Friday, May 25, 2007

Drive-thru etiquette

Tactical Grace over at Radical Bacon (why two names? I don't know) currently works in fast food, and she has posted a list of drive-thru etiquette suggestions.

Most of them were things I'd thought of before--I try to be very pleasant in the drive-thru--but the last one surprised me:
6. This is a personal preference, but if you're going to thank your order taker while at the speaker, say "thanks" rather than "thank you." Over the speaker, "thank you" sounds like "fuck you."
I would never have guessed this. I say "thank you" in a very cheery voice. I could see someone mistaking the way Sean says "thank you", because he kind of does it in a cursory way, but hopefully my way is safe.

It's also possible that this is a dialectal thing that happens where TG lives and not here. But I don't know where TG lives, and I've never been on the receiving end of a drive-thru speaker, so I can't argue that one way or the other.

(The Chick-fil-A people seem to understand me--they almost always respond with "My pleasure." It's actually become a game with me to see if they say it or not. Yes, I need to get a life.)

7 comments:

Will said...

"My pleasure" is actually a mandate at Chick-fil-a. If they don't say it, they can lose their jobs.

Heather Meadows said...

Ha! Well, I didn't know they could lose their jobs, but I thought it was pretty obvious they were trained to say it.

By the way, I gave someone I know your email address for a web project that you may or may not want, and I also gave someone else your phone number for wedding photography...hope you don't mind. You can always say no, right? ^^;;;

Brooke said...

Wow. I've never once even considered that "Thank you" could sound like "f*ck you." I'm glad my brain doesn't work that way. If I want to say "f*ck you" that's how it comes out, no doubt about it. But I see that the issue here is having the hear whatEVER might be spoken through the speaker-microphone-talk-back-and-forth thingie, so I can imagine all SORTS of things get all jumbled up through that thing. I can totally understand wanting to hear "thanks" then, so you know you don't have to second guess what you've heard when you've ended up having an irate booby-head come through your drive thru.
I miss me some Chik-Fil-A. Just sling some mac and cheese in a mailer, and stick a stamp on that sucker. I'll pay you back.

/drool

Heather Meadows said...

They have mac and cheese at Chick-fil-A? o_o

Brooke said...

OH DEAR GOD!! I'VE BEEN GONE SO LONG, I'M GETTING MY WIFE SAVER AND MY CHIK-FIL-A CONFUSED!!

This just isn't RIGHT!!

I'm a baaaaaadd Southerner... :(

Brooke said...

I needs some REAL mac and cheese. :(

Hahah, I've been jonesing for "southern food" so hardcore, I got all the "fixin's" yesterday for making TWO eggplant casseroles. ;) Two, because we're giving one to some friends of ours, who always have us over for dinner. That way, we'll have one, too.. ;) Bwaaaahahahah!!

Anonymous said...

Tried the chess cake yet?