The camera see one’s license plate. Duh. It is a policy in most, if not all drive thrus.
I promise you it happens, much like getting separate checks at a restaurant. One person drives to get food w/ a list of orders and a handful of $10’s and makes it super complicated and annoying.
The OP included some info but not the rest. Felt like if there was more worth mentioning, it would have been included in the OP.
ETA: I’m sure there’s a lot being left out of the story but it just seems to me like a restaurant getting ready to shut down and they didn’t want to deal with a bunch of annoying dudes (them huddling up to the drive-thru window makes me think they were more obnoxious than told) that would keep them there super late. The “policy” was certainly a lie - that or they were concerned about being robbed by people outside of the truck when they opened the window for the single person (it’s clear that at one point they tried to get one guy to order while the others hung around the parking lot.)
Executive summary:
Three groups of people traveling together. Driving two trucks and one car.
They arrive at restaurant and are told that the dining room is closing, but the drive-thru is still open.
The trucks are too big to fit into the drive-thru.
The driver of the car drives through the drive-thru, attempts to buy food for all the parties, and is told that they all must be in the car.
They squeeze enough people into the car to convince the order-taker that everyone is in the car. They are told that that the drive-thru is now closed.
You left out: After being told the dining room was closed, all of the friends huddled around the drive-thru window while on foot to try and order and were told that they would have to be in their vehicles.
Happened to me in line at Chipotle today (though inside, not the drive-thru). The woman in front of me got 3 burrito bowls and then proceeded to have them all rung up on separate receipts and paid with separate $20s. Pissed me off.
My brother was denied service at Carl’s Jr. for trying to go through the drive-thru in a grocery cart. Arguing that it was a vehicle was unpersuasive.
The employees in OP’s example just sound like jerks who didn’t feel like putting together any more food, though.
How does the camera seeing the license plate explain how they would know how many people the driver was ordering for? If I order three sandwiches, do I have to eat them all myself, or can I eat one and bring the other two home for the family? How would they know?
(Bolding mine.) Ibid.
My local Jack in the Box has the policy posted next to the drive-thru window, stating in essence, if you are not in a motor vehicle (include motor cycles) you will not be served at the drive-thru window.
Which is not the case in this instance.
This happened to me late at night at a Wendy’s in my neighborhood in the Bronx a few years ago. Walking home from the subway, I found the main restaurant closed. When I walked over to the drive in window and tried to order, they refused.
But I agree that the story in the OP sounds like the restaurant staff was just making shit up as they went along in order not to have to serve the group.
Would these guys (jpg photo) be served?
How is taking three successive orders from one car harder than taking three successive orders from three cars? Just line them up on the counter and run each transaction in order.
Apparently you have never been behind someone in a fast food restaurant trying to order lunch for his/her entire office. The one minute wait is now ten and everyone else in line physically at the restaurant is now a disgruntled customer.
Indeed, because the customers have formed expectations based on what they saw in front of them in line.
But it’s not harder for the staff than if the rest of the office had showed up and placed all the same orders. Depending on how they’re paying, it might be easier.
And in this case, there was no line at all.
Let’s be honest, nothing in fast food service is truly that difficult. Even the hardest tasks are pretty easy by most people’s standards. Not a slam on fast food workers, I did it for a long time when I was young, but to say any part of it was “hard” is an overstatement.
I’ll add something as well:
Three groups of people traveling together. Driving two trucks and one car.
They arrive at restaurant and are told that the dining room is closing, but the drive-thru is still open.
Group decided to hold an impromptu tailgate picnic in the parking lot
All of the friends huddled around the drive-thru window while on foot to try and order and were told that they would have to be in their vehicles.
The trucks are too big to fit into the drive-thru.
The driver of the car drives through the drive-thru, attempts to buy food for all the parties, and is told that they all must be in the car.
They squeeze enough people into the car to convince the order-taker that everyone is in the car. They are told that that the drive-thru is now closed.
Honestly, I have a feeling this is more about them not actually planning to take their food and leave, but hang out in the parking lot for who knows how long.
I don’t exactly understand the OP but I have to say that we send a secretary to go out and get lunch. Some of us hand her cash and some our credit cards so she does the separate transaction thing. I don’t know if she goes through the drive through though.
On the other hand when I’ve been behind someone in the drive through that is ordering for a million people it is frustrating. I think drive-thrus should have an item limit per car. Ring it up in one or four transactions but more than 10 items requires you to come in and place your order for the courtesy of the people in line behind you. Drive-thruss are supposed to be fast.
To change the topic slightly and to open another can of worms…it seems like I am always asked to pull forward to wait for my meal to be delivered to my car when there is NO ONE BEHIND ME! Grrr! Um, no I’ll wait here, thank you, unless someone else pulls around and then I’ll move forward. No, I’m not in the habit of creating special orders either.
It also chaps me when the personnel take my money, make the change and then tells me they are currently out of whatever and are going to have to make more…that’ll be 10 minutes, please pull forward.
Seriously, I need to quit eating fast food. It’s going to clog my arteries and I’m going to stroke out at a drive-thru.
I don’t see how the employees could’ve known this.
In the bicycling community, it’s a known issue. Not just fast food, but also banks and drug stores and other drive thru places. Ironically motorcycles don’t seem to have the same problem.
I’m thinking it’s due to insurance issues or possibly fear of robbery.
But that isn’t the question.
The question and conversation quoted in the OP concerns a car going through the driveway to pick up orders for people who are not in the car.
The general, “no walk-ups in the drive thru” and similar rules are well-known and are posted in a lot of drive-thrus. That’s not what the OP is wondering about.