Go inside to sort it out. Going back through the drive through queue would take too long. Cutting in front of someone else isn’t only rude, but screws with the order sequencing and will cause other people to get wrong orders.
Well if it makes no sense now (that you’ve gotten a bad order), then it made no sense in the first place. You’re still going to have to wait in line if you walk inside. And if you tell the microphone in the drive-through that you got a bad order, it’s going to take the same amount of time for them to prepare the correct order.
Why does a person use the drive-through in the beginning, but then suddenly feel it’s inadequate for correcting an order? (Unless you chose the drive-through initially only because it was empty.) If you didn’t check your order when they gave it to you, you shouldn’t expect to cut in later.
I’d go back inside the store to make the order right.
Not really, if you go inside you can get a manager and he can deal with fixing your order without a direct impact to any of the teller lines as he doesn’t need a cash drawer to fix an error.
If you get in the drive thru line there is no way to expedite and you’re essentially waiting in line a second time. Cutting into the middle of the drive thru lane (and I’ve never seen one where that is even possible without driving over a curb or lawn) just messes up everyone.
Even if we take all of the other customers out of the equation (it’s a dead time for that restaurant), I’d still go inside. It’s a lot easier to get something like that cleared up face-to-face, where you can show them what you’ve got, have them hand something directly to you, and you’re not relying on a crackly speaker-microphone system.
If I’m at the drive-through, it’s because I’m very, very hungry and the Celtling is asleep in the back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be eating there at all. So I’d probably get back into the drive-through line to avoid having to wake her and carry her in.
Because inside I would flag down the manager so I wouldn’t have to wait. I could make eye contact with anyone who was helping me, show them exactly what I received and explain what I wanted. Over the speaker communication failed, next step would be to get face to face, which would have a better chance of success.
I’ve done both honestly. If there are no other cars in the drive-thru, I just pull right back up to the window and tell them what happened. No messing with the intercom system.
If there is a long line, I’ll park and walk in.
I don’t go to fast food all that often, but I almost never have a problem with my orders and don’t check very often while I’m at the window.
So you ran into this guy:
If the drivethrough line is short/empty I may drive around. Otherwise park and go in.
But as others have said, I try to check my order before pulling away. Definitely the best policy.
I don’t do drive-thrus often these days, but the times that I do are more likely to be when the dining area is closed and the drive-thru is the only thing open. I usually pull forward before checking my order, and in those cases where there’ve been mistakes, the car behind me has already pulled up. So there’s no way for me to drive back to the window and cutoff people behind me, but I’LL BE DAMNED if I’m going to get back in line. So, I just walk back up to the drive-thru window, stand between the car and the window if need be, and make the problem known. If it’s a complicated/time-consuming issue to fix, they’ll usually offer to bring it out to my car. If it’s a simple, quick thing to fix, I’ll just stand there and wait for them to make me whole.
Although I try to be as courteous as possible, absolutely no fucks will be given if the people who were behind me in line find this to be either rude or annoying. After all, I pulled up before inspecting my order in order to (9 times out of 10) not make them wait unnecessarily. In that 1/10 occurrence, they’ll just have to deal with it.
Come to think of it I did that once - but they had just forgotten to give me a straw, so, nanosecond fix.
I should also state that when I do drive-thrus, my policy is to make the orders as simple as possible. I do everything possible to make it easy on the order taker and to not annoy them in any way. I have heard enough first-hand accounts of the horrors that await those who piss off the food service staff that handle your food completely out of your sight. I will get downright ruthless with anyone in my party giving them a needlessly hard time or complicated order.
I have one friend I absolutely refuse to ever go through a drive-thru with, and once I had to completely cancel my part of the order and refuse to partake in that particularly spit-prone meal. My mind boggles at the potential amount of loogies that picky fool has unknowingly swallowed.
Were you the guy that cut me off? LOL
So you’re basically saying to hell with everyone behind me. I’m more important and they’ll have to deal with it.
Yes and no. Like I said, I’m talking about a situation where going inside is impossible. And if you’re somehow bothered by me walking up to the window when your car is there, it’s only because:
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The restaurant screwed up the order I consciously made to be as simple as possible.
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Instead of (usually) needlessly wasting yours and the restaurant’s time by inspecting my order before pulling away, I pulled ahead to do so. (Hint: This is the part where it’s YOU that should be grateful for my courtesy.)
