Why do people come to the drive thru window and not know what they want to order?

Question

To me, working at fast food, this is very inconsiderate to both the workers and the people waiting to order. You spend 5 minutes sitting in drive thru looking at the menu deciding what to order. By the time they know, their is a big line of people backed up behind them, and they have wasted that much of the employees time waiting for them to be ready. If you don't know what you want it should just be common courtesy to come inside.

Answer 1

Speaking from the point of view of a former fast-food drive thru worker, yes, it is annoying. Speaking from a mom's point of view, it is much easier to swing through a drive thru... and I have to think about what I want, what everyone else wants, what they have, and how much it cost. If they would put a menu several car spaces ahead so you can decide then, instead of at the speaker, that would make it 'convenient' for everyone. If they will not do that, then there should be a limited kind of food that can be ordered through the drive-thru lane so that no one can hold up the line.

Answer 2

Well, I mostly visit drive-thrus late at night, after the indoor area is closed, so I often don't have much of a choice. I am a bit weird in that I have to be able to see(text-wise) what it is I'm ordering. I even do this when I go inside, or I am at a sit-down restaurant. I will pause, look at what it is I want, then tell the waiter, even if I have decided already. Sometimes when I go through a drive-thru I can't immediately find what it is I want on the menu and end up making people wait .

I like it when a fast food restaurant provides a mini-menu before the one with the speaker box so people have an opportunity to see their options and decide so this problem is avoided. Sometimes I'll go to a fast food place wanting something a little different but I just don't know what. I do keep in mind the workers and people waiting behind me, though, I understand having to wait on someone.

As for other people? I can imagine some people freeze up and forget (I've done it once or twice), or they have a car full of people who they thought knew what they wanted. This seems to happen a lot with kids.

But if you just can't make up your mind and are going to make people wait 5 minutes or more going inside is the polite option. I doubt it'll happen, though, people tend to fall back on either laziness and opportunity or the could care less about being polite. Or, they could for whatever reason be unable to go indoors.

Answer 3

I understand where you're coming from. I work in food service (though not at fast food) and it's annoying when people take forever. But you have to understand that these people don't know the menu like the back of their hand like we do, and they need time to look at it. It's not the end of the world, and your shift will not be any longer or shorter because of it. And when it's late at night or people have a lot of kids in the car, going inside isn't an option. Unless someone is taking an excessive amount of time looking at the menu (more than 5 minutes without placing an order) than I don't see anything to get upset about. But I know how people can be, and the customer isn't always right. We just let them think that way to keep them happy. :-)

Answer 4

I agree with you some. Yes, it does waste the workers' time. But, some people could just be coming home from a long day at work or maybe a mother has 6 hungry kids in her van some of which could be infants and she can't take them in with her. Not everyone is able to come inside and some people think the drive thru is quicker and people can't help it if they don't know what they wan't because they don't know whats on the menu. You really need to think about the possible situations people might be in. Also, when you think about the person who takes long at the drive thru will take just as long inside so it backs up the line inside too. So what does it matter?

Answer 5

When you walk into a resterant do you Know want you want to order without looking at the menu?? maybe sometimes but most of the time no. the problem is the menu board should be place well before the speakers so costomers have a moment to look. Now you may think this will back up the line .but not always so because we are sitting in our car for quite sometime normally before we get to the speakers....so if we had a chance to look at the menu, we would be ready

Answer 6

I don't go to fast food places that often, but I always use the drive thru. Sometimes the menu boards have been redesigned and there might be a new item I want to try but can't remember the name of it.

If I go in and stand way back (not in line), the cashier always keeps yelling at me to order. It's like "Just a sec, I'm trying to decide." 15 seconds later "I can help you now!" Repeat repeat repeat.

And the drive thru people never understand me anyway. I ordered 4 mcmuffins once and 2 sodas. She couldn't believe I wanted 4. Finally I had to yell into the box that it was breakfast for my husband and I!

Just sayin', it's not always the customer.

Answer 7

I agree with all that has been said above.

If fast food chains were smart, however, they'd put the menu(s) further away from the speaker where you order. When I say that, I mean putting more than one stupid sign in front of the speaker box. At least two should be out there along the driveway for people to read while they wait in line. Might move things along faster.

Answer 8

While I understand your frustration, having been stuck behind people that couldn't make up their minds, the fact remains that we all have the right to take our time choose what we want.

Truthfully, most people make up their minds pretty quickly when they get up to that menu. They might need a few seconds to look really quick, but I don't believe most people take more than a minute to decide.

I think you're being a little too militant here. You're like the Burger King Nazi.

Answer 9

Personally I don't frequent fast food places often so I am not very familiar with the menus. I also have 3 small children, two of which are still in car seats, and I don't like packing them in and out of the car. So I am one of those people that you are talking about, sorry. But unfortunately for you this is one of the inconveniences that comes with your job, all jobs have them. My advice to you is to use this as motivation to improve your life through education so that you can get a job that you love. It was working at a job that I hated that motivated me to go back to school.

Answer 10

I agree it can be frustrating - but chances are, the person REALLY does not know the menu that well - give him/her the benefit of doubt -if you really care, ask them when they drive up to your window, if they had some trouble ordering - Now that's Customer Service!