Showdown in Drive-Thru

By Douglas V. Gibbs

I am not a big fast-food connoisseur, but occasionally I will grab something from the junk food menu. I do have fast-food I prefer if I do go for it, preferring places that are Southern California products, like In-N-Out Burger, Miguel's Jr., and Wahoo's Fish Taco. More rarely, I will go to Taco Bell, McDonald's, Subway, Jack in the Box, or Arby's. Burger King, Del Taco, Wendy's and El Pollo Loco even more rarely. I can't stand KFC (so my wife eats alone when he has a craving for fried chicken).

Anyway, one thing I do like at McDonald's quite a bit is their Mango/Pineapple smoothie. I find myself grabbing one of those at least once every week or two. Today, after picking up my truck from the Smog Test shop, I had a hankering for one of those smoothies, and pulled into the Drive-Thru.

I was third in line, but the line behind me grew rapidly, growing down the driveway and around the corner into the parking lot. I could tell, after the mega-order that took forever from the vehicle in front of me, that the person on the speaker was a little flustered.

"Can I take your order?"

I was figuring she'd be thrilled with my simple, one item, order.

"A large, Mango/Pineapple smoothie, please. Oh, and I have a coupon for a dollar off."

"I'll have your total at the window."

The woman with the huge order had paid and was waiting for her monster-order when I pulled up to the first window. I gave the young woman the coupon, and then began fishing for change from my coin holder as I waited for the final verdict on the damage.

After studying the coupon, the woman in the window said, "You have to get a medium or a large with this coupon."

I remembered saying "large" when I ordered. I never order any other size of the smoothie. Perhaps she didn't hear me since it was among the first words of my order.

"I asked for a large."

"No you didn't," she replied. "I have you down for a small."

Perplexed, I was silent a moment. Before I could repeat that I know I had asked for a large, the woman said, "So, which will it be? Medium, or large?"

"I asked for a large," I repeated.

Then the young woman really surprised me. "I didn't ask you what you asked for. I asked you what you want."

McDonald's has been on my black list for a while. I check every order at the window because they are notorious for leaving things out. One store got so bad that I have stopped going to it.  The final straw was when I had bought 12 burgers, got home, and not a single one had a patty of meat in it.

One time I was at a McDonald's near a construction job I was on, and as me and the guys sat down after getting our order I noticed that instead of giving me a double cheeseburger meal, the guy had given me the two cheeseburger meal. When I confronted him about it, he told me I said two cheeseburgers, and I didn't get my proper order until going to a manager.

This woman, however, was taking McDonald's bad record with me to the limit. However, being the usually pretty calm person I am, I replied, "I asked for a large originally, and since then it hasn't changed."

She came up with the total, I gave her the money, and as she handed me the receipt, she added, "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

I know that us older folks are sort of like the ones before us, and the ones before them, in the sense that we have doubts about the next generation just as those before us did. But the rudeness of this generation is really out of control. I can't count how many times I have seen people throw both arms out the window to flip another person off with both hands, fights at intersections over someone looking at someone wrong, I have seen people throw bottles of Sobe at each other at a gas station, and once a person lowered his shoulder into me as he passed me at a Wal-Mart. When I said something, he flipped me off, laughed, and walked away.

At what point does the next generation get so bad that something needs to be said?

I understand that this is not indicative off all members of the younger generation. Thank God there are those that aren't a bunch of arrogant, narcissistic punks. Every once in a while a younger person will call me Sir, or show that they understand the concept of respecting one's elders, or even respect itself beyond the surface claim of respect by their generation. I am not generally lumping all young folks into the mix of jerks, but it seems that the jerks of this generation out number those that aren't, and the lengths the jerks are willing to go to be jerks has worsened.

As I pulled around the woman with the big order was waiting for the rest of her order in one of those "wait here for your food" spaces. I parked my car and walked into the restaurant.

I asked for the manager. I didn't want to jeopardize anyone's job, but this kind of treatment of customers is not good for the store, or for the company as a whole. Perhaps the person was reprimanded, perhaps they have a long record of acting this way and it hurt her chances for promotion or keeping her job. Maybe, though I hope this is not the case, they shrugged it off or laughed it off as the rantings of a ridiculous old guy.

I wonder.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary