Drive thru, then park and wait...?

D

Danelle O'Shea

Joined
Mar 22, 2001
Messages
2,420
Has anyone experienced this?

I pulled up to the pickup window at a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut joint and was told that I had to pull into a parking space and someone would bring my food out. I was dumbfounded.

The conversation progressed:
"Why?"
"Because we have a wait limit in the drive thru of 50 seconds, and your personal pan pizza takes 7 minutes."
"Then why do you offer it as fast food, or not have some ready to go at all times?"

Blank stare.

I then told him I wasn't going to pull over and that I was going to sit there and wait at the window and let everyone else back up behind me, which I did. 7 minutes and many horn honks later, I had my pizza. Yea, they proably spit in it but it wasn't for me, it was for someone I was working for, so who cares.

The guy actually told me I absoluutely HAD to move and that he would call the police if I didn't, I told him to go ahead. Evidently, he didn't.

Then I noticed that McDonald's (I was driving through the parking lot, not eating there...ugh) has a sign on one of it's parking spaces that says "Parking for drive thru customers only" so I assume they practice the same "hurry up and wait" protocol.

Wtf?

I don't get fast food all that much so maybe it's a practice I'm just not aware of...but whatever, it's stupid and it sucks.
 
Why offer food from the drive-through window if you cannot pick it up there? The whole point of the operation is to allow you to make the transaction without leving your car, so why then tell you that you must do so? Beats the heck out of me.

BTW, I do go to McDonalds for their Egg McMuffin and for their Chicken Tenders. Note that I said Chicken TENDERS and not Chicken McNuggets. The Tenders are actual, real chicken breast meat sliced and fried.
 
What you have is a problem of marketing and quality.

Marketing say make evrything available in drive-up. OK fine, but quality says you can't have people waiting 7 minutes in drive up. So the compromise is to make high time people pull out of line.


What they should do is give you a limited menu available for drive up,
 
When I used to go to McDonalds :barf: , I used to have to wait at the drive thru customer spot for my food most of the time. The thing was, I saw that inside it wasn't packed, and that most of the employees inside were standing around just watching the day go by!
 
Danelle,
I agree that this policy makes no sense, but did you actually expect to have a reasonable reply from the guy working there?
 
That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one.


DriveThruParking.jpg


They do the exact same thing inside. You get in a line to place your order. You place your order (after repeatedly telling the cashier what you do and don't want). You ask the cashier to give you the correct change. You are then expected to step aside and wait with the other 20 people who just placed their order. So basically, it is an endless cycle of line jumping in which you always end up as the last person in line... :confused: Once you get your food, you have to bring it back to have them correct something. Guess what, you're in a line again! :grumpy: I've come to the point in my life that I'm just happy if a McDonald's has their ice cream machine fixed.:rolleyes:
 
I am on the opposite end of the spectrum- I prefer to pull ahead and wait at fast food places. This ensures a fresh hot product. I will actually ask specifically for a freshly made item. I then will pull as far ahead as possible, and wait for the person to run it out to me, hot and tasty. I guess I am not in that big a hurry. I refuse to eat lukewarm, smashed and/or rubbery food just because it is convenient.
 
Seven minutes isn't long to wait.

Believe me, there's nothing quite like a personal pizza that's sat in a warming oven for an hour or two. No. I'd rather wait seven minutes for a fresh one. And if they bring it out, well there you go.

Just tell 'em that you'll pay 'em exact change when they bring the order out and if it's more than nine minutes, you're outta here.
 
Danelle O'Shea said:
Has anyone experienced this?

I pulled up to the pickup window at a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut joint and was told that I had to pull into a parking space and someone would bring my food out. I was dumbfounded.

The conversation progressed:
"Why?"
"Because we have a wait limit in the drive thru of 50 seconds, and your personal pan pizza takes 7 minutes."
"Then why do you offer it as fast food, or not have some ready to go at all times?"

Blank stare.

I then told him I wasn't going to pull over and that I was going to sit there and wait at the window and let everyone else back up behind me, which I did. 7 minutes and many horn honks later, I had my pizza. Yea, they proably spit in it but it wasn't for me, it was for someone I was working for, so who cares.

