean, for fast food burgers, they’re the best. But I haven’t eaten much fast food in the last 18 months or so. And the last several places – different chains, different Puget Sound locations – all accepted debit cards in the drive-thru line. I figured everyone had switched.

Alas, my ignorance blew up in my face. And had I been planning on eating fast food for lunch, I would’ve stocked up on cash, because it’s faster than debit card and doesn’t invoke an ungodly transaction fee.

I would like to point out, one more time, that my issue is not that Jack in the Box doesn’t take debit cards in the drive-thru. That is their choice, and I can accept that. My beef is really with this one location, and specifically their choice of exactly the wrong location for a “cash only” sign – where it was too late to let me go get cash without going through the line.

I admit that I should’ve been prepared for a cash-only transaction, and that the presence of debit card drive-thrus at every other fast food chain within driving distance of work was not enough reason to assume that JitB would follow suit.