Drive Thru: Way or No Way?
No way for me, I lack the co-ordination to pull up to the microphone, read the menu and actually order. Except for In-N-Out, with but three items on the menu, I get flustered.
In spite of my "issues", I have tried a number of drive thrus here in California. The funniest is the drive thru milk place. It is kind of a milk centered mini convenience store. Someday, I would like to try a drive thru liquor store in Texas.
Now, before I become the object of ridicule, I want to point out that there is at least one drive thru in Manhattan, so geography is no excuse!
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28 Comments:
There's a drive-thru Wendy's/Taco Bell near where I grew up, and in high school, before any of us could drive, we used to try to WALK through, but they never let us. Which was ridiculous, because it's always practically deserted. Anyone have any insight about that rule? It's baffled me for ten years.
As a rule I very rarely eat fast food, but if I do, it's a late night drive-thru. We all have those nights where we crave french fries, a chocolate milkshake, onion rings, sweet and sour sauce, Sprite, and popcorn chicken, right? I'm usually disgusted with myself the morning after. Luckily it only happens about twice a year.
There are also a lot of drive-thru roast beef places in greater Boston that are meccas for guys in their teens and early 20s...I can't tell you the number of times I've tagged along for 1am roast beef sandwich runs. Personally I find bloody meat that's been sitting out for twelve hours absolutely disgusting, and I'm just waiting for one of them to get food poisoning, but to each his own! I still tag along for the onion rings...
embolini9 at 2:41AM on 05/26/09
I've got to REALLY be in a hurry to use a D/T Sbux. Whether I'm in my own Acadia or BF's Yukon, I have to retract the mirrors to get close enough to the pay window :D.
Hey - as far as D/T food goes, any port in a storm.
therealchiffonade at 5:43AM on 05/26/09
I dont have a problem with drive thru's I just dont eat fast food anymore, unless I get back out west and In and Out is the exception. (what is it about their burgers?)
huneybumper at 7:53AM on 05/26/09
Down here you have to be careful separate the BATF from the ATF. The ATF is a local convenience store chain.
Grumpy Old Man at 8:52AM on 05/26/09
i have children... of COURSE i use the drive through!! rarely for myself, but those critters go from not hungry to ravenous in 2.3 nanoseconds. gotta do whatcha gotta do!
kristygarr at 8:55AM on 05/26/09
To quote Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 "They f&%k you at the drive thru"! Tis true...you gotta watch those people.
arm1970 at 9:29AM on 05/26/09
ew. no way. no fast food. no drive thrus.
gastronomeg at 9:47AM on 05/26/09
We have drive thru liquor stores in Florida. Some of them you actually drive thru--inside the building. In one end out the other. As far as food drive thru's, we ALWAYS check the bag BEFORE leaving. More times than not the order is wrong.
@embolin19 My sons went to a high school with a Wendy's right next door. Kids tried the same thing and it was explained as an insurance issue.
finsbigfan at 10:51AM on 05/26/09
Drive thru can be convenient when dashing off to a meeting or just feeling lazy. I've noticed that some people don't seem to understand the drive through concept, and take forever to order/pay/whatever. My mom is one of those people, so I try to be patient.
Kerosena at 11:06AM on 05/26/09
I live in Manhattan, so I don't get to sit in cars or drive thru anything anymore. I actually miss my senior year of high school, driving a minivan and going to Wendy's all by myself. I got so excited when I was upstate recently to find that my parent's neighborhood got a drive thru Dunkin Donuts. It made my day! So sad.
meem21 at 11:22AM on 05/26/09
Way. I usually take my lunch to work but if I have to run errands during my lunch break, I'll swing through a drive thru while I'm out and about. I also use drive thrus when I have a craving for a fountain Coke. (This is a regular craving anytime I'm in the car for more than 45 minutes or so. Luckily that doesn't happen very often.)
CooksForOne at 11:25AM on 05/26/09
Either way. I do hit them when I'm crunched for time, but that can be avoided by me getting off my ass and cooking enough food for the week that I don't have to hit the drive thru. Translated: I hit the drive thru more than I'd like to admit.
joyyy at 11:42AM on 05/26/09
I don't eat much fast food (okay, I hardly ever eat fast food), and the few times that I do, I'm usually driving somewhere on a road trip and welcome the chance to get out of the car, go inside, and stretch my legs. If I found a Dunkin Donuts drive-through though, like @meem21 mentioned, I might use that, since bagels fall outside the realm of the gnarly fast food I avoid and I eat them all the time.
cycorider at 11:48AM on 05/26/09
I don't like to eat in the car so I'm not likely to hit a drive through. Also, I like to check my order (if it's more than just coffee...and even then sometimes I need to check to make sure they didn't add sugar) before I leave the store and it's easier to do that (and get the server to fix it) at the register.
