How to Order in a Drive Thru

Drive thru etiquette is a simple thing to have. Everyone should to through a drive thru knowing that the point of a drive thru is to have a small order that can be placed and made very quickly for the convince of the customer. As an employee who has worked in a drive thru for close to ten years I am frustrated by just about every customer who does not know how to be polite and courteous.

First know your order before you get the window. Sit to the side if you have to discuss with everyone what you want but once you get to the window you are expected to order. Lines form and works get tired of waiting when you sit and stare at the menu when you should already know what you want. Long orders are never excepted and do not expect it to come quickly or even 100% the way you want it if you order a huge list of food. We are in drive thru to make one or two items quickly, memorizing more then a few items is not easy. I mean there are machines that can be used to memorize the orders but at non peak items when only a few employees are working, memorization is the way we gather customers orders. So if you want a lot please come inside.

Try to give the orders at a decent pace and be specific with what you want. If you say the order too fast it might get mixed up, too slow and we think that you are mocking our abilities to make your order. We get aggregated when you assume we know your order or when you say a regular something that we know what a regular is. Be specific with sizes of items and if you have special orders make sure you let us know that. All coupons should be told at the speaker and not at the window. It is not always as easy as just hitting a button to do a coupon, there are certain procedures for certain specials and coupons.

Try to have your money ready at the window because you digging for a penny for five minutes will slow down the line dramatically. We are suppose to get orders taken and handed out under 3 minutes. Also be ready to take the orders from us because if your not paying attention we can be sitting there waiting for you.

Finally be polite, it is not that hard to do. Rude customers are hard to serve with a smile. We are there to serve you as well as we can. Do not take your bad days out on us and if we are the reason for your bad attitude we will do what we can to fix that. Overall we can make drive thru a great experience for all if we all work together.