Drive-thrus: Ever been asked to pull forward when they don't have your food?

[kyparrish]

Okay, have you ever been asked to pull forward after you've paid for your stuff because your food isn't quite ready? They say "We'll bring it right out to you, yada yada"

Do they ever forget to bring your food out? The past 3 times I've been asked to pull forward, I've been left to dry. I've had to go into the restaurant, or wait till everyone else behind me has paid and back up to the window where I'm proceeded to be looked at like "WTF do you want?"

I swear, yesterday, this woman was so rude to me, and didn't say she was sorry, or anything when I backed up to the window. I wanted to reach out, and smack out what few crooked teeth she had in her nasty grill.

I'm not even ordering fancy items with modified toppings or anything. And one time, there wasn't a SOUL behind me, and they still asked me to pull forward. Never having worked in fast-food, the only reason I can think of for this to happen is to keep their average wait times down at the window. Maybe there is something that tracks them, then grades their performance. And maybe that's why they look at me like "WTF" when I back up to the window.

 

[Yossarian]

just say "I'll wait here, thanks"

 

[theknight571]

Once this happened... I ended up with 6 free pies... but I had to go in to remind them that I had never gotten my food.

 

[cKGunslinger]

I've never been "forgotten," but often times I'm asked to pull forward and not a single other car pulls in behind me while i'm waiting. WTF did I have to pull up if there was no one behind me?

 

[kyparrish]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
I've never been "forgotten," but often times I'm asked to pull forward and not a single other car pulls in behind me while i'm waiting. WTF did I have to pull up if there was no one behind me?

My theory (maybe someone who has worked fast food can confirm/disprove) is that there is a mechanism that tracks average time spent at the window. If you wait 4 seconds at the window while you're told to pull forward, and the next car waits 60 seconds for their food, then the average for the 2 cars is 32 seconds. Just a thought.

 

[Heisenberg]

One time they forgot about me when I pulled forward. I went inside after almost 10 minutes and got my food for free.

 

[jupiter57]

I would say that there is a device that tracks heir "out the window" time. At the local McD's, there is one clearly visible from the car, and above it is a whiteboard with "Scores" of who had the fastest times. (I remember seeing them on various restaraunts over the years also.)

That same McD's will have you pull forward almost every time, sometimes they are at your window before you can put the vehicle in park. Other times, you may be in for a wait, and once, they took the wrong order to a different "Red Truck" and totally had everyones orders screwed up!

 

[middlehead]

I've never been forgotten, but they did get my food wrong once. They got the wrong stuff to me in under two minutes, took almost ten to get the right stuff cooked up so they gave me a couple free pies.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Most places do track window time, hence the move forward.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Most places do track window time, hence the move forward.

Confrimed. I never worked fast food, but an ex of mine did, and she complained about slow dumb people in their cars messing up her wait times.