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Now here is my question? Why do you use the drive through lane? At lunch time it isn't any faster, in fact it is probably slower. You waste gas and have wear and tear on your car. You waste lunch time. I am sure I was back to my office before that car that go there before me even got their meal.

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I agree with you m^2, but do you know much less gas it takes to keep a car running rather than restarting the car?
 

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Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
 
What idiling for 10 minutes? I am sure that there is a study out there somewhere of when it is better to turn off the car than to idel.

msquared
 

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Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
 
The drive-thru is so that all the people who want their meal quickly on a busy lunch hour don't have to stand behind all ten people in the drive-through line to get it.

[ October 24, 2003, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: Nato ]
 

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Posted by Wetchik (Member # 3609) on :
 
It takes a lot of gas to start the car.... Maybe not after then mintues, but if you keep the car running and you have an auto transmission, it should be put in neutral rather than requiring you to hold the brake and fight the engine. Manual transmissions wouldn't need this for obvious reasons (the clutch).

Let me get this straight:
You have ten cars. It took you two minutes to get in and out of there. Car ten became car eight. That's one minute per car. That's faster than your two minutes!

Of course, that would only work with no line.
 

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Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
 
That's what I mean. When I go to this place I can see the drive up window. If there are no cars in the line I will use it. It is a bit faster. But why would any one get in a line where there are 10 cars ahead of you? There is one lady taking orders and one pick up window. Inside there are three ladies taking orders. I just don't get it.

msquared
 

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Posted by cyruseh (Member # 1120) on :
 
but that time in the car, is valuable "limbaugh" time!
 

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Posted by Wetchik (Member # 3609) on :
 

quote:

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That's what I mean. When I go to this place I can see the drive up window. If there are no cars in the line I will use it. It is a bit faster. But why would any one get in a line where there are 10 cars ahead of you? There is one lady taking orders and one pick up window. Inside there are three ladies taking orders. I just don't get it.

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I don't either. I agree with you, but I just wanted to tease.
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
Well, I know that when I worked in fast food, drive through orders had priority over inside orders; if two tickets came back at the same time, and were for the exact same thing, we'd put out the drive through order first.

That said, there's a time and a place; working in fast food, there were times when we had a huge drive through line and no one inside, and times when we had lots of people in the lobby, and no one in the drive through. Sometimes one was faster, sometimes the other was.
 

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Posted by Wetchik (Member # 3609) on :
 
*has never worked in fast food*
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
You say that like it's a bad thing.

Actually, though, I enjoyed my fast food job (I actually had several, but only one of them lasted any time at all). The place was fairly slow, so I got to know my co-workers really well, and it helped distract me from a bad breakup I went through just before I got the job. Over the years I got a good number of my friends hired, so between the friends I made there and the friends I got jobs, I was surrounded by intelligent, funny, friendly people; it was a bit like Hatrack in that regard. The job could be pretty stressful at rush times, but for the most part it was a good way to get paid to hang out with people I'd have gladly hung out with for free.
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
It's because Americans have a really hard time with the concept that they may have to exit their car. They'd rather wait in line and burn some gas rather than face the horror that would be getting out and walking somewhere.
 

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Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
 
During the lunch hour, Wendy's is over run by teenage kids from the High School who will never for the life of them use the drive through. So when there are all these kids in there who don't quite grasp the concept of ordering all the food in their groups party in one sweep, the drive through looks pretty tempting and fast.

However, unless it's past 10 when the doors close, I usually go inside because if I keep my cup, I get free refills. They even give you a new cup every time you get a refill. I love it!
 

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Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
Sometimes I dress differently when I don't plan to exit the car, too. Or if I have a two-year-old with me, and would have to take him out of his carseat and try to control him while waiting in line inside, then it's easier to use the drive-thru. Some people probably use the time waiting in a car to make phone calls, put on make-up, etc. There are a wealth of possible reasons.
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
Occasionally we'd get a customer who probably used the drive through because they were too drunk to actually walk into the lobby. Once we actually had a guy pass out at the drive through window.

Of course we always called the cops on these people.
 

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Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
 
If there is a huge line at the drive-up, I'll park and go inside. Normally I prefer the drive-up because 1. I'm just going to be taking it to eat someplace else (I don't need drink refills or anything) 2. My car stays cool - no parking and allowing the sun to bake it (even a few minutes in Phoenix can make your car unbearably hot) and 3. I am often stopping to pick-up lunch on my way back from a customer's site and would rather not leave my equipment (worth several thousand dollars) unattended in the back of my truck.
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
Ludosti's point three is an excellent one (not that her other points are bad, of course).
 

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Posted by Wetchik (Member # 3609) on :
 

quote:

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You say that like it's a bad thing.

