Jenn patronizes what is possibly one of the fastest Burger King drive-thrus on record. That doesn’t mean the fast food joint serves customers food quickly. She says its workers game the drive-thru timer system by asking people to pull off to the side after they order and wait to be served.

The practice is widespread and not specific to Burger King, but Jenn’s Whopper factory seems like a particularly egregious offender.

She writes:

Today I stopped by my local Burger King store number #[redacted]. I usually try to avoid this particular BK as they have a habit of asking cars going through the drive thru, to pull over to the front to wait for their order. However, my brother wanted some food so I went through the drive thru. The problem started when I reached the window to pay and receive my food. The worker ignored me for a few moments and then without even opening the window, asked me to pull around to the front for my order. I tried to let her know I hadn’t paid yet, but she wasn’t facing me, so I pulled around to the front. When I got there, 3 other cars were waiting for their orders and had parked in between 2 lanes, on the side of the curb, etc. All are places you’re not supposed to park. The last time I had to pull around, there were so many cars trying to move in and out or wait on the side for their order, that a car almost hit me.

For today’s order, a worker came out after a few minutes and asked me for my receipt, to which I told him I never received one. He seemed to be listening to his headset and then said I didn’t pay for my food and simply stood there silent. I explained to him that the other worker had asked me to pull around without taking any payment and that I could pay now. He stayed silent until I asked him how much the total was and I gave him some cash. It wasn’t until after I had left that I realized the worker who took my payment never gave me my change, which while it wasn’t much, was still something.

It’s likely that the BK workers are trying to beat the timer, but by asking me to pull around to the front, even when there’s no one else in the drive thru, I feel like there’s no point in even using it. It’s certainly not convenient for me to order then have to pull around to try to find parking and then do a back and forth with the worker. In addition, if I were paying with a credit card, how do I know the worker won’t be copying down my card number on his walk back to the restaurant? At least when I actually pay through the drive thru, I can see the card the entire time. Overall, bad service and poor policies will keep me from making this Burger King a regular stop.

What do you suspect your drive-thrus of doing to cheat their timer systems?

Previously: Burger King Drive-Thru Workers Try To Cheat The Timer System

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