Waiting in line is a good time to decide what to order.

The BBQ Pit
1

Twice in the last 24 hours this has happened. Last night at Fuzzy’s Pizza, the person directly in front of me, who had to wait for at least one other person to order, gets his turn to order. “I would like…uh…I would like a medium pizza with…uh…” Then again this afternoon at Starbucks.

I can understand if we both go in at the same time with no one else in line. I’ll let you in front and use the time to decide. But no, you fucknuggets don’t even try to get a clue what you want until you are up to the cashier.

If I am in a particularly ornery mood I will “uh” with you. Last night I witheld that urge, but when it was my turn I said very clearly with a slightly raised tone “I want two slices with sausage and mushrooms, and an iced-tea.” Then I turned to the person behind me and said, “That’s how you place an order.” The three of us got a good laugh over it. I am not sure if the one in front of me heard. If he did, he stayed quiet.

2

It often happens to me that I get to the head of the line without yet being sure what I want. When that happens, I step aside and let the next person order.

3

If it’s a place I’ve been to before I usually know exactly what I want before I even get there. If not, I take the time in line to decide what I want. In any case, unless I’m unfamiliar with the menu and didn’t have to wait in line, I always know what I want by thge time I get to the counter. I hate waiting behind people who’ve had plenty of time to make their damn minds up and still hem and haw at the counter. Gah! Pick something already!

4

i used to work at a delivery pizza place in college, and prolly one out of 10 calls you answer, they yell out to their hungry pals, “what do we want”

hello? obviously the whole deciding before dialing thing never occured to them

heh heh fucknuggets

5

Thank you! This is the appropriate way to deal with being first and not knowing what you want!! I try to do this too. Or I hang back and try to look like I am not in line at all.

But have you ever noticed what the person behind you does when they get to the counter?

“Uhh…”

:smack:

6

This drives me nuts as well.

I’ve long said that most people probably have the menues for McSludge memorized on a subconscious level and don’t even need the menu to order.

What just slays me are the people with the special orders. You know the ones, who order the left side of the menu, but want light mayo meanwhile everything is extra large fries and a bladder buster drink.

7

I’m usually fast at making up my mind and waiting in line is ample time for me, but I’ve learned that Mr. Butrscotch is one of the slow deciders. (I learned this the first time we went to a grocery store after we were married – he wanted bacon, so carefully looked at EVERY SINGLE brand of bacon they carried, comparing price and quality – and then after ten minutes, by which time I was sitting on the floor waiting for him to finish, went back to the FIRST ONE HE’D LOOKED AT.)

Oops, sorry for the resentful self-hijack. Anyway, what we do is we decide BEFORE we get in line. Cause even standing there for ten minuttes isn’t enough; he’ll still be undecided as we get to the front and want to read the whole menu again. So I make him tell me BEFORE we commit ourselves. Works fine.

8

I know these people. I live among them.

Other interesting behavior: The same people will invariably not only be ill-prepared to place and order, but ill-prepared to pay as well. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve been behind some rocket scientist that made no preparations for the exchanging of coins and bills whatsoever. It’s like he’s at the doctor’s office, and he’s not sure if his insurance is covering the full charge for the visit. He thinks maybe he won’t own anything and will have reached for his wallet in vain.

Of course, this is never the case, so when the kid behind the counter tells one of these troglodytes his total, then and only then does he put down the two kids he was holding, secure the rabid mongoose he’s walking to a nearby pole, unfold that receipt and crinkled business card masoleum he calls a wallet, and start rifling through it looking for the $3.24 he owes.

So many times I’ve come within about ten seconds of poking my head over his shoulder and offering to tack someone’s bill onto my order if it’s less then five bucks.

9

Maybe they just don’t like mayonnaise that much?

10

See, what I do when I first go in is hang back behind all the lines, and read the menu board. Then I decide what I want and get in line.

See? No problem!

11

Every day, I eat at the St. Louis Bread Company on my lunch break. Every day, some fuckwattle does the exact thing described in the OP. I only have a half-hour for lunch, and I don’t want to spend it waiting behind some idiot who can’t decide what he or she wants.

Even worse are the picky ones. You know, the ones who ask if the chicken salad is fresh, or what kind of bread is used for the tuna sandwich, and then take another ten minutes to decide. I feel bad for the poor cashiers who have to answer their inane questions.

12

I’m a delivery driver and I’d say this happens to me about 4 out of 10 calls. Its even worse when I get to the house and they act surprised that they have to pay. So many times I’ve stood on a doorstep for up to 10 minutes while the customer runs around the house looking for some kind of money.

