Those who have worked in fast food can definitely tell you a crazy story or two, yet that seems to be exponentially more the case with those lucky few who man the drive-thru window. Apparently, there is just no way to steer clear of these crazy situations.
Wait, That’s No Poodle…
“Worked at a Daylight Donuts about 15 years ago. Our drive-thru opened at 4 AM. One morning this guy comes through the drive thru and orders two coffees and a dozen mixed. He has a poodle sitting on his lap, which he is petting.
After I pass the coffees and donuts through the window, I ask him if he needs any creamer and he says:
‘Babe, do you need any creamer?’
At which point, his girlfriend looks up and says ‘Yep.’
Turns out, that wasn’t a poodle in his lap. His girlfriend had curly black hair, and she had her face in his lap.”
That’s Something You Don’t See Everyday
“Guy got stabbed outside the McDonald’s I worked at in some sort of online sale gone wrong. Comes inside, asks to use the phone. Calls 911, then sits there quietly waiting for the ambulance to arrive. None of us could believe it because the McDonald’s was in a really good neighbourhood.
Also an old guy dropped dead in the parking lot.”
“I SAID NO PICKLES!”
“I work at McDonald’s. It gets busy and some orders obviously get a little bit messed up. Guy came through and ordered a fairly large order including a hamburger without pickles. Grill guy is working fast and puts a single pickle on the burger. Not three minutes pass and the guy comes through again, speeds past the menu board and mic and starts pounding on the window screaming. I open it to assist him and he throws the burger at me yelling ‘DOES THIS LOOK LIKE NO PICKLE TO YOU?!’ I close the window and turn around to my manager, who suddenly starts laughing like somebody told the funniest joke ever. I look down and the top and bottom buns stuck right to my uniform as if they were boobies. I got the man a new burger and handed it to him, burger boobs still on.”
Boy, Does This Guy Want His Sauce Badly
“I used to work in a fast food burger place right off the highway. It was a nice day, it was sunny out. Not super busy that afternoon. The manager hands me a big wire brush and tells me to clean the stains off the sidewalk outside.
It got me out of the window for a while, so I was happy. I’m scrubbing, using toilet cleaner on these grease stains when I hear a thud. I turn to look in that direction and a little four door is coming down the grass hill from the highway.
Let me be clear, this was not a road they were driving on. It was straight up grass and trees and it was decently steep.
The car bottoms out and slides into the parking lot and pulls into a space by the doors, I’m just staring at it, and I look over at my coworker who was having a smoke break and she says, ‘Did you see that too?’
I nod and that’s when the driver jumps out of his car and runs inside the restaurant and yells, ‘I forgot my sauce!’ He comes back out thirty seconds later, jumps back in his car and drives off, sauce in hand.”
A Refill Request Turns Ugly
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“Worked at a popular Canadian coffee chain in my younger days. Guy comes through the drive-thru at about 7 AM on a weekday, dressed in a suit, nice car obviously on his way to work. He hands me a refillable mug and I notice there’s some liquid in it. No biggie, this happens occasionally, I figure I will just dump it out and give it a rinse! Right as I dump it into the sink the smell hits me, and at the same time the customer, who could see me through the window starts screaming his head off. His travel mug was half full of whiskey which he planned on topping off with coffee and I’ve just ruined his morning. So I start apologizing profusely all while he’s yelling at me and calling me an idiot, etc…and then it hits me. Dude is in his CAR. He is DRIVING! And I’m the idiot? So I say to him ‘I’m pretty sure I did you a favor, sir. You must have forgotten there was alcohol in your mug. I wouldn’t want you to have an accident. Did you want me to rinse this out before filling your coffee?’ He didn’t yell too much at me after that.”
That Guy Is Far From Stable
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“This one time I was taking orders outside and I took this lady’s order and sent her on her way. I take two more orders and finish the line.
I notice the cars haven’t been moving. I look down the line and there’s a guy standing outside of a car in the drive-thru, talking to the driver. I wait patiently, but after 30 seconds he’s still there.
