# The Ten Commandments of Drive-Thru Etiquette **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 11, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607 "2005-08-11T16:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/41 "2005-08-11T18:53:40Z")
Put. The straw. In. The. Bag. Without that simple plastic tube, you have rendered fully half the meal useless. No, worse than useless. That drink is now a ticking time bomb, a depth-charge of aspartamic liability, which is bound to wind up sloshing around the floorboards of my pre-cupholder era vehicle. Oh, the oaths and disfigurements I call down on your family, even unto the tenth generation, as I, in a sodium-induced delerium, scrabble in the bag, seeking the Straw of Destiny to release me from this thirst, stray french fries raising hope, then mocking my blind quest, as I keep my eyes on the road. Finally, it dawns on me…_you handed me 22 ounces of drink…with no straw._ Fiend. And no-one short of James Bond could remove the plastic top from one of those filled-to-beyond-the-brim drinks in a moving vehicle, drink from it, replace the top, and not wind up soaked. Not driving a standard. No way, Jack. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/42 "2005-08-11T18:55:09Z")
**askeptic** , I’m certainly with you on civility all around, but I cannot in good conscience champion the cause of someone who tries to order Chicken McNuggets or a Big Mac [out of one of these](http://www.ac-nantes.fr:8080/peda/disc/lv/anglais/images/streetgb/fret03.jpg). You can at least cede THAT point, yes? ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/43 "2005-08-11T19:11:51Z")
Strangely, this thread is making me crave fast food. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/44 "2005-08-11T19:14:01Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#): > > You can at least cede THAT point, yes? Yes. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/45 "2005-08-11T19:14:21Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#): > > **askeptic** , I’m certainly with you on civility all around, but I cannot in good conscience champion the cause of someone who tries to order Chicken McNuggets or a Big Mac [out of one of these](http://www.ac-nantes.fr:8080/peda/disc/lv/anglais/images/streetgb/fret03.jpg). > > You can at least cede THAT point, yes? I’m not going to go so far as to “champion the cause”, but IMO confusing two very similar fast food joint’s food isn’t the stupidest mistake a person can make, as long as they accept correction and don’t keep insisting on getting the food they mistakenly asked for. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/46 "2005-08-11T19:18:02Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#): > > I run a pension fund, and I’m going to a top-25 law school in July. Among those accomplishments, I also list “knowing what building I just entered.” > \ > I don’t think it’s too much to ask of the customer to look up and notice the LACK OF FUCKING **ARCHES** before attempting to order a **Whopper** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/47 "2005-08-11T19:19:40Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Does the menu take SQL requests? select \* from menu where patties=‘beef’ and sauce=‘special’ and num of patties \>= 2 and price \<= 2.32 order by price; No Records Found. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/48 "2005-08-11T19:21:57Z")
I am in general agreement with the commandments, with a couple of personal exemptions: **3.a.** If your menu is in 8 point type, don’t expect me to be able to immediately find what I am looking for. Particularly when the order seems pretty random. Why exactly is the Gyros and the Gyros Plate two separate entries, separated by about 2 feet of other menu items? And no explanation of what the “plate” gives me, over and above the gyros itself? **8.a.** Where I grew up “coke” was a generic term for soda/pop. So don’t get offended that I don’t specifically say “Pepsi.” And to continue the list: **14.7., _subchapter Culvers_** : When I am placing a large order which includes your frozen custard in a dish, don’t hand me the dish with a spoon in it, then several bags with my rest of my order. **I am not eating this in the car. I’m taking it home with the rest of the order.** Put a lid on the damn custard and put it in a bag. (Even when I specifically tell them when ordering I need a lid and it in a bag, they do it about 10% of the time.) **32.765.** Don’t greet me by trying to sell me whatever you’re pushing today. Just ask for my order. I’m all ready to order, and now the first thing I hear is a commercial for some other item, plus it’s options. _NOW_ if I stop and reconsider my entire order, it’s your fault, not mine. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/49 "2005-08-11T19:23:22Z")
Damn I was so busy trying to be conciliatory I didn’t think my answer through. I can certainly understand and forgive somebody for ordering the wrong product. Hell I don’t know most of the things most of the fast food chains sell. I have on occasion had to say “You got a regular hamburger” Only to hear “We have the triple decker super duper jack 1 1/2 pound super sandwich special meal” all I can think is WTF? "Give me a burger fries and a coke (or pepsi or sprite or 7-up or sierra mist or …) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/50 "2005-08-11T19:26:44Z")
Mack, I don’t get your point. Why, exactly, did you bold the words"ARCHES" and “Whopper?” Read carefully before you reply. Apologize or say “zing” as you see fit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/51 "2005-08-11T19:27:00Z")
