This question is for anyone that ever worked a fast food drive through window.
After I place my order, do I have to sit there like a potted plant until the cashier gives me the price and then tells me to drive around to the window? I would think that the whole procedure starts to become mind numbing for the cashier after a while. Do you think they would be happier if I just placed my order and then drove around?
I don’t think there is a factual answer for this but I’ll give it a shot.
I would say wait until they give you the price and ask you to drive around. This gives them the chance to repeat your order to you before they total it and it also allows you to ready your money if you have to wait in line. Being able to confirm before totaling is very important because if the cashier has to change to many orders after totaling they can get in trouble. Also having your money ready allows the line to move faster which the casher will appreciate if they are being timed.
There’s a chance this’ll end up as a rant, but…
When I’m working the drive through register and you don’t recieve your total right away, there’s a reason. I might be unsure of something you ordered, and there’s a communication with others who heard you. I might be cleaning tables while I’m talking to you, not quite sure whether I’ll have your entire order still in my brain by the time I get to the register and ring it in.
Most of the time, the people who work pickup window registers really know what they’re doing, so follow their instructions. They’re much better at getting lines of customers through their drive through than you are, and believe me, empty lines are all they want.
If you want to do them a favour, then order properly.
‘Could I have a classic single?’ is a bad order. It prompts the ‘combo or just the sandwitch?’ question.
‘Could I have a classic single burger?’ is a good order.
‘Could I have the #3 combo?’ is a bad order.
‘Could I have #3 regular sized, with a sprite?’ is a good order.
As a reprentative of fast food employees, I appretiate your concern.
And don’t forget to let them know when you’re done ordering. A simple “That will be all” makes everything go faster.
Since doing that I’ve noticed the time between my order and them giving me a price has decreased. (ALthough sometimes they’ll ask, “What else was that?” ). 
It seemly lets them know that you ARE finished and that they can finish your tab.
Former fast food employee checking in here:
I definitely say wait until you have your total before moving forward. If the total is incorrect then you can inform the cashier of this and they can correct the mistake before you get to the window. This saves a lot of time. Believe me, it does. If a customer drove away before I had a chance to confirm his order, and then there were problems at the window because of some disceprancy (either because of a mistake on my part or the customer’s), the process of having to resolve the discrepancy would delay him, me, and all the other people in line behind him, all while the speed-of-service timer was counting up the seconds. Very infuriating indeed. With many drive-throughs now having a screen to show what you ordered and how much the total is, this should make the process easier (I don’t know if it actually does since I haven’t worked in fast food since 1994, when such technology, while possible at that time, was not in widespread use).
One more thing while I’m here: Some people think driving straight up to the window when there are no other cars in line will make things go faster. It doesn’t. In fact, if you pull straight up to the window, and then someone enters the line behind you and activates the sensor, chances are the person who arrives second will get his order taken first.
Yes, please never drive straight up to the window without ordering at the menu. (I know this wasn’t your question, but Food Service Workers of the SDMB seem to be having a speakout.) Most drivethrough headsets have a little beeper that goes off when a car is sitting at the menu. As we’re relying on that, we are probably elsewhere in the store, washing dishes or covering another register. I’ve had several customers who must have imagined that I stood hopefully at the register, waiting for a customer all day long. We can only book it back to the booth if we know you’re there.
If a more complicated order is requested (like soccer moms tend to do), what is the chance that they will spit in your food?
I usually specify all at once what combo I want, what size I want, what kind of drink, and whether it’s for (t)here or to go. But I usually end up getting asked another question – they ask if I want both the fries and the drink upsized. I don’t know why; I would have said ‘large fries’ or ‘large drink’ if I only wanted to upsize one. There was one place where I could get around that, because you had to specify what two sides you wanted out of a list of soft drinks, fries, onion rings, soup or salad. (So I could say “large Coke and large fries”.) They stopped doing that – now one of the sides has to be a drink.
Incidentally, the last time I was at Burger King I noticed they only had one price for each combo. They used to have two or three prices for each, depending on the size – regular, large or King. (Some locations only had regular and King.) Also, I think there used to be a different number for a Whopper with Cheese combo, and now I had to say “number 1 with cheese”. Was it just this one location, or is this some kind of chain-wide health thing? Some kind of way of discouraging people from supersizing after all the media hype about supersize meals being the cause of obesity?
(They also didn’t ask me if I wanted to upsize – and the paper mat in the tray had the nutrition information for their under-7-grams-of-fat meals. With the trans fats listed separately, of course.)
This is blowing my mind. It would never occur to me to skip the ordering part and drive straight to the pick-up window. Bizarre!
THEY FCK YOU IN THE DRIVE THRU!
THEY FCK YOU IN THE DRIVE THRU!
THEY FCK YOU IN THE DRIVE THRU!
