What not to do at a DriveThru (6/2/24)

Half a guide of how to treat the drive thru cashier, half a rant as a drivethru cashier.

Recently, I got a job at a fast food joint. Will not reveal which one to protect my IRL privacy, my position, and as to be able to express myself freely without worrying about "reflecting poorly on the company" as the employee manual says it.

This is also my first time working a customer service position. And let me tell you, customers can actually suck. You, if a customer, can choose to not suck, and here's how!

First of all.. do not smoke at a drive thru window. I myself have never understood the appeal of cigarettes, especially when second-hand smoke exposure has likely affected my breathing — I thought it was common sense to not smoke where others could ingest it. If you smoke at a drive thru, even with your window all the way down, we do end up ingesting the smoke. Even worse, do NOT blow smoke directly into the person at the drive thru window! Yes, someone did that and I hope their pillows were warm that night!

Another thing. Please do not yell your complaints at the person at the first window. I am not the person that took your order, I am merely the one processing your payment for it. I'll be more than happy to fix your order for you, just please don't act like I'm the one that messed up. My coworkers are only human and make mistakes too, so don't be hostile towards them, either!

Lastly, if the QR code doesn't work... it doesn't work. Not me that controls whether it works or not. Nothing we as a singular branch can do about it. Sure, contact corporate if you must; just don't make it our problem that we can't solve.

There's obviously others unspoken rules, but these are just the problems I've had most with customers lately... Sure, I've mostly gotten use to it all, but it doesn't help to have to deal with unhappy customers when I'm just trying to make minimum wage.

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