The guy actually told me I absoluutely HAD to move and that he would call the police if I didn't, I told him to go ahead. Evidently, he didn't.

Then I noticed that McDonald's (I was driving through the parking lot, not eating there...ugh) has a sign on one of it's parking spaces that says "Parking for drive thru customers only" so I assume they practice the same "hurry up and wait" protocol.

Wtf?

I don't get fast food all that much so maybe it's a practice I'm just not aware of...but whatever, it's stupid and it sucks.
Click to expand...

Dannelle,
I understand how that is irritating, but don't screw the people behind you because you are trying to prove a point, it isn't their fault. Pull forward or don't go there. Was the pizza you ordered one of the three value meal pizza options (cheese, pepperoni, or supreme), or was it a special order? The only ones they make in advance are the three types already mentioned. Taco Bell/Pizza Hut was one of only three or four places close enough to my previous job to let us eat out and be back on time. I know too damn much about their menu.
 
I eat fast food maybe three or four times a year, so I'm not sure why. But I suspect that DaveH is right. These places go to great lengths to squeeze out a couple cents more profit per transaction.

I read an interesting article a few months ago that said many drive-through windows now take orders via a remote answering service. When you place your order, you are talking to someone sitting in front of a phone maybe all the way across the country. The answering service relays the orders back to the restaurant. Extra money was spent to pay for the answering service, but this expense was offset by more efficient restaurant workers, who could concentrate on food prep and delivery.
 
The drive through and "wait" is for the blind so they can read the braille on the drive through signs. :rolleyes:



Bill
 
The taco bell north of the ohio state campus on high and hudson is the slowest, but has great food. I've waited in its short drive through line for 10+ minutes, and once waited 22 minutes inside for my food to come out. I was going to leave, but i had already paid and was drunk and starving.
 
FullerH said:
BTW, I do go to McDonalds for their Egg McMuffin and for their Chicken Tenders. Note that I said Chicken TENDERS and not Chicken McNuggets. The Tenders are actual, real chicken breast meat sliced and fried.
Click to expand...
It seems I read recently that the McNuggers were updated to breast meat chunks also.....at least the last ones I ate seemed relatively closer to that description than previously!:D
 
This is the exact reason why I swore off all fast food...Im not waiting 7 minutes for poor quality food from anyone...there is a culture of control in this society that people just agree with..

parking for drive through is an example..

another example is my credit card company informed me in a legalese letter that only a lawyer could fully understand that they now must receive my payment within three days before the due date for proper processing. This isn't because the mail is slow..its because if they get everyone in America mailing in their payment early they can reduce their work force by 20%. Well I say screw you..Im not doing it..so three days before the bill is due I pay online...and you guessed it I get a nice $45 dollar service fee..So I call them up and remind them that I have been a member since 1986 and that I pay my bill in full and to quit jacking me around and that they better not screw with my credit rating or my interest rate ( like it matters because its paid lump sum every time) bite me..

another example...downsizing. Every afternoon you enjoy a bottle of soda pop..then one day the bottle shape changes...Yes its taller but also skinnier and as a result it looks the same size but there are three oz. missing. Your pay the same price for less....the same goes for coffee, diapers, everything...it should be standardized...have you noticed that Pepsi is cheating a oz or two out of the two liters now?? they are not full.

construction...seven miles of barrels to keep the three guys leaning on their pickup truck at mile 6 safe...B.S.

the list goes on and on and on...
 
Ren the devils trailboss said:
another example...downsizing. Every afternoon you enjoy a bottle of soda pop..then one day the bottle shape changes...Yes its taller but also skinnier and as a result it looks the same size but there are three oz. missing. Your pay the same price for less....the same goes for coffee, diapers, everything...it should be standardized...have you noticed that Pepsi is cheating a oz or two out of the two liters now?? they are not full.

construction...seven miles of barrels to keep the three guys leaning on their pickup truck at mile 6 safe...B.S.

the list goes on and on and on...
Click to expand...

When I lived in Holland, I met a friend from Germany who smoked a wierd brand of cigarettes. He noted that the price was same as three years before; they just reduced the number of fags to 19 (from 20). They're probably at 15 now.
 
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