You’re at a drive-thru, you’ve already paid and are stuck in line waiting for your food. You’re at the mercy of an employee who may ask you to pull off to the side so the restaurant can cheat the timer so Corporate continues to think service is quick. But what do you do when the employee tells you to pull into a handicapped spot?
David found himself in such a situation:
I went through the drive through and ordered some Whoppers for me and my fiancee. After ordering, they told me that their Whopper patty meat wasn’t ready yet and it would be a few minutes until it was.So I was fine with that and even expected them to cheat the drive-through timer by asking me to pull over, which they did. The part that I wasn’t fine with was that the girl asked me to pull into the handicapped parking space.
Now for me it’s not just a legality issue (since I’m in no way shape or form handicapped) but it’s also a morality issue. Suffice it to say I was a bit flabbergasted, and let her know my discomfort with parking there. So she asked me to park at the nearest available space, which meant I had to back up to get there and hope no one was trying to go through the drive-through at that moment.
But it seems to me that it’s a bit of a problem when they are so worried about their times that they ask customers to illegally park.
If you abide by such a request and the police catch you, that Whopper combo might cost a few dozen more dollars than you anticipated.
Previously: Burger King Drive-Thru Guys Make Us Pull Off To The Side To Cheat Timer
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Asking someone to park in a handicap spot is wrong, but it’s amusing to see everyone comment about “cheating the timer”.
AHEM, from my brief stint in fast food – McDonald’s own corporate provided training materials TELL employees to park cars. It is what you are SUPPOSED to do. No, it is not the policy of just one store, it is in a training manual that comes directly from corporate. It’s not some conspiracy to lower drive-thru times unless they are parking more than a certain number of cars (two usually).
Another situation where someone that has no clue seeks to pass judgement on something he or she knows absolutely nothing about.
and yes, you are supposed to do it even if no one is waiting. The idea being that someone could cruise in behind you, order a coke, and you’re still sitting there and getting you to park up ahead takes time.
Besides, anyone that has actually worked this stuff (I may be the only one here that has worked a blue collar job before it seems), knows that there are MUCH easier ways to cheat the drive-thru times. They’re not doing it to inconvenience you for some grand benefit on their drive-thru times. Heck, it’s easier on the drive-thru person for you to just sit at the window waiting with a line of cars behind you, trust me. People that refused to move were the ones that allowed me to stand around doing nothing, since many of the people behind the car waiting hadn’t reached the speaker yet.
* Then you were obviously NOT the manager,
but just a simple lackey, without “district” breathing
down YOUR neck about your high drive-thru times ! *
When I worked drive-thru, I actually used to do this. Yeah it was illegal, but I’m not sure what else could have been done. I worked at a fast-food Italian place, and part of the menu was hot baked sandwiches and French bread pizzas — these were made to order and took 5-10 minutes to be ready. At the same time, our drive-thru was moronically built in a single lane with absolutely no way for one car to get around another. AFAIK we weren’t given bonuses for service times (at least I never was, maybe the managers), but we also didn’t want people waiting for 20 minutes for spaghetti (which would be made right away, and become cold by the time they got to the window) behind 4 straight sub orders. So if their order included a sub, we’d give them everything else that was ready and then have them pull around to the front of the building, telling them to pull into the handicapped unloading zone if necessary, so we could find them. Otherwise, most of the parking was in the back of the building, so I’d have to try to go track them down when I could be taking more orders.
Understandably, not everyone was comfortable pulling into the handicapped space, so I’d sometimes find them idling in the driving area or would have to track them down in the back lot.
This is not entirely about timer cheating… that’s a bit cynical.
Many times, it’s because customer A’s order is gargantuan or a specialty and customer B, behind him, ordered something like a small coke. How would you like to be customer B, sitting in the line behind customer A and his order of 37 whoppers, each made to order differently?
Sometimes, asking one person to pull into a spot allows 5 people to be served before that person’s food is ready. The last time I had to park, it probably took a good 7 minutes or so but my food came out as hot and fresh as I have ever eaten it, and I was mighty satisfied.
I’ve been asked to do that at Burger King several times, with nobody behind me. I refuse. If someone pulls in behind me, I might consider it. What are they gonna do to make me move?
This happened to me at my local McDonalds back in 2000. There was no one behind me, the parking lot was almost empty, and they were lagging. She told me to move forward to the drive through pickup spot because my order wasn’t ready. I was sick of waiting, and told them no, there’s no one behind me, your manager needs to know you guys lag so bad. She then called me an asshole. So I called their district manager, and she was fired, and he said thank you haha.
At a BK, I was told that if I didn’t move over, a loud alarm would sound.
Are people really this helpless? You can’t make a decision for yourself? If you don’t want to park in a handicapped space, tell them “It’s illegal for me to park there. I’ll be in this other nearby parking space instead.” Backing up through the drive through line because the Burger King employee said to is about as smart as turning the wrong way down a one way street because your GPS said to. Don’t want to back up? Drive forward and go around instead. Grow your own brain and don’t be a moron. Heck, if there’s no one in the drive through line, just tell them that you would prefer to wait at the window and that you’ll pull out of the way if another customer comes through. Learn to think for yourself.
Nevwer park in any handicapped parking space unless told to do so by a law enforcement officer. Otherwise you will have violated the law and could face a stiff fine. The server at the drive-through window has no authority to allow you to violate the law in this way and you will not likely get off if you tell that cop that, “Well, the server at the windoew said it was O.K.”
This is what happens quite often at fast food places – lets say 3 cars are in the drive-through but the first one is holding on a fish fillet hold the tartar sauce. The orders for the 2nd and 3rd car are ready. Why not pull forward (if you are in the 1st car)? Is it the end of the world? No, and it is nice for the people in the 2nd and 3rd car if you do.
I work at BK and we don’t pull people up to cheat our timer. We pull someone up if they order food that needs to be cooked fresh. Say we have no tendergrills cooked, and someone orders 1. It takes like 4:45 to cook a tendergrill. If a car comes up behind them and orders a whopper, which takes about 30 seconds to make, then it makes complete sense to tell the tendergrill to pull up, and no one seems to mind doing so. As soon as the food for the pulled up car is done, someone takes it out to them
I work at a burgerking in massachusetts. I have asked multiple people to pull up to stop the timers, i have endured the multiple jerks that come high or drunk through the drive thru. We ask you to pull up front because either we are making you fresh food, because we have run out and it takes time to cook it, i.e. steakhouse and tendergrill take 5 minutes each to cook so if you order fresh food then u hold the line up ten minutes which is not good for business. Also at my store the managers get in trouble by the corporation if our time for the drive thru isnt under 3 minutes. We have strict rules about many things and the time is one of them, if we are told by a manager to park a car, we have to ask you.
I work at a burgerking in massachusetts. I have asked multiple people to pull up to stop the timers, i have endured the multiple jerks that come high or drunk through the drive thru. We ask you to pull up front because either we are making you fresh food, because we have run out and it takes time to cook it, i.e. steakhouse and tendergrill take 5 minutes each to cook so if you order fresh food then u hold the line up ten minutes which is not good for business. Also at my store the managers get in trouble by the corporation if our time for the drive thru isnt under 3 minutes. We have strict rules about many things and the time is one of them, if we are told by a manager to park a car, we have to ask you.