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I don't think working in a fast food resturant is a bad thing, I said that because I was conceding to you your obvious experience.
 

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Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
 
Dan's top 10 Reasons why waiting in the car is better than going inside:

10) Muzak v.s. Music
9) Physical Exertion is the last recourse of the unimaginative.
8) Thanks to cup holders, you don't need to wear pants to have lunch.
7) The sweet delicate aroma of hydrocarbons
6)Hot Coffee lawsuits just don't happen when you walk in.
5)Drive Thru people are just cuter to look at.
4)If you sing to the music in the Restaurant they look at you funny. (on the other hand, you do get served quickly)
3) While waiting in line with strange humans (as compared to their cars), one may accidentily -- make conversation.
2) People at the counter look confused when I ask for a salad for my 6 foot tall invisible rabbit friend.

And my Number 1 reason for going though the drive thru and not walking in to the restaurant.

1) Can you say Restraining Order?
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 

 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
My problem with drive throughs (and the reason my family and I no longer use them) is because I never ever get what I ordered. A British accent and a terrible microphone system, plus my inability to remember the official name for meals is not a good combination for ordering meals.

Now, I just get out the car and go and order that way. It saves broken hearts on the road, especially among my young siblings.

(Oh no! I got eight chicken nuggets instead of six! Waaaaaahhh... )
 

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Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
On a distantly related note, does anyone not think 'Biggie Fries' is a stupid name? For the food, that is. For a band, maybe it'd be ok. Or for a rapper -- it's a great name for a rapper.
 

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Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
 
5 Minutes before "Biggie Fries" posts on this thread.

5 will get you 7 that its Jon Boy who grabs that name.

(PS Biggie Fries is a name that a small potatoe gives itself to compensate for other small things)
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
Yeah Moose, I actually refuse to say "biggie fry" when I go to Wendy's.
 

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Posted by fiazko (Member # 5812) on :
 
what's wrong with "biggie fries"?

i have tried the "go inside when there's a long line at the drive-thru" method, but more often than not, it doesn't work. i happen to stop by on the one day some school has a field trip or something like that, and there are a million and a half people inside, so it would have been quicker to use the drive-thru. i can't win. hence, my name. anyway, as long as i'm not in a hurry, i don't mind waiting. i subscribe to some of the points already made:

1. i'm too lazy to get out of the car and walk inside.
2. i make food runs in my pj's.

i have less patience with the customers in front of me than the workers, drive-thru or inside.
 

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Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 3051) on :
 
I used to go through the drive-thru at Wendy's (which I like) but I soon discovered that about 75% of the time they got my order wrong. Not badly wrong, but wrong enough to taste awful. (I'm a weirdo in that I like my burgers with just mustard--nothing else. Lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, ketchup, and onions are just plain nasty when put together.)
 

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Posted by Biggie Fries (Member # 5844) on :
 

quote:

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what's wrong with "biggie fries"?

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Word, yo.
 

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Posted by Maethoriell (Member # 3805) on :
 
lol right

I prefer Taco Bell. Think outside the bun...and "biggie fries" Yum yum yum.
 

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Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
 
I also refuse to say Biggie Fries on anti-stupid principle. I thought I was just weird that way.
 

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Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
 
Nobody's mentioned the biggest advantage to going inside: the ability to take as many straws as you want, even if you didn't order anything to drink.
 

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Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
 
We have another thread for that, D.
 

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Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
So we decided to get KFC for dinner last night, and just for fun I took note of the last car in line for the drive-thru when I went in. Inside there was only one person ahead of me in line, and there were about six cars, so I figured I'd win. After the person ahead of me ordered, everyone behind the counter started packaging and boxing and bagging and such. I stood in line for a good ten minutes before even placing an order, during which time the car continued to move up, until it was second in line at the pickup window (not the order-placing machine).

I placed my order (taking advantage of the current advertised special rather than any of the page of coupons I had, and instead provided coupons for four others behind me, in addition to the coupon I handed to the person in front of me in line because it was for what they were ordering -- I didn't use any coupons myself, but provided enough of them to offset a lot of free drink refills -- is that wrong?), and waited. The wait for the food was not as long as the wait to place my order -- they'd slowed down because they ran out of chicken, corn, and buckets. As I left with my order, the car in question was at the window, so it was pretty much a wash overall. The time difference was relatively negligible.

But by going in, I cost the company a good nine or ten bucks in redeemed coupons, and made five or six people a little happier than they would otherwise have been, so it was still a win-win, right?

Probably should have grabbed some extra straws, though.

--Pop
 

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Posted by fiazko (Member # 5812) on :
 

quote:

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I'm a weirdo in that I like my burgers with just mustard--nothing else.

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