The driver pulls forward and he follows. His body language gets me. I start walking over.
When I get closer I can hear him calling the woman names, saying she’s a f–king liar. I am shocked and feel my stomach drop. I look directly at him and say ‘Sir, you need to leave.’ He keeps telling the woman she’s a liar and throws some papers in her car. I repeat myself. He just smiles this insanely happy smile at me and says ‘She’s a liar. Yeah, I’m gonna go.’
Thankfully he did. I was talking to the woman, asking her what that was all about. She told me she and the guy were getting a divorce and she hadn’t told him she had enrolled back in college. She was so scared and crying. She had no idea how he knew she was at our restaurant. She asked for my phone number in case her lawyer needed to get in contact with me to help her case and get her kids. I was happy to give it to her, but never heard from anyone about it.
I’m glad she had the strength to get away from that abusive a–hat.”
We All Gotta Eat
“We’ve had deer come up to the drive-thru window late at night a few times. The last time it happened, I gave one half of a bun.”
The Chicken Suit Wasn’t Even The Weird Part
“One time a dude in a chicken suit popped out of a car trunk, walked up to the window and paid, got his food and drink, then hopped back into the trunk and the car drove off.
I worked at Chick-fil-A and it was the ‘dress like a cow’ day where you get a free sandwich if you dress like a cow, so I’d been seeing people in costume all day and was really desensitized to it, plus it was super busy and I was several hours into overtime and I was just exhausted. The people in that car were obviously looking for a reaction but I honestly just didn’t have it in me that day and I think I really disappointed them because they pulled up in their car trying not to laugh but when they left it was like my blank, emotionless face sucked the joy out of that car.
But it was honestly some of the funniest sh-t I’ve ever seen and the moment they drove off I realized the ridiculousness of the situation and me and my two coworkers in the drive-thru all started laughing hysterically.”
Her Order Can Wait…
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“I worked at Steak ‘n Shake. Our drive-thru has cameras around the building. I had a lady pull up to the speaker, yelled at me and told me to hang on, then proceeded to fight with her significant other. We can see her at the speaker through her windshield. She started pounding on this poor guy. Everyone in the back kind of just stopped what they were doing, listening intently to the headsets and watching the video. Eventually, the woman yells, ‘Ya’ll gonna hafta f–kin’ wait for my order,’ and pulls up into a parking spot I can see out of my drive-thru window. We all crowd around it as she and the guy get out and start beating the sh-t out of each other. We called the cops and watched them both get arrested.”
Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover
“I was in college and working a sh-tty burger drive-thru job where I got yelled at regularly by the boss, but I needed the job and it was a small town so jobs were hard to come by. Anyway, we were super busy and I was just taking order after order handing out bags non-stop when a black Escalade with heavily tinted windows and rap music blasting pulled up to my window. I was ready to help some wannabe gangster with his order…The window rolls down and it’s a little 80-plus-year-old white lady wearing an orange jumpsuit and matching visor (tilted to the side of course). She was super sweet and tipped me. So I don’t know wtf that was all about but it stuck with me.”
Straight Through The Drive-Thru
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“I’m a pretty average sized male teen, about 5’10” but skinny. I’m handing this lady a full drink carrier of four 40oz drinks but she parked her car really far away from the window so I had to lean out really far to reach her and hand it off. She snatched the carrier before I had let go and I started to tumble out the drive-thru window. My manager noticed this and put her hand on my back really fast but she failed to stop me from falling out of the window. I landed on my back and kicked their nice SUV as I did a full flip. The wind was knocked out of me from the landing and I thought I was dying as I’d never had that happen before. This lady then started yelling about how I’m incompetent and have caused damage to her car (it was just some dirt, no scrapes or anything). My manager was asking if I was okay and telling the others to go back to work (thank God) before she lectured the lady in the drive-thru on how rude she was being to me. She then ran around with some napkins to help me get the blood off my arms (I scraped them on our brick siding on the way down). The lady then started complaining about how she hadn’t gotten her food yet and my manager threw her money back at her and told her to find somewhere else. I got to go home early.