> [@mack](#): > > The preview menus are pretty useless, IMO. … > Now if the preview board is exactly the same as the main board, you may have a point. Hear, hear! Also: is there really an expectation among most drive-thru customers and employees that any and all will know exactly what they want as soon as they get to the main menu/speaker? I ask because my normal response to “May I take your order?” is “Just one moment, please”. If so, that expectation is unreasonable, IMHO. 20-30 seconds to hunt for menu items and to decide on what to order is not unreasonable. Most drive-thru menus these days prominently display combo meals, and place the _a la carte_ items in more-difficult-to-read type and locations. Those kind of menus slow things down a lot for folks like me who don’t intend to order a drink and who want to price out items individually. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/52 "2005-08-11T19:29:16Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > I think these are more like the “Ten Commandments of how to make his job as easy as possible.” Which are fine and all, but I don’t see how they are all wins for the customer. They’re wins for the customers in line behind the guy who’s violating all of the commandments. At least inside the store, you can step to a different line if some idiot in front of you is arguing about how he wants a Whopper (at McD’s) and coaxing his darling children to make up their minds on their orders, all the while bitching at someone while on the cell phone. In the drive-thru line, you’re screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/53 "2005-08-11T19:30:16Z")
> [@micahjn](#): > > What if what I want isn’t on the big pictures? Then I have to cycle through the entire menu looking for what I want. Park. Your. Fucking. Car. And. Go. Inside. Want me to put hy-phens be-tween the syl-la-bles? ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/54 "2005-08-11T19:32:03Z")
When I worked at KFC, people would occasionally walk all the way in to our restaurant and still manage to order the wrong thing. As in, a pizza. I was a teenager at the time, and I found such lapses and the kinds of things listed in the above Commandments simply beyond understanding. Most of our customers were really great, we were a neighborhood restaurant with a lot of regulars. But the ones who weren’t with the program drove me batshit. And we didn’t even have a drive-thru. The thing is, at the time I didn’t have anything else on my plate. Taking care of myself and avoiding my parents - that was about it. Recently, when my babies were really young, I went through a period of intense distraction. The best I could do for an outing (that “me time” we all need) was a trip to the drive-thru. Fifteen glorious minutes away from the screaming, crying and pooping. Vastly sleep-deprived and completely stressed out, I never knew where I was. And I was always on the phone - that was my only chance to vent about how much I was struggling. It would be great if everyone could operate at top efficiency at all times, but we can’t. Some of the people who need a little extra time and care may have a great deal more going on in their lives than you do. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/55 "2005-08-11T19:35:24Z")
**If thou art driving a long-bed truck with a four foot trailer hitched to it, thou shalt park and go inside.** You’re leaving everyone behind you a half-step out of sync. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/56 "2005-08-11T19:36:27Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > Park. Your. Fucking. Car. And. Go. Inside. > > Want me to put hy-phens be-tween the syl-la-bles? Dude … sorry. You can’t wait 30 seconds? Really? So only those who know _precisely_ what they want before they go to the drive-thru should use the drive-thru? No menu-reading allowed? In your world, perhaps these menus are unnecessary? Can’t disagree with you more. No one’s time is that valuable … and if it is, you probably have better places to be than a drive-thru line. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/57 "2005-08-11T19:37:22Z")
> [@micahjn](#): > > I don’t eat fast food often enough to know exactly what I want, and drive-thru menus are usually confusing. Go the hell inside then stay outta my way. I know EXACTLY what I want and I want it in a damn hurry. ---
**Author:** ![VegemiteMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@VegemiteMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegemiteMoose)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/58 "2005-08-11T19:38:47Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > **If thou art driving a long-bed truck with a four foot trailer hitched to it, thou shalt park and go inside.** You’re leaving everyone behind you a half-step out of sync. Oh no you don’t! Then they park sideways taking up three to four spaces and then we have a pit rant about that as well as run on sentences! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/59 "2005-08-11T19:38:49Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > So only those who know precisely what they want before they go to the drive-thru should use the drive-thru? No menu-reading allowed? In your world, perhaps these menus are unnecessary? You can read the menu, but it sure ain’t _War and Peace_ and should not be so treated. There is a happy medium. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607/60 "2005-08-11T19:39:46Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Go the hell inside then stay outta my way. I know EXACTLY what I want and I want it in a damn hurry. If you see a line at the drive-thru … maybe you should go inside (weather permitting). Not at all kidding – if the drive-thru has around 5 or 6 or more cars, it can often be quicker. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ten-commandments-of-drive-thru-etiquette/316607.md?page=4)