Often what some see as a wonderful panacea or convenience becomes an irritant to others. A boon that many gravitate to just leaves others scratching their heads. I have one such pet peeve, the drive-thru.
No matter where I go, someone has thought that putting a drive-thru into their business model makes good sense. I respectively disagree (while I laugh at you). I might agree there are some limited versions of drive-thrus that may make sense. There are many beverage drive-thrus in my area. It is convenient simply because there are few lines to wait in. However this trick has been bastardized to the absurd.
If no one is waiting in line or you are the next car in the procession, slipping into the parade at McDonald's I think is generally okay. Where I draw the line is being too lazy to slide into a parking spot and walk into the restaurant. Is is really okay to sit in a line of ten to fifteen cars just because you don't want to walk twenty feet to the door? I often play the game of seeing how many cars I beat going into the restaurant. More often than not I am back out before many of those in the car line. It seems what was likely a secondary line has turned into the primary line.
The most absurd drive-up I know of isn't even a drive-up. There is a national chain grocery store near my work that has a walk-up pharmacy phone and delivery tube. The sidewalk is so wide the tube can not be approached by car. Who thought this was a good idea. The customer stands next to the building outside, picks up the phone and deposits their request in the delivery tube, no windows or anything looking into the building. Guess what? On the other side of the block wall is the pharmacy. I just wonder who thinks this is such a boon to their personal time that they would rather do business this way than walk into the building and up to the counter? Likely those who use it are so busy chain-smoking they can't put down the butt to go inside.
I can't wait until I go to Home Depot to see if they can help me with twenty bags of mulch through a drive-thru window. I just know it's coming!
Ramblings of a 60 Year Old Man - My thoughts on just about anything, in no particular order; Robert Thomas - author.
My favorite drive-thru was at the library in Cleveland area. Great in the winter when nobody wanted to get out of the car!
ReplyDeleteSecond favorite is the drive-thru at the pharmacy, because when the kids were little and sick, it was easy to drop off the prescription without going inside with sick kids and waiting. Still use it when they are very sick to drop it off and then come back in the hour it takes without the sickee. Works for me!
I am amazed how often a drive-thru employee messes up your order as opposed to an in-store employee.
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