But this all reminds me of the sign at the local McDonalds drive-thru. Its says at the BEGINNING of the drive-thru, "Please Have Your Order Ready Before You Reach Speaker. Note that there IS NOT a menu before the speaker. The menu is behind the speaker. It confuses me everytime.

13

FWIW, Hamish (like me) hates “light” food; the exception for him is light mayo, whose taste he prefers.

14

Of course, there are some people who just need to get out more often. I’m standing in line at McD’s. In front of me is a well-dressed (pin-stripe suit), middle-aged man. He steps up to the counter, scans the menu board, and then asks, “Now, what’s on a Big Mac sandwich?” He says “Big Mac” slowly and deliberately, as if it were a completely foreign phrase to him. No trace of an accent, so he couldn’t be forgiven on the basis that he was from, say, Hungary, and might not know what a Big Mac is.

Geez, where ya’ been, buddy?

15

did everyone in line shout out simultaneously “Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonions onasesameseedbun!”?

16

Even if he had been from Hungary, I’m sure they have Mickey D’s there!
Oh, and yes, some people prefer the light versions. Or else it’s about an allergy to somethings. No big deal.

17

Slight hijack:

Similarily, I can’t stand it when I go into some sort of fast food place and step back, and stare at the menu to look for any new offers, or to decide what I want.
I’m clearly taking myself out of line, standing as far back as I can, with my back against a wall if there is one.
I pleasantly wave on other customers who aren’t sure if I’m ‘in line’.

When the moron cashier shouts out to me “Can I help you, sir?”.

This especially irks me when I’ve only been in the door 2 seconds.

No kidding this happened to me at least 5 times standing in line at the Times Square McD’s in NYC. Cashier after Cashier, “Can I help you?”, “I can help you over here!”…

Jesus…give me at least 20 seconds to look at the freaking menu!

18

And while in line:

If paying by Credit Card, use this time to best advantage to pull the card out.

Does the Store have a special card? See above.

Pulling into the drive through implies you are in a hurry, decide what you want before you get there. If you don’t KNOW what you want, go inside so that those of us who really ARE in a hurry can keep moving.

19

While food service can suck in this way, the video store business can be just as bad. I can’t count the nember of times when I’ve been trying to serve a line of 6 or 8 people (or on the odd night, 7 or 9), when I get this phone call:

Me: Hello, Acme Video.
Caller: Hi, can you tell me what’s in that’s new that’s good that I want to see?
Me: Well, I have quite a long line here…
Caller: Just tell me what’s there.
Me: (Looking at a rack of about 35 tapes, not relishing the thought of reading each title to the idiot, when he’ll just end up asking if Good Fellas is in, which it is not, and all the while getting angry looks from customers)
Me: OK, we have Batman, Mermaids, La Chevre…
Caller: Wait, hold up! What was that first one again?
Me: (speaking slowly) Batman, Mermai…
Caller: OK, hold on. (speaking to the unwashed masses on the far end of his house) BATMAN!!

(Sound of general debate in background. After 2 minutes, a consensus is reached.)

Caller: OK, Batman. Who’s in that?
Me: Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Listen sir, I have a line here…
Caller: Jack Nicholson? Great!
Me: OK, should I set that aside for you?
Caller: Hold on. (More general background debate) Yeah, Jack Nicholson! Who’s he again?
Me: Sir, you might want to just come in. With all your frie…
Caller: Nevermind. Is Good Fellas in?
Me: No.
Caller: OK, what was that second movie?
Me: Mermaids.
Caller: Um, I don’t know. How many mermaids are in it?
Me: It’s not really about…
Caller: HOW MANY MERMAIDS DOES EVERYONE WANT TO SEE?

(Sound of debate on how many mermaids might be, in fact, too many. Comment on how someone won’t watch it because she doesn’t like Jack Nicholas, and he probably wouldn’t be a very good mermaid anyway, and can you ask again if Buster Keaton is in Good Fellas, and can we get that.)

Caller: Is that like a golf movie?
Me: I’m going to hang up soon…
Caller: So Diane Keaton and Nick Jackelson are in Good Fellas? We’ll get that.
Me: Er, uh… It’s still not in.
Caller: OK, then do you have – uh, HEY BECKY, WHAT’S THE NAME OF THAT MOVIE YOU WANTED TO SEE THAT HAS GENE WILDER IN IT? HUH? BAT MAN?

Caller: Do you have Bat Man?
Me: Yes!
Caller: Great! Who’s in it?

20

This is one of my big pet peeves. It shows such a lack of concern for other people. It also bugs me when people make a waiter/waitress stand around while deciding what to order though I suppose that’s why they’re called that.