I came in the next day with a write-up and my general manager telling me to clock in fast and get back to ‘the office.’ Apparently, this b—h left a negative review online and even called corporate the next day to complain about me and my manager. I explained the situation to my GM and he sighed and called the manager from that night. She apparently gave a more exaggerated version than me and he bought me lunch that night for the trouble.
I still work there, but the nice manager left to become a semi driver. Now I get to hate 4/5 of my managers.”
A Lot Can Happen Between Windows
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“I had this drunk couple come through and the girl looked at me, completely wasted, and told me that I should smile more and not let any boy bring me down. So they went to the next window and I went to the back to mop a little. Over my headset my manager asks if I just saw what happened. Apparently between the windows something happened and the girl called the guy with her a p—y, he threw his tea at her and kicked her out of the car. She came in, crying, and called her friend. Ten minutes later he came back and picked her up.”
From Dirty Movies To Drive-Thru Sermons
“Oh man. One dude in the backseat was watching porn. Didn’t pause it or silence it at the window. Just casually watching porn in the backseat while getting a burger. Not sure how I kept a straight face for that one.
Another guy yelled at me and called me a communist because he wanted more than 20 ketchup packets for one small fry. I told him I would need to charge him for more than a handful. Apparently, free-flowing ketchup is the American way and he needed to yell it at me.
I got preached at a few times if it was a Sunday morning. Full-on grabbed by the wrists, prayed over for my ‘sins’ and given a Bible. Gotta love church people who think it’s terrible you’re not in church on a Sunday but have no qualms using your services.”
When The Manager Nearly Killed Us All
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“The fryer, which was right next to drive-thru, caught on fire because no one was cleaning it correctly. While the fryer was on fire, one of my coworkers tried two different (red) fire extinguishers but neither was functional. Customers were standing there filming this on their phones. Then my manager, who was in charge of all of us, picked up a bucket of water and prepared to throw it on the grease fire.
I snatched the silver grease fire extinguisher off the wall and put the fire out before she could KILL US ALL.”
Save Your Change For The Bank
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“I work at a pizza place that has a pickup window.
Had one lady pull in backwards, windows down, and parked about 10 feet away from our window. Her adult son got out and had to walk back and forth a few feet to pass money to me, because she paid half her order in change (order total was like $10.68), and the last $1.68 was All. In. Pennies. And she kept forgetting the total.
At that point, there’s a car ahead of her waiting (pulled in the right way), a car behind her (the wrong way), and I don’t even care if I have to pay for the last bit myself, I wanted her out of there. Her son (about 30ish years old, btw) looked super embarrassed. The lady insisted on giving me the right change, so I lied and said I had it all (she was only about 30 cents off by this point). I handed her son the food, and then she asks to add a two-liter. I told her the price ($3.50 for one, yes, it’s atrocious), hoping it’d scare her off, but nope – she digs out another bag of small change, but thankfully her son stepped in at this point and suggested they go next door to the grocery store and get some for $1. She agrees, so her son gets in the car, and they pull out and leave.
The car ahead and the car behind both try to pull forward to reach the window first, but the car ahead (the one who came in correctly) reached us first. The other car reversed and drove around to come up the right way. When she reached the window, she informed me that we needed to have a sign to tell customers which way they needed to go to get to the window.
I avoided the window for the rest of that night when possible.”
How Many Items In The Bag Again?
“Had this guy come through my drive-thru once while I was running it alone. He was polite while ordering and fine when I completed the transaction at the window but when I handed him his food he looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘Next time I see that kid that tells me how many items are in the bag, I’m going to punch him in the face.’ Which like, I’m a 5’1 petite girl, so I did the whole, ‘Haha ok sure have a great day’ customer service laugh. I knew who he was talking about, and I mentioned it in passing to my coworkers, but honestly I didn’t think too much of it.