THEY FCK YOU IN THE DRIVE THRU!
kmg365, this is not appropriate behavior. If for some reason you feel the need to rant, do it in the BBQ Pit.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
I’m not sure either, but I’ll leave it here on the presumption that there is an accepted practice.
kmg365 is quoting Lethal Weapon. I thought it was funny, anyways…
High-5 kmg365.
As a former fast-food worker, bear with me on this. Might sound like a flame, but this is really a simple assertion of all that is holy, and you’ll see why I cheered kmg and look suspiciously upon bibliophage.
I LOVE Taco Bell food. I swear given a delivery service I could probably live on it. I, however, will NEVER order at the drive-thru again, EVER.
My usual fare consists of soft tacos and beef burritos. On each soft taco I use at least 2 packs of mild sauce, sometimes 3. On each burrito we’re talking 3-4 packs. Now why I’m fed-up with these incompetents.
Typical order, 3 soft tacos and a burrito. I know going into this deal I need at least 9 packs (don’t give me shit about the costs, they cost a penny or so and I’ll get back to that later).
I order the food and drive up. As I hand the person the money I look them in the eye and say “I need (9-12) packs of mild sauce” Assuming this is not a herculean effort I take my food home. Guess what? 4 packs.
Sooo, I started just getting my lazy ass out of the car and go in to order it to go, just so I could get the required ass-burners I need. After the 3rd time doing this, I just started doubling up on the sauce to give me a 2-1 ratio of actually going through the drive-thru.
Moral of the person that can’t understand simple English? I have a shitload of sauce and could probably open my own napkin warehouse store.
One other thing. At McD’s I like to order the chicken sandwich. Up here some genious decided to add a quarter for extra mayo. The next time I went through and ordered the sandwich as is, at the window I asked for an extra pack of mayo. Got it. NO CHARGE!
Sorry for the rant, I now return you to your normal programming
While this makes perfect sense, many, many fast food customers are not in the habit of making sense. Eventually, servers get to know what sort of information customers tend to omit and ask clarifying questions. To intelligent customers this seems asinine, but it really helps avoid trouble. For instance, when a customer walks up and asks for a Big Mac I would normally assume that he just wants the sandwich, otherwise he’d ask for a Big Mac Meal. Unfortunately I’d be wrong about half the time. So, after this happens a few times I start asking if they wanted the meal. This annoys people who only wanted the sandwich (they think I’m trying to up sell) but at least fewer orders gets screwed up.
As to the OP–wait for the price. The order taker may be confused about something and need to make changes to your order, and it’s best to have that stuff cleared up before you get to the window.
Props to fatdave and SeekingTruth for getting it. And to bibliophage, if making classic movie references is inapprporiate, I sincerely apologize. Anyways, I’m sorry that you didn’t get it. Maybe it’s a generation thang. To bridge the gap, here is the reference for everyone’s convenience, including you old-timers:
From “Lethal Weapon 2,” Starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover & Joe Pesci, Directed by Richard Donner, 1989 Warner Brothers.
Set-up: Mel Gibson as Sgt. Riggs, Danny Glover as Sgt. Murtaugh and Joe Pesci as Leo Getz pull out of a Subway¢ç Sandwich Shop drive-thru in their beat-up station wagon on a rainy evening in downtown L.A…
Sgt. Riggs: Give me the food. Who ordered the Super Combo¢â?
Sgt. Murtaugh: (Driving the car) Over here.
Leo Getz: I get a Steak Sandwich¢â.
Sgt Riggs: Who “gets” Leo??
Leo Getz: Excuse me, Excuse me, Excuse fellas, this is Tuna¢â. I hate Tuna¢â, 'kay? I REFUSE to get stuck with Tuna¢â.
Sgt. Murtaugh: Hey Leo, don’t eat the Tuna¢â.
Leo Getz: Oh, where were you? I just said that! I’m not eatin’ it! I’m not eating Tuna¢â! C’mon, let’s go back there.
Sgt. Murtaugh: We’re not going back there – so just shut up!
Leo Getz: Oh sure, don’t go back – OK OK – don’t go back, that’s it? Let me tell you, can I give you two guys a friendly piece of advice? DON’T EVER GO UP TO THE DRIVE-THRU, ‘kay? Always walk up to the counter. You know why? OK OK – let me tell you why.
THEY FCK YOU AT THE DRIVE THRU! OKAY?
THEY FCK YOU AT THE DRIVE THRU!
They know you’re gonna’ be miles away before you find out you got fcked. They know you’re not going to turn around and go back . They don’t care – so who gets fcked? Oh, Leo gets…oh OK, sure, I don’t give a f*ck! I’m not gonna’ eat this Tuna¢â!
Riggs & Murtaugh: (in unison) Shut-up!!
I gottanother fast food question.
Those places that have the prerecorded greeting at the drive in, (Taco Bell is the only one I can think of off hand), should I wait until the actual person speaks or should I just start ordering. I feel stupid talking to the recording. (I feel stupid going to Taco Bell anyway, but the wife likes it)