Drive Through (Thru) Etiquette

A drive through is a take out service provided by fast food businesses that prioritizes its operations to incentivize lazy and pretentious customers to purchase products without leaving their vehicle. This contributes to the accumulation of more calories from the customer's inability to get out of their vehicles and walk a short distance into the restaurant, order their meal and carry it back to their car.

A drive through (thru), will typically be set up as a lane, leading to a menu board with microphone & speaker that allows you to provide the drive through worker your order. It will lead to a payment window, pickup window or separate windows, and possibly a designated waiting area for delayed orders. Typical drive through time can be around 4-6 minutes. Most restaurants can identify vehicles in line ups by a camera and monitoring system.

So, next time you want to take advantage of the speed and convenience of a fast food drive through (thru), be aware of proper etiquette when using the service.

Carllrac presents: Fast Food Drive Thru Etiquette

If you are waiting to pull into a busy designated drive through (thru) line up that is full, maintain the one way integrity of the overflow waiting line up. If you are coming in from an opposite direction of the overflow line, allow drivers the right of way until they allow you to proceed ahead of them or you are able to situate yourself to move in the one direction.

Leave enough space in between vehicles. It’s misleading to believe that drive through line ups are safe, but the line up is a place where drivers tend to be distracted. There on there phones, gathering their payments, having conversations with other passengers, parents looking back at toddlers to see if their ok. You don’t want to assume another vehicle has moved safely ahead while you are distracted, and have them stop suddenly. Another danger to consider in the line are pedestrians crossing the path of the line up to go into the restaurant.

Be decent in your car - typically there are video screens showing order of cars in the line up. Cameras are not only their for workers to match the vehicle with their orders, but they are also recording you for security purposes. Consider the way you dress and act as being available for the public to see, even though you are in your vehicle.

Know what you want. Don’t add items at the window or change the order. Don’t order too much, because the workers still have people in the restaurant to help and will fall behind in the drive through (thru) making them work extra hard to catch up. It’s not a catering service.

Only 1 transaction per vehicle. Don’t have everyone in the car order separately. Go inside if you have to do that. Also, use 1 payment method, not ¼ cash and ¾ credit, and let the drive through person know you have coupons at the speaker, so they are prepared.

Don’t smoke in the drive through (thru). Limit exposure of second hand smoke from the cars around you and the window worker. It’s bad enough that they are exposed to peoples vehicle exhaust, don’t make it worse with involuntary smoke.

Speak clearly. Talk slowly, articulate and listen and pay attention to the drive through (thru) attendants respose. Don’t talk to others in the car and stay off your phone. Turn down the radio and turn off vehicles with extremely loud engines.

Use the menu board. Don’t customize or ask for item names from other restaurants. For example, if another restaurant sells a “Big Willy burger”, and this establishment’s signature burger is called the “Bovinator”, don’t ask for a “Big Willy Burger.” Also, use the offered quantities and sizes, eg. Small/medium/ large.

Maintain the order and flow of a double drive through. The most time consuming part of the wait in a drive through (thru) line up is having to wait for the person ahead to order. The double lane drive through shaves off an extra 10-20 seconds for the driver in the pre menu board queue. Because we all know, when it comes to waiting for fast food, people get hangry and impatient. Also, don’t pull ahead of the person who finished ordering before you did. Make eye contact with the other driver and avoid an accident.

Ensure you have your payment method ready, and most importantly have the available funds to pay for the items before entering the drive through(thru).

Don’t spend too much time at the window. Limit your conversations with the drive through(thru) workers, and don’t waste their time. For larger orders, check your food after you leave the drive though (thru) and don’t come back and get upset at the window worker if it is incorrect. Go inside and speak calmly to a manger or supervisor.

If directed, park in the appropriate designated waiting space as requested. Be prepared with the window down for the attendant. It reduces your wait time and is a signal that you are legitimately waiting for your order, and not just some douchebag parking in a prime spot that is close to the building.

Ensure you go through a drive through (thru) in a vehicle, not on foot, unless it is after hours and you have had consumed more than 4 alcoholic beverages within a 1 hour span…feeling great and don’t have to count out change while paying, because all coins look alike in your inebriated state.

Drive Through (Thru) Etiquette

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