Then he came through again. I was alone, again, but I had enough time to repeat what he said to my coworkers on the line while waiting for his food. This new kid, a junior in high school and kind of a jerk, goes, ‘Let me do it let me do it,’ and since our GM was on vacation and the shift leader didn’t give any sh-ts, I was like, ‘Sure go for it.’ So he does. ‘Here sir, your five items.’ Cue shutting the window and the kid laughing, while the guy drives off looking pissed. I kind of rolled my eyes but had more orders to take so I once again forgot about it.
So the new kid is taking an order up front, I’m taking orders, everybody is minding their own business doing their jobs when thud. The guy had come inside, threw his food against the wall by holding the bottom of the bag and tipping it violently. He casually flips the bag at the kid and walks out with us and the inside customers staring after him in disbelief. He actually called the store then to complain and once again threaten bodily harm. Crazy sh-t, the cops had to come take a statement. It was honestly the highlight of the month, we were all laughing and sh-t, we played the video for weeks. There’s now a running joke of, ‘Oh, don’t tell them how many items there are in the bag, a customer might just come through the window next.'”
How To Have Your Night Ruined Real Quick
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“I worked at a Starbucks on the border of Wannabe Rich-Boy Rancher Town, we’ll call it Rodeotown. Because of our proximity to the highway that goes through the middle of town, we got local cops that would chill out in our lot. They’d come in, chug quad lattes, shoot the sh-t, and hang out until they got a call.
A car full of dudes comes through and asks for four venti waters. We quit giving out waters without purchase in the drive-thru because we were right next to a gym. Drive-thru guy, B, is super polite and tells them we can’t swing it, it’s new policy, but if they come inside, we can hook them up. They cuss at him, peel out of the driveway, and tear off. We shrug like ‘whatever,’ we were used to rich little sh-theads racing the sports cars and SUVs their dads bought them up to our drive-thru to buy Frappuccinos with which to wash down the fistful of pills. Typical Friday night shenanigans where we’re at.
Meanwhile, our two regular cops come rolling in, we get them their quad lattes, crack jokes with Kirk the dude cop, fight over who gets to make eyes at the girl cop, and they go to chill out.
DING! Another car in the drive-thru. It’s that same carload of a–holes who asked for water! They pull around, wait till B opens the window, inform him that McDonald’s gave them free extra large waters at the window… and proceeds to try to throw the thing through the drive window at B. Sadly for them, the kid has great reflexes and he slammed the big fat CLOSE button…the cup hits the window and splashes almost entirely BACK at the a–hole driving.
B dips back, and this exchange happens.
Kirk and Hot Cop: WHAT JUST HAPPENED? B: That dude just threw his cup at me. Hot Cop: That’s attempted assault. Kirk: Attempted assault… (he says this in a way that sounds like he’s savoring the flavor of it, like he just ate a fantastic truffle). Cue Looney Tunes sound effects as they both burst from their seats, through the front door, and to their cruisers.
The guy in drive goes roaring out and no less than 20 seconds later he has two of Rodeotown PDs finest, full lights and sirens, chasing behind him to just absolutely f–k up his and his little friends’ night.”
The Idiot Drive-Thru Robber
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“I had someone try to rob me through the drive-thru. They had a fake gun and everything. Luckily it was a brick building so I just locked the window and crouched down and called 911. They sat there pounding on the window until the cops came and blocked them in.”
Pretty Sure That’s Child Abuse
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“Working in customer service involving food is not very fun. I work at a Sonic and had this one lady whose grandkids in the car were acting up, so she told them to get out and stand in front of the car so she could run them over…”
Sir, You Can’t Be In Here
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“Was making burgers, when I heard the sound of the drive through window open. I turned to look and a very drunk 20-year-old male was climbing through. He then ran through the store, yelling at the top of his lungs, and jumped the front counter and out the front door. I got the manager to tell his mates in the car to move on, and also give them the money back from their order.
Of course, this happened on Australia Day.”
Local Rich Guy Is A Wasteful Jerk
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“Had a rich guy come through and order one of everything on the menu, tip an employee 100 dollars, then had us come out and throw it all in the dumpster and give the 100 back.”
