The Time-Consuming Drive-Thru Behavior That Is Guaranteed To Make People Mad

Every now and then you get an ideal drive-thru experience. There are no cars in front of you, your order is taken promptly through a speaker that facilitates clear communication between you and the employee, and you get exactly what you asked for without being told to pull into a parking space and wait for five minutes. But, more often, you're faced with some sort of inconvenience. You and the employee have to talk through a speaker with a sound quality that suggests it was fished from the bottom of the Marianas Trench; your food isn't prepared promptly; or — perhaps worst of all — there's a car in front of you that just can't decide what they want to order. Don't be that car.

We've all been stuck behind that one guy at the concession stand who can't decide what snack to get for the movie, even though the menu is pretty thoroughly standardized (popcorn, candy, things of that nature). Surely it can't be that hard to figure out what you want to eat! And this is especially true for fast food chains: not only are there set menus that are more or less the same across the country, but this information is easily accessible online for you to peruse at your leisure. Take a few minutes to case the joint, consider your options, consult your Magic 8 Ball, whatever you need to do — then make your way to the drive-thru.

Not only is drive-thru indecision a pain for however many cars are lined up behind the offending customer, it can cause a serious problem for drive-thru employees, as well. You see, some fast food restaurants, who apparently think that working in a hot kitchen for minimum wage isn't hard enough, measure how long it takes for employees to complete a drive-thru order. And if a car decides to hem and haw for a while before ordering, that still counts against the employee, even though it's completely out of their control.

So if you're guilty of the whole Hamlet-at-Hardee's act, we're not saying that someone will definitely get fired because you couldn't make up your mind, but we're saying it's a possibility. The future of the drive-thru may be changing, but corporations probably aren't going to start treating their employees much better if they have any say. If you'd rather not have that weighing on your conscience, do the right thing and decide on your order ahead of time. (And if you do go to Hardee's, maybe ask if they have the "Harold" on Hardee's secret menu – but watch out for hungry sinkholes, like the one that sprouted up underneath a Hardee's drive-thru in Pennsylvania.)