Amandarama at 11:58AM on 05/26/09
@finsbigfan - I GUESS that makes sense...still, those drive thrus should cash in on the early high school crowd. I mean before you can drink or drive, you really don't have many options. Sigh, high school.
@meem21 - a drive thru dd would be amaze...I have spent way too many valuable hours of my life standing in line at dunks being ogled by old guys and businessmen. And it would be especially helpful for coffee runs for groups, like at work! Hm...I'll have to look up if there's one near me...
embolini9 at 12:37PM on 05/26/09
Ditto with @cycorider and @amandarama--don't like eating in the car, like walking before I eat and don't eat much fast food.
I used to frequent them on road trips in college because the driver would get to pick where and how we ate, but that was not by choice. And of course, as a tyke, any McDonald's was good for me.
HeartofGlass at 12:47PM on 05/26/09
Okay, I clicked on this link because I had an incredibly disheartening experience late Sunday night. Hubs and I were leaving Mem. party, had been drinking earlier in the day, and were ravenous. So, we went through a drive through, which was my first fast food in probably 6 months. I was trepidatious, excited, and starving. I ate two bites and stopped. I actually spit the second one out in the trash. My mouth felt like it had been coated with Vaseline. So drive thru for food? No f'in way.
Now, as I am in Texas, drive thru for liquor/beer, way. And I am a lazy a$$ and have been known to use the drive thru option at the cleaners...
mollykate678 at 1:33PM on 05/26/09
I have a bad Taco Bell habit, and the drive-thrus are just too darn convienent. I wish I didn't eat it, truly. But melted spicy cheese is LOVE, people!
TheCheapChick at 1:54PM on 05/26/09
Also, Texas isn't the only state with drive-thru booze. We've got one where I live in Az, and used responsibly, they're quite convenient.
joyyy at 2:42PM on 05/26/09
@TheCheapChick - try stocking your freezer with homemade burritos. Trust me, it keeps you out of the drive-thru, saves you money (usually), and is just a beautiful sight - burritos upon burritos upon burritos just waiting for you to eat them.
joyyy at 2:44PM on 05/26/09
Growing up my family used to use the drive thru when we were having a very busy night. But now that I'm only eating fast food about 3-5 times a year, I usually go in and sit down and eat it.
missjess at 2:54PM on 05/26/09
I went to Chik-Fil-A once, and the drive thru line extended practically into the streets! I debated back and forth over just parking and going into the restaurant, and after experiencing a bit of that really long line, I decided to go in. There was no line inside, and by the time I got back to my car with my food, the car I had been following in the drive thru line wasn't even at
the drive thru speaker yet!
I don't really partake in fast food very often, and on the rare occassion that I do, I stop at Sonic, where you have to pull up to a stall rather than leave the engine on as you wait for the next car to move forward.
runnereater at 4:38PM on 05/26/09
I once worked in a Starbucks drive thru and now consider drive thrus to be the bane of the Earth. Seriously, cars idled in the line forever because people would order 10 complicated drinks and we'd get backed up, people would yell at you through the speaker, or want you to put 20 packs of sugar in their drink (and boy did you hear it of you accidentally used 19). People would order the wrong drink and then get pissed because you were supposed to tune in telepathically to their desires. Or be such bad drivers that they would stop four feet away and/or hit the curb. I haven't ever driven through a drive thru, and I am sure that I never will.
KarynMC at 7:01PM on 05/26/09
I have two little kids, and when they were both babies, drive thrus saved my life. No way was I extracting two sleeping babies out of their carseats mid-nap...so through the drive thru I'd go...I think I gained 20 pounds consuming McDonald's during those first couple of years. Now I only go for the McCafe's...which are strangely delicious.
juliebugsmama at 11:35AM on 05/27/09
I'm not a huge fan of them, but I think it's because my car isn't really the most condusive to eating while driving. First off, it's a stick-shift. Next, the cup holders suck. one is so close to the gear shift as to be unusable, the other is too shallow, and too large a diameter to prevent the cup from tipping over and showering you with your recently acquired icey drink.
beth1 at 11:54AM on 05/27/09
Here in Wyoming, it's drive-through liquor everywhere. Almost every liquor store has a drive-thru, and it's damned convenient. As for food? No f'ing way.
lo82070 at 2:36PM on 05/27/09
Huh. May have to relocate to Wyoming. Last liquor drive through I saw was when I was a teenager in FL.......they'd be handing mixed drinks out of the window...a few years ago, of course.....didn't think anything of it at the time.
Other than that, the ordinary variety is avoided. The wife was screaming to leave to get to work, and then spent 15 minutes sitting in the Starbucks line. Go figure.
milesdga at 3:03PM on 05/27/09
I know what you mean about getting flustered. I'm like that at any restaurant where they wait to take your order. I always feel rushed and I hate that feeling.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 5:12PM on 05/28/09