Fast Food Ordering Do's & Don'ts

Three weeks ago, my dad and I were out for a drive and we decided to go get some food at a McDonald's drive-through. Everything went as smoothly as it could and we got our food. What happened after that was perhaps one of the most awkward and uncomfortable experiences we've ever had in recent memory.

The car in front of us, as they were about to exit the drive-through, suddenly broke down. It was a tight lane and there was not enough space for us to drive around the car in front, so we were basically caught in a jam. It was probably about five minutes in when I realized what had happened, so I told my dad to go and see what the issue was. I suspected that their car's battery died, and so it needed to be jump-started.

Once my dad returned to our car, he was able to maneuver our car so that we could possibly help them jump-start their car. After about 15 minutes of unsuccessful attempts, a few other people decided to just help them push the car onto the side of the road, since it was already causing a massive traffic jam. And that whole time, I felt really uncomfortable because the whole incident was holding everybody up, the people behind us in the drive-through queue, as well as those on the road. And, in hindsight, I think that the best thing we could have done, was simply to help them push their car to the side of the road in the first place.

There are certain instances like this when we try to do the kind or polite thing but actually, that may not be the most polite thing to do. Granted, this was an unforeseen circumstance, both my dad and I were tired, we had a long day, it was already evening, and we just wanted to get home. So, my brain wasn't really working at its peak form, and my dad probably didn't know exactly what to do as well. I only suggested what I thought was the most helpful thing, not just for the family in front of us, but for everybody else who was going to encounter this traffic incident.

In any case, we often want to do something polite or kind to the people around us or even to the fast food workers or cashiers, but those people may find our acts of kindness a bit off-putting, annoying, unnecessary, or even an inconvenience. Charlotte Hilton Andersen shares 15 of these "polite habits" which we may be doing but fast food workers actually dislike on Reader's Digest.

To summarize some of these habits into categories, I found that several of them have to do with holding up the queue, similar to what happened to my dad and I, although that was unintentional on the part of the car in front of us, and so one could say that it was understandable.

However, we may do things like trying to pay exact change so that it would be easier for the cashiers. That's well and good as long as we already have the cash ready on hand and we're just going to give it to the cashier. But if we're still going to rummage through our wallet or change holder in the car, then we're just holding up the people waiting in line, and the cashier will have to deal with the possibly irate customers who have been waiting more than they had wanted in line.

Making unnecessary comments or remarks under the guise of being sympathetic toward the workers may also be under this category, because it just wastes time. As I have observed, and as common sense should dictate, a fast food chain needs to do everything fast, because that's what they were designed for. So any moment of slack or waiting time can disrupt the whole system. For example, queuing up without knowing what you're going to order or having to ask the cashier what they would recommend is a huge time-waster. And putting the cashier on the spot like that just makes it inconvenient for them and for the other customers in line.

I would consider other acts on the list as either misplaced sympathy or simply crossing the boundaries. For example, giving tips when these establishments generally have a policy for not accepting tips is just one way of getting the workers in trouble. Trying to pay it forward by paying for the person behind you or the car behind in the queue can be misconstrued, and it also makes things confusing for the cashier.

Other things we might say to sound polite may also come off as condescending or even downright insulting. Essentially, when we order at fast food restaurants, we give our order, pay for it, and then get our food. The addition of self-ordering kiosks actually helps to make the process a lot faster and less prone to mistakes.

Even though we have the best intentions at heart sometimes, it's best to just go with the natural flow of things without having to do all the extra stuff, and reserve them for when the conditions are ripe for some act of kindness, which won't inconvenience the people around us. For the more detailed list of fast food ordering do's and don'ts, check out Andersen's article on Reader's Digest.

(Image credit: Blake Wisz/Unsplash)