Here is some quick drive-thru etiquette for those of you who don’t quite know how to navigate the double lane fast food ordering system — and you know who you are. On second thought, you probably don’t know who you are or surely you wouldn’t continue to impede the simple flow of traffic and keep me from my bacon, egg and cheese biscuit any longer than necessary.
- Pull up to the ordering speaker and place your order.
- Immediately pull forward far enough to check the other lane.
- If the other car is still ordering, you go in front of them regardless of the flow of traffic in front of you and from which ever lane they came.
- On the other hand, if the other lane finished ordering first you let them go ahead of you.
That’s it. It sounds simple and it is, but for some reason so many drivers just don’t get it and then it messes up the whole process, which slows down the whole system and thus keeps me from my timely breakfast. Now I don’t work in fast food and I didn’t invent the double-lane system or study its effectiveness, but I have confirmed my suspicions on how this whole thing is suppose to work with more than one said employee. And yes, if we all follow the procedure outlined here, we all are more inclined to pay the correct amount for our food, speed up the drive-thru process and receive our requested biscuit instead of some English muffin with Canadian bacon and a side of fruit.
photo credit: Gene Kelly via photopin (license)