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The only reason you’re even at the window now, and not still waiting behind me, is because of my prior courtesy. For all intents and purposes, I still HAVE MORE RIGHT to get my order completed before you do, and you’re still behind me in line. Besides the fact that I’ve already been inconvenienced much more than you have, expecting me to get back in line behind you and whoever else is in line would MAKE YOU THE ONE who thinks they’re more important and that I should just deal with it.
Get it? In the situation I outlined, you would unquestionably be in the wrong, and you would be the self-entitled asshole. If you took offense to my actions in such a scenario, I would actively enjoy pissing you off.
You do know it doesn’t take that long to check your order AT the window. It takes a few seconds. If you would have done that they could have fixed your order AT the window.
Instead, since you think you are more important than everyone else, you cut in front of the next person in line and screw up the order sequencing and potentially screw up everyone else’s order. In that situation you would come across as a self-entitled asshole.
I never use the drive thru because I hate the mechanics of the crackly speaker, having to conduct transactions through windows, etc. It’s easier to make myself understood by just parking and going inside in the first place.
That being said, if I did go through and they got the wrong order, I would first assess how wrong it was. If they substituted an item that I like and that isn’t meaningfully cheaper than what I paid for, I probably wouldn’t bother getting it fixed. No ketchup for the fries? Whatever. Missing food, being given something I hate (hello, Filet-o-Fish), diet soda instead of regular (I loathe diet), I’m going to park and go inside with my receipt. The speaker and/or that employee obviously didn’t work well the first time, so why go around a second time? And cutting off another driver is just rude and may cause an accident.
Do you even apply any critical thinking to your thought processes, or is reading comprehension your difficulty?
So it’s your opinion that taste testing every unmarked beverage, opening/unwrapping every unmarked food container, peeling open and inspecting sandwiches, and accounting for the proper utensils/condiments etc. doesn’t take that long, and everybody who has a mistake made on their order is at fault for not HOLDING UP THE WHOLE FRIGGIN’ LINE to do so? Because, you must realize (or maybe not!), aside from the potentially wasted time to do the checking, if/when that checking turns up a problem, you’re STILL going to have to wait behind me for that issue to be resolved! If there is a problem with my order, you have nothing to gain whether I completely check the order at the window, or I pull forward and check. The result is the same - you will have to wait until my order is corrected. But if I sit there wasting everybody’s time checking, 9 times out of 10 when the order is correct, you (and others) have something to lose - that wasted time. For some inexplicable reason, you prefer a situation where you are unnecessarily inconvenienced most of the time, to a situation where you are not inconvenienced unnecessarily AT ALL.
No. Instead, since what I do is the most efficient and least selfish way of handling it, I know that in the 9 times out of 10 when there is nothing wrong with my order, I just saved the people behind me in line from WAITING NEEDLESSLY. In that 1 out of 10 time when there is a problem, I expect them to either be understanding, or barring that, shut the fuck up, realize they have absolutely no reason to be upset with me for trying to be considerate to them and others, and stop being such idiotic douchebags.
Do I make a reasonable and cursory effort to check that everything in the order seems to be there? Yes, of course.
Do I even verbally attempt to confirm the contents are complete with the person at the window? Yes.
Do I sit there selfishly wasting everybody’s time to be 100% sure that everything is 100% complete and correct, on the off-chance that something is wrong? FUCK NO, THAT WOULD MAKE ME A RUDE ASSHOLE.
But sometimes mistakes happen. No biggie. If me simply walking back to the drivethru window to rectify my order somehow inexplicably screws up the order sequencing, that is the fault of the person working the window who screwed up my order in the first place. But that you would blame me for that makes it apparent that you’re one of those kind of people who invariably find fault with anyone you perceive (rightly, or wrongly) to be inconveniencing you. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if you also bitch and whine about people who stay at the window to completely audit their order before driving away. If such a minor and inconsequential thing as me walking back to the window instead of getting back in line[!] bothers you, you probably also bitch about that without detecting the least bit of irony.
P.S. In my last post I failed to account for the other aspect I mentioned previously that makes my position even more obviously correct. And that’s the situation where I walk back up to the window, and the person at the window offers to bring the corrected order out to my car. In that circumstance, it is an even better result FOR EVERYBODY involved, in that there’s not a huge growing line of cars being held up as the problem with my order is rectified.
But no, the OP wants me to get back in line if I wasn’t previously selfish enough to waste everybody’s time by doing a complete audit of my order. :rolleyes:
Thanks for the compliment! May I kindly suggest that you refrain from using the drive through because if they get your order wrong you are going to end up inconveniencing everyone else anyways.
You’re the only one on this thread that seems to think it is ok to cut in front of someone else in line.