Drive Thru; The Express Lane of the Bank

The drive thru is great for transactions that are simple. However, the drive thru was not designed for such complex transactions. It’s the equivalent of the express lane at the grocery store. There should be more guidelines in place. Certain transactions are just not appropriate for the drive through. In certain cases, transactions should be stopped at the time of request. The person should be invited into the building. This is just like if you were in the express lane at the grocery store with more than 10 items.

I am all about convenience. It is amazing that I can have just about anything delivered right to my door. Most things like prepared food and groceries in as little as 30 minutes. This is awesome! I am all about when I go to run my own errands that many places like fast food, pharmacies, and banks have drive thrus. It is amazing that if there is a task that I decide to take on myself, I do not even have to get out of my car.

Does this make me lazy? Absolutely, but I’m OK with that. What I am not OK with are the people who choose to use the drive thru for services more complicated than what the drive thru is prepared to handle. Inconsiderate people who use the drive thrus for services that they are not meant for ruin the convenience of everyone behind them. And sadly, most people are too worried about themselves to even notice what they are doing to others behind them.

For the most part, you probably won’t know that your order will be a problem for the people behind you until you get to the window to collect your food. Many times I have ordered food that they do not have ready by the time I get to the pickup window. This is often common items that they should have prepared and ready to go. There is not much you can do about that. As frustrating as it is when McDonalds asks you to pull up to wait for your order, it is easing the frustration on the people behind you in line. I hate to be that car that needs to pull aside and wait, but I still wish more fast food establishments would do that.

You do occasionally get behind the person who thinks that going through the drive thru to place what amounts to a catering order is a good idea. Yes, it is easier to have them hand you food for 40 thru a window directly into your car instead of multiple trips to carry it out yourself, but how rude? People who do things like that have no consideration for the people behind them.

So, I was at Wendy’s last week. More than 19 minutes in the drive thru, most of which was right behind the car waiting for their food. I am not sure how long I was waiting until I started paying attention to the time. When I realized this was going to be an annoying experience, 19 additional minutes went by. Then it was finally my turn and when I pulled up, not only was my food still not ready, but they were not sure what I had ordered. By the time I got my food, there was only one car behind me. I am pretty sure that anyone who hadn’t already paid for their food just left out of frustration.

Side note about Wendy’s…they have recently raised their starting wage like many other places struggling to get and keep employees. I’m all about people getting paid what they are worth, but if you cannot keep track of who is ordering what, you are not worth what you are getting paid. After my poor experience there, I searched for the average wage there and according to Glassdoor, the average crew member makes $44k+ / year. This rant will be continued another day.

When people use common courtesies, this is a great idea. The problem is that courtesy is not very common anymore. I have stopped using pharmacy drive thrus because of this. If you want to drop off a prescription, great. If you want to pick up your prescription, perfect. If you want to have a full-blown discussion about your medication or insurance payments, go into the pharmacy.

Knowing what medications that you are taking, the proper dosages, and the possible side effects are all very important information that you need. I would never want to discourage anyone from getting this necessary information. I just do not want to be sitting in the car behind you in the drive thru while you are getting this information. They are more properly staffed in the building to take you aside and explain all of these things. Just about every pharmacy I have ever been in has a partitioned off area to have those private conversations. Screaming out of your car into the two-way speaker is not the smartest thing to do anyway.

With the rising costs of medications, many people have started using discount services like Single Care or Good Rx. Those are both great tools for affordable prescriptions. It is not so easy to show your phone for a coupon code while in the drive thru. In my personal experience, I have had medications ring up more expensive than they should through my insurance. This is also not a discussion that should be yelled out of a car through a two-way speaker. Again, most if not all pharmacies have a partitioned off area to have those private discussion if you go into the pharmacy. Not only are these scenarios better for you, but they are also much better for the people in line that have the simple transactions that drive thrus were made for.

Here is another example of super convenient for simple transactions. If you have a deposit, pass your information, get your receipt, drive away. If you have a withdraw, pass your information, collect your money, drive away. Nothing else should be done in the bank drive thru. I have lost count of how many times I get behind someone in the bank drive thru that passes that tube back and forth several times. Or there have been times I have been behind someone who is having way too lengthy of a conversation for a drive thru.

This is another example of privacy issues. Who wants to be yelling their personal financial information out of their car into a two-way speaker? If you are not making a basic deposit or withdrawal, just go into the building. The tellers are partitioned off, offering better privacy for additional sensitive financial information. And it is so much more respectful of all the cars behind you.

I have been so frustrated at bank drive thrus. Often, I go on my lunch break from work due to my working hours pretty much being the same as banking hours. I have 1 hour to get to the bank and eat my lunch. I have gone without lunch countless times because going to the bank eats up my entire lunch break even though it is only 4 miles from where I work. Yes, I could eliminate this by getting out of my car and walking into the bank, but I have a simple transaction and shouldn’t have to. My lazy and stubborn win every time.

Crazy Babble or Just My Voice of Reason??

Yes, I get frustrated over the little things I should just let go. But I can’t. I feel like I am right. Too many people are more concerned with making their own lives easier and give no thought to how this will affect other people. I am all about being lazy and doing things to convenience myself, but not at the expense of other. Most of my issues with the way of the world revolves around self-centered people. Am I crazy? I cannot be the only one irritated about how people clog up drive thrus for things that drive thrus were not intended for.