My Latest Pet Peeve - Pulling Forward in a Drive Thru

Should customers pull forward in a drive through if their food is not ready when they reach the window? Many restaurants have a common, though many believe rude, procedure that they go through if a customer's order is not waiting for them when they reach the window in drive through. I call this practice rude, because a customer is not told an item is going to take more time prior to submitting payment. This practice is borderline false advertising. Since a drive through is supposed to be fast, efficient, and the order correct when received, I feel that pulling a customer forward and delaying an order is sloppy business. If you're not familiar with the practice, at many fast food restaurants, after payment, commonly many restaurant employees ask for customers to "please pull forward" to a specified area and wait, even if there are no other customers behind their car. In an act of defiance, concern, and even due to previous incompetent or poor treatment by restaurant employees, more and more individuals are simply refusing to "please pull forward" when asked to do so at a fast food restaurant.

There are many reasons why a person might feel inclined to pull forward when asked by a restaurant employee. For one, it seems a simple request. I have often done this and only waited a couple of minutes while other customers with simple orders were served behind me. When I have an order that requires extra time, I actually accept this as good business. It doesn't bother me. The problem arises, however when a restaurant is using it to cheat statistics and sacrifice customer service in the process.

In fact, pulling a customer forward after payment is usually an attempt by the restaurant employees to cheat corporate numbers and get around guidelines. What many customers do not understand is that your time at a drive thru window is measured. So, if the employee is chatting with a friend and has not bagged your items in a timely manner, that can be enough of a reason behind having you pull forward. If a store is trying to reduce waste by not cooking enough to have on hand to offer adequate drive through speeds, this too is a reason for pulling a customer up. Difficult or large drive through orders and/or unexpected rushes may be probably the only cases warranted for this practice.

The problem is, when you are "pulled forward", a psychological change occurs in some cases. No longer are you quite as important as you were when your time was being monitored and your shining face at the window reminding the employee that you were waiting. Mistakes can be made easily. Items can be left out. You can be completely forgotten as happened at the Mooresville Indiana Long John Silvers to me. A quick order resulted in being pulled up for twenty-two minutes. When the order finally arrived, the fish were cold and the side orders incorrect. There were no napkins, no requested tarter or ketchup, and the employee seemed very flippant about the entire thing. All of this could have been avoided by the employee choosing not to pull the order forward and to be held accountable for the delay that the order caused. Instead, in order to have "good numbers", the employee forgot about me and did not care about the fact that I was waiting in the parking lot.

Corporate is aware of this process and managers encourage and even enforce it. It leads to poor service in the end. The employees don't need all the extra walking anyway; I would much rather they concentrate on getting my order correct than working toward artificial numbers. The fiction behind them is laughable since the problem is so widespread. It is rude, poor business, and simply causes error and frustration. Those who have ever been forgotten by a restaurant, (Mooresville Long John Silvers is not the only one) know the irritation of being asked to pull forward. After all, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendys, and Burger King have all had me waiting 10 - 38 minutes after pulling forward following a drive through order. Should we stop just pulling forward? Should we start telling the employee, "Nah, I'll wait?"

There are several reasons why it is wrong to just pull forward like a sheep. The first is that the timer is there for a reason. That restaurant has a timer to make sure they keep the customer in mind and don't take on too many customers at a time. Too many results in making errors like forgetting items and mixing orders. Another reason for the timer is to make sure the employee is working, not texting someone or chatting with another employee. When a customer pulls forward, there is no longer a reason to get the order out quickly. Instead, an employee can relax and do things at the pace they wish. The urgency is GONE. So if they need to text their boyfriend or wander around the walk in cooler for a few minutes looking for something, the customer is already out of their way. Finally, as long as people simply pull forward and are out of sight, out of mind in many cases, the practice will never go away. Instead, we are doomed to "drive and park" instead of "drive through". I understand there is a reason for pulling a customer forward, but sloppiness, laziness, and of course cheating the